Friday, March 13, 2009

Bring Me More Everything

Isaac Hayes' 1976 album Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) fascinates me in a way that Black Moses - re-released at the same time - doesn't. Black Moses is the more significant album and presents Hayes at the peak of his artistic powers, while Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) features him one step over the line. The title hints that the world is starting to drift by him, and the slight songs stretched to indulgent lengths says the good times are catching up. Still, the fact that it's still entertaining says that even distracted, Isaac Hayes was a bad man with crazy compositional and arranging talents. And it's no surprise that Isaac Hayes' disco album isn't disco at all; it's pure Isaac Hayes.

1 comment:

Alex V Cook said...

"Dem wasn't mumps, dem was lumps!"

I agree, Juicy Fruit is awesome, like a compromise between his more sophisticated style and Parliament wackiness. Hayes is usually a little too smooth for me, but this records sounds hungry and dangerous

The LP version of Black Moses has the most badass cover design ever, folding out into a cruciform with Hayes as Moses on the beach