Tracks

1. Theme From Shaft

2. Precious, Precious

3. Hyperbolicsyllabicesquedalymusic

4. Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)

5. Never Can Say Goodbye

6. By The Time I Get To Phoenix

7. Soulsville

8. Wonderful

9. Help Me Love

10. Need To Belong To Someone

11. Good Love

12. The Look Of Love

13. Do Your Thing

14. For The Good Times

15. I Stand Accused

16. Walk On By

17. Joy (Part 1)

18. His Eye On The Sparrow

19. Brand New Me

20. If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)

21. Someone Made You For Me

22. Baby I'm-A Want You

23. Let's Stay Together

24. Theme From The Men

25. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)

26. Title Theme (From Three Tough Guys)

27. Run Fay Run

28. Chocolate Chip

29. Come Live With Me

30. Disco Connection

31. Rock Me Easy Baby (Part 1)

32. Medley (With Dionne Warwick)

Performer Notes

Isaac Hayes's towering presence in the history of soul music is undeniable: aside from his role as one half of the legendary Porter/Hayes Stax Records songwriting team, his early-1970s albums revolutionized the sounds of the day with their lush, complex instrumentation, swirling, funky explorations, and extended track lengths. The title of this three-disc set, THE ULTIMATE ISAAC HAYES, pretty much says it all. Represented here are all of Hayes's signature tunes, including the wah-wah-driven, era-defining "Theme from SHAFT" and the spacious, symphonic "Walk On By."
The two audio discs top out at close to 80 minutes each, giving full breadth to the artist's stylistic range and the stretched-out majesty of his arrangements. His transformative covers of Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," Jerry Butler's "I Stand Accused," and Hank Williams's "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" are included, alongside rare singles, B-sides, and previously unreleased live cuts. The third disc is a DVD featuring live footage of Hayes's appearance at the 1972 Wattstax concert and footage from SOUTH PARK (on which Hayes supplied the voice of Chef). All this, plus excellent notes, photos, superbly remastered sound, and beautiful packaging, make this an essential addition to any library.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (No. 986, p.99) - 3.5 out of 5 stars - "...Hayes mixes funk blasts, languid ballads, unreleased live performances, major hits, chart flops..."

Uncut (p.109) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "The big man really did redefine black music's sonic possibilities, making lust cinematic."