Slice Of Soul - ‘Joy’

Isaac Hayes - ‘Joy’
taken from Joy (Stax, 1973)

Isaac Hayes is just one of a myriad of artists who I want to know inside out but am in reality still grappling with the very basics of their contributions to music history. In this case, I guess the issue lies in the fact that the man has simply made so much music over such a long period of time that it’s difficult to know where to start (guide me readers). Having bought …To Be Continued and Hot Buttered Soul in recent months I’ve been keen to dip my toe further into Hayes’s veritable ocean of recordings and as such recently acquired his album of 1973, Joy.

The song that gives the album its name is clearly the standout composition from the LP, although both ‘I Love You That’s All’ and ‘The Feeling Keeps Coming’ have seen some heavy rotation as well (although the first of these two cuts does ask you to endure over two minutes of Hayes and a ladyfriend engaging in drunken foreplay before the song even begins).

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‘Joy’ is the most heavily sampled of the songs on the album, featuring a tight opening drum break as sampled by Large Pro Eric B. on ‘Keep The Beat’ as well as numerous other familiar grooves that crop up throughout the track’s towering sixteen minutes.

The moments to savour can be found in the extended instrumental sections of the song where Hayes’s skill as an arranger is really allowed to shine forth. The opening two minutes are beautifully constructed with various elements gradually built into the mix over the aforementioned drum track on the way to the first verse, and it doesn’t stop there: wait for the guitar lick that joins the fun after the initial chorus for a dose of pure musical genius. Of course there’s more than an ounce of self-indulgence here, but this is Isaac Hayes for gawd’s sake: what do you expect?!

If you make it all the way through the track you’ll have done well, but even if you bail out early you’ll do so smiling from cheek to cheek. Allow yourself a little indulgence and give the post-weekend blues the shake off: you know you want to…

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Sample Sources, Slice Of Soul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.