Isaac Hayes Movement - Disco Connection

Few things can ever be quite so annoying as waiting years – thirty, in this case – for an LP to be issued on compact disc only to find out that it has been mastered from vinyl.  And not very well at that. 

Disco Connection by The Isaac Hayes Movement is perhaps one of the most unusual records in the great man’s catalogue.  It is completely instrumental, and apart from the metronomic powerhouse that is the title track, the album verges on the easy listening.

Except that that would be unfair.  The album is no doubt easy on the ear, but there is so much to get involved with – the arrangements are heavily layered and the melody lines are downright addictive.  The first two tracks (The First Day of Forever and St Thomas Square) both have that rare quality – they sound oh-so familiar, the first time that one hears them. 

Disco Shuffle and Choppers could serve as incidental music in an episode of Kojak or Ironsides.  Which should be taken as a compliment (we’re big fans of the music of Lalo Schifrin et al).  Vykkii, Aruba and After Five are gorgeous ballads, the title track (a hit single in 1976) should fill any dancefloor with its sweeping strings and pulsing mid-70s 4/4 beat.

And on this occasion, I am breaking my own rule.  This album is indeed available on CD, but as discussed earlier, it has been mastered badly from a crackly piece of vinyl.  And at the wrong speed – the version that now appears on the Stax label is half a semitone slow.  So here is an ultra-clean rip of the original vinyl. For comparison’s sake only, you understand.  

The following details regarding the CD reissue are thus fairly troubling: -

• The album was originally released on the ABC/Hot Buttered Soul label, two years after Ike had left Stax/Enterprise.  The other two albums made for HBS were reissued on Universal – which is ABC’s (now MCA) parent label.  I am of course aware that records migrate labels when reissued, but something seems odd here.
• It is hard to believe that the master tapes of such an album cannot be found.  Why use a scuffed old piece of vinyl as an audio source? 
  
• That the CD plays the music at the wrong speed is unforgiveable.  Oddly enough, some years back I encountered a vinyl rip of this album on a music blog page.  Which was also half a semitone slow.  How very strange!

Now, hit the download link & get some mid-70s soul/mood music on the stereogram.  

Track listing

1. The First Day of Forever
2. St. Thomas Square
3. Vykkii
4. Disco Connection
5. Disco Shuffle
6. Choppers
7. After Five
8. Aruba

ABC/Hot Buttered Soul ABCD 923

download here