Isaac Hayes Branded CD

The last album of new material Isaac Hayes released in his lifetime, 1995's BRANDED moves forward and casts a fond look back at the same time. On one hand, there are remakes of two songs from Hayes's `70s glory days, SHAFT's "Soulsville," and "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquadalymistic" from HOT BUTTERED SOUL. At the same time, Hayes works his patented slow-jam deconstruction methods on something more contemporary by giving Sting's "Fragile" the kind of treatment he once employed to transform `60s pop hits into soul rhapsodies. Even on the album's new compositions, Hayes harks back to his heyday just a bit, teaming up with old cohort David Porter for "Thanks to the Fool," though the production throughout BRANDED is far from retro-sounding.

Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee. Includes liner notes by David Ritz.

Personnel: Isaac Hayes (keyboards); Chuck D (vocals, rap vocals); Charles Pitts, Michael Toles (guitar); Andrew Love (tenor saxophone); Lester Snell (keyboards); Jimmy Kinnard (bass guitar); Ron Christopher (drums, percussion); James Burke (drums); Milton Comeaux (percussion); Donald O'Connor, Watoto Deafrika, Angelo Earl, Myra Walker, Brenda Williams (background vocals).

Personnel includes: Isaac Hayes (vocals, keyboards); Michael Toles (guitar); Andrew Love (saxophone); Lester Snell (keyboards).

Entertainment Weekly (6/2/95, p.56) - "...On BRANDED, he doesn't update his sound as much as reassert it..." - Rating: B+
Q (7/95, p.118) - 3 Stars - Good - "...No new tricks....but life in the old dog yet."
Vibe (8/95, p.127) - "Isaac Hayes...[is] the bridge between James Brown and Burt Bacharach....BRANDED is a study in defying convention....He delivers in two lines what rap groups can't do in an album..."
Melody Maker (6/3/95, p.37) - "...not a classic, but not damn bad for a man of 56, either..."
Musician (6/95, p.71) - "...offers Hayes-the-crooner on topics such as sex, ecology, sex, mysticism and sex....Hayes' arrangements and rhythm tracks provide him with a lush sonic bed in which his seductions have their greatest credibility..."
NME (Magazine) (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #34 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995.
NME (Magazine) (6/10/95, p.50) - 9 (out of 10) - "...as big, bold and idiosyncratic an album as he's recorded....Hayes stands alone as a father figure who can take on the suffering and injustice that spawned rap and the rampant machismo that sired soul and take it all to church..."