#373: Hot Buttered Soul

Revisiting Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020)

Isaac Hayes, 1969

This is the original slow jam album - 4 tracks, 45 minutes. It’s an immersive experience. The opening track, the 12-minute “Walk On By,” is transcendent, taking the Bacharach-David classic and turning it into soul, drenched in organ and strings and bass. The last track, the 18+ minute “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” features nine minutes of spoken word philosophizing on love, which I probably would have cut, but then, it wouldn’t have been Isaac Hayes.

Hayes was already a legend by this point but just two years later he would introduce “The Theme from ‘Shaft’”, a public service to humanity. I know my parents had Shaft (Music From the Soundtrack) in their record collection, and if memory serves, my mom also had 1971’s Black Moses, with its foldout sleeve in the shape of a cross. I can’t recall if we also had Hot Buttered Soul, but Black Moses and Shaft were certainly events when they were put on. I think this was when I realized that my mom knew about music, a revelation that all kids must go through at some point. There’s a well-established “Dad Rock” cliché in place but what would “Mom Rock” look like? My mom, who did so much more for us than I realized, also had a widely varied taste in music, from Isaac Hayes to Lou Reed and everything in between (during the holiday season, I am reminded of her holiday tastes, especially The Roches).

So Mom Rock is about recognizing good music and appreciating it, regardless of genre, but is much less showy about it (it does not include, emphatically, Céline Dion). Dad Rock is equally about the music and about sharing it, whether something small like turning up the radio in the car or through demonstrative dancing, which may or may not include air guitar. It’s an urge I fight each and every day when listening to music with my kids.

As for Hot Buttered Soul, I would have appreciated this classic album regardless, but I have more appreciation for it knowing my mom loves it too.