Presenting Isaac Hayes

Presenting Isaac Hayes
Studio album by
Isaac Hayes
ReleasedMarch 1968
RecordedJanuary 15–17, 1968
StudioStax (Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre
Length33:32
Label
Producer
Isaac Hayes chronology
Presenting Isaac Hayes
(1968) 		Hot Buttered Soul
(1969)
Reissue cover
Atlantic reissued Presenting Isaac Hayes as In the Beginning in 1972.
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Presenting Isaac Hayes is the debut studio album by American soul musician Isaac Hayes. The album was released in 1968, by Enterprise and distributed by Atlantic Records. The LP was the first release on Stax Records' Enterprise label; Hayes had for several years served as one of Stax's key songwriters, producers, and studio musicians.

Recorded to appease Stax vice president Alvertis Isbell (Al Bell),[2] Presenting features Hayes recording with Booker T. & the MGs members Al Jackson, Jr. and Donald "Duck" Dunn as a jazz trio. No material was prepared for the sessions, so the three musicians improvised an album's worth of material.[2] It has thus been described as a jam session album.[3] According to the author Christopher R. Weingarten, the record is "little more than an alcohol-fuelled jam session edited down to album format."[4] The album was a commercial failure.[3][4]

"Precious, Precious", recorded as a 19-minute jazz piece, was edited to under three minutes for release as a single. Both the 45 and the album under-performed, and Hayes would only continue his recording career after Stax lost its entire back catalog to Atlantic Records during the process of breaking away from Atlantic. The lack of material necessitated all Stax artists — Hayes included — to record albums for release, resulting in Hayes' successful and groundbreaking Hot Buttered Soul (1969).[2]

Following Hayes' success with Hot Buttered Soul, in 1971 Black Moses and the Shaft soundtrack, Atlantic reissued Presenting Isaac Hayes under the title In the Beginning.

Critical reception

In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992), Presenting Isaac Hayes is described as a "bluesy after-hours jam session".[5]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Precious, Precious"Isaac Hayes2:45
2."When I Fall in Love" (Victor Young cover)Edward Heyman, Victor Young3:28
3."Medley: "I Just Want to Make Love to You" / "Rock Me Baby" (Muddy Waters cover / B.B. King cover)Willie Dixon, Riley B. King, Joe Josea9:04
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
4."Medley: "I'm Going to Chicago Blues" / "Misty" (Johnny Mathis cover)Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Erroll Garner, Johnny Burke6:45
5."You Don't Know Like I Know"Isaac Hayes, David Porter8:30
1995 CD reissue bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Precious, Precious" (long version)Isaac Hayes19:07

Personnel

Technical

References

  1. ^ Lindsay Planer. "Presenting Isaac Hayes - Isaac Hayes | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Isaac Hayes | Ultimate Isaac Hayes (Can You Dig It?)". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Billboard Staff (November 8, 2008). "More Than 'Shaft': Hayes Was Major Influence". Billboard. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  4. ^ a b Weingarten, Christopher R. (2010). Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 9781441151414. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  5. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (November 19, 1992). "Isaac Hayes". The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Virgin Books. p. 312. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
  6. ^ Brzozowicz, Grzegorz [in Polish] (April 9, 2013). Nikodem, Jakub; Lech, Filip (eds.). "LP's Designed in PL". Culture.pl. (article includes 30 images of his album covers)
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