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2LP
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VMP 2215LP
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"For all the name Black Moses conjures, for all that it confers, it was not a name Isaac Hayes gave himself; that title was bestowed by a radio DJ sermonizing an intro to one of his songs. It was not a name Isaac Hayes -- raised by his god-fearing grandparents in a former sharecropper's shed after his parents died before he turned two years old -- thought was even appropriate. It seemed sacrilegious to him. But that name, it meant something that even Hayes had to acknowledge. He had ascended to a plane that no Black performer before him had ever reached before. He topped the R&B charts and, eventually, the pop charts without ever having to compromise who Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was. He had shown his people that James Brown's 'I'm Black and I'm Proud' edict was possible. He dripped in gold chains inside his album gatefolds and drove cars literally trimmed in it. Unapologetically. Black Moses towers as Hayes' crowning solo achievement. Its 14 songs stand as a 90-plus-minute testament to Hayes' nonpareil greatness, songwriting ability, singing, and arranging. A monument to authenticity, Black Moses projects a self-confidence so mammoth it feels like receiving the stone tablets of swagger down from the mountain of cool. Blue color vinyl in reverse board double gatefold jacket. Mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. Listening notes booklet by Andrew Winistorfer. Includes foldout poster."
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LP
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NA 5144LP
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2022 restock. "The full 33-minute, unreleased, psychedelic funk jam session by Memphis rhythm kingpins the Bar-Kays, mixed directly from the original tapes. Contains bonus rhythm section instrumental and booklet detailing the history of this never-before-heard version of one of Isaac Hayes's most famous songs by Hayes historian Bill Dahl. Hayes was already a cutting-edge funk master at Stax Records when he accepted the unprecedented assignment of creating a soundtrack for the 1971 action flick Shaft. At a time when R&B songs routinely timed out at three minutes and under, Hayes's albums for Stax's Enterprise imprint had been breaking new ground since 1969. His masterpiece Hot Buttered Soul consisted of only four tracks, two songs on The Isaac Hayes Movement clocked in at a hair under 12 minutes, and one selection on his ... To Be Continued stretched to 15:33. But his epic 'Do Your Thing,' one of the cornerstones of the two-LP Shaft soundtrack, outdid them all. Occupying nearly the entire last side of the set, it concluded after 19-and-a-half grooving minutes with the overdubbed sound of a needle scratching violently across a piece of vinyl. No one knew that jarring ending masked the existence of another 13 minutes of 'Do Your Thing.' Consigned to the vaults, those improvisatory extensions -- somewhere in between free-jazz and psychedelic rock -- were seemingly destined never to be heard. Until now."
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