I THANK YOU: SAM & DAVE

I know that Sam Moore, formerly of the duo Sam & Dave is on tour.  So, I figured that was a good reason to bust out The Very Best of Sam & Dave and rock it in the car. All I have to say is: damn.  You listen to Sam & Dave and their labelmate Otis Redding, and you realize where Bruce Springsteen (and Steven Van Zandt, and Southside Johnny, and many others) got 90% of their vocal influence from. That, of course, is not put down to Jersey's finest. Everyone has influences, why not be influenced by the greatest. There was something beautiful and raw going on at Stax Records back in the day: Booker T & The MGs played on lots of the Stax Records, and Isaac Hayes was a behind-the-scenes guy before he started making his own records. But for some reason, Sam & Dave don't seem to be as well remembered as many of their peers (although their biggest hit, "Soul Man," will never go away). You may not have any of their music, but if you trust me, pick up a copy of The Very Best Of Sam & Dave. It's just one CD, and it is gold from start to finish.

SOUL MEN

Even though Soul Men hasn't gotten great reviews, I want to see it. I was always a big fan of Bernie Mac - I loved the first season or two of his own show, plus the Oceans films and also Bad Santa. And I've written about the late Isaac Hayes. It's eerie that those two legends, both in the film, died one day apart in August.

The film, also starring Samuel L. Jackson, is a fictional story based in the Memphis soul scene of the '60s and '70s, which makes it of interest to me. I don't have the soundtrack, but I did download a few songs from iTunes.

"I'm Your Puppet" is a song from the era sung by John Legend (in the film, he was the original lead singer of the group that Bernie and Sam were in). John sings it well, but Sam and Bernie's backing vocals are kind of funny. It probably works in the film.

"Water" is another Stax song, this one covered by the great MeShell NdegeOcello. She's great at this kind of song. Unless she gets too jazzy or too out there, I usually enjoy her stuff.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings cover The First Edition's "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." The First Edition featured Kenny Rogers on vocals (the original was used to great effect in The Big Lebowski). Great version.

The Sugarman 3 & Lee Fields: "You Don't Know What You Mean (To A Lover Like Me)." The Sugarman 3 is from Daptone Records, the label that puts out Sharon Jones' music. They are sort of revivalists, which I think is cool.

All of these songs are available at the iTunes store, they're worth the combined $3.

"RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE" - THE FILM

A few years ago, a documentary about Muhammed Ali 's famous "Rumble In The Jungle" match against George Foreman in Zaire in 1974 came out: it was called When We Were Kings. The film touched on the concerts that took place around the fight, but now a documentary on those performances, Rumble In The Jungle, will be coming out. James Brown performed, as did Bill Withers, B.B. King and many others. I recently raved about the James Brown DVD box set I Got The Feelin' - the footage of James back in the day is pretty awesome - and this should be similarly great.

Another great soul/R&B doc from that era is Wattstax: it was a 1972 concert billed as the "Black Woodstock," featuring Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, Kim Weston and The Bar-Kays, among others . I had the privlege to interview Chuck D. about it when it came out (Public Enemy used the in-between-song-banter on It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, and Chuck did a commentary track for the DVD), which was really cool experience. I was surprised that I hadn't really heard of the concert before the release of the DVD, despite having listened to It Takes A Nation thousands of times.

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: ISAAC, OTIS AND JAMES

I'm actually on vacation this week (or, "stay-cation" in the parlance of the times), but I will be doing the OutQ show. Larry and the crew were on vacation last week, and I don't want to miss two shows in two weeks.

So, this week, I'll be talking about the late, great Isaac Hayes and his body of work - not just as a solo artist, but the stuff he wrote for Sam & Dave. Also, the newly released James Brown DVD box set: I Got The Feelin': James Brown In The '60s. And finally, the deluxe reissue of Otis Redding's classic 1965 album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. It is one of the greatest albums of all time, no doubt. The reissue is cool, but a bit audiophiley: not everyone cares to have both the stereo and mono mixes. But there is some cool live stuff included as well. I do wish more people knew how great, and how influential, Otis Redding was. Listen to one of his albums and then see Bruce Springsteen in concert, it'll all make sense.

Speaking of Bruce, I may also talk about his concert: I'm going to see him again tomorrow night in Hershey, PA. Yes, I saw him three times this summer (read about it here, here and here) but my wife didn't because she was in Africa. I may also talk about last weeks' Rancid concert, which was pretty great too.

ISAAC HAYES, REST IN PEACE

You can read obits of Isaac Hayes all over the web. By now, everyone knows that he died from a stroke over the weekend.

Most people know about his late '60s/early '70s material -Hot Buttered Soul, Black Moses and the Shaft soundtrack. But before he went solo, he was one of Stax Records' best writer/producer/session musicians. Some of the songs he co-wrote include "Soul Man," "Hold On I'm Comin'" and "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby."

A few years ago, I interviewed him for some South Park thing he was promoting: maybe it was the new season. At the time, I was a bit annoyed that so many people knew him because of that show, rather than because of his catalog of incredible music. But then I realized, anything that brought people to the party is a good thing. He seemed to feel the same way. Anyway, I didn't care too much about South Park, so I asked a question or two about it and then cut right to the chase and started asking about Stax in the '60s. Seemingly surprised he asked me "How old are you?" Not old enough to remember that music, but I do have the Stax/Volt box set, and the music is incredible, it doesn't matter that I didn't live through it. That seemed to make him pretty happy.

Rest in peace, Mr. Isaac Hayes.