Black Moses - ISAAC HAYES**

Never Can Say Goodbye/Close To You/Nothing Takes The Place Of You/Man's Temptation/Never Gonna Give You Up/Ike's Rap II-Help Me Love/Need To Belong To Someone/Good Love 6-9969/Ike's Rap III-Your Love Is So Doggonne Good /For The Good Times/I'll Never Fall In Love Again/Part Time Love/Ike's Rap IV-A Brand New Me/Going In Circles

The Black Moses double album won a second Grammy award for soul artist Isaac Hayes, this time in the pop instrumental category. It again includes his idiosyncratic take on some pop standards. (US:10 UK:38)

“It's cool that he did another double album after Shaft that's not mainly instrumental, still some of the songs go on a little longer than I like. I don't particularly care for Isaac singing love songs really, which is what most of this album is. More so as when I listen to Isaac it's for the instrumentation.”

“I really enjoyed the ballads on here. Everything is really smooth and calming. I find it a bit long and there aren't any classic Isaac songs, just a bunch of decent easylistening ballads. It's pleasant but there isn't much more to this than that.”

“The vast majority of these two discs is given to slow, epic love songs, with the only really uptempo cut being the album highlight Good Love, a light-hearted funky track that is both catchy and groovy. Unfortunately, the endless slow grooves and strings start to drag sometimes, especially on the first disc.”

“On Black Moses, Isaac Hayes is at the height of his musical powers. He takes some classic song material and makes it his own, exploding the compositions, laying them out with confident care, and delivering to you the sort of soul that takes its time to good effect.”

“As with all his best work from the early 70s, he completely transforms the songs, turning them into extended super jams that go way past the original versions.”

“Black Moses would have been a near perfect record if it had been skimmed down to a single LP. Nevertheless, seeing as to how many gems there are, and considering that even the less spectacularly executed tunes still sound awfully sweet, its iconic status is much deserved.”

“This is yet another double album that would be much better condensed into a single disc. Without the lesser efforts this would be another undisputed classic. As it is, Black Moses is a flawed, indulgent release which is necessary for Hayes devotees, but would not be a great introduction to his work.”