VA-"The Isaac Hayes And David Porter Songbook" [Ace UK-9/30/2022]

[Motown Eddie]

Their partnership lasted barely four years and just over 50 songs - but between 1965 and 1969 Isaac Hayes and David Porter penned some of soul’s most enduring anthems of their era, many of which are still being regularly performed and recorded to this day.
Ace are delighted to welcome them into our ever-popular Songwriter Series this month with “Wrap It Up”, a fantastic collection featuring almost half of the total number of songs they wrote together in versions you would expect, and versions you wouldn’t!
Hayes and Porter wrote for almost every major act on the Stax roster, but the commercial appeal of their songs gave them appeal to artists operating outside of the perimeters of soul music. ZZ Top, Peter Frampton, the [Count] Bishops and Charlie Rich are just some of the fine turns you will find here essaying Hayes and Porter copyrights alongside Stax stalwarts such as Johnnie Taylor, Mable John, the Emotions, the Soul Children, Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, and, of course, Sam and Dave whose recordings of their songs were what established Hayes and Porter as a peerless songwriting force in the first place.
As lovingly curated and expertly annotated as you would expect any Ace project in the Songwriter Series to be, “Wrap It Up” is another valuable piece in the great American songwriting jigsaw, and very much a collection where the songs that were not necessarily big hits are easily on a par with those that were. It is a fitting audio tribute to two men who have between them won just about every major award going, from Grammys to election to the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.
Hold on, they’re coming…

• 1. Sixty Minutes Of Your Love - Homer Banks
• 2. As Long As I've Got You - The Emotions
• 3. B-A-B-Y - Rachel Sweet
• 4. Can't Trust Your Neighbour - Freddie King
• 5. May I Baby - Peter Frampton
• 6. You're Taking Up Another Man's Place - Aretha Franklin
• 7. Hold On I'm Comin' [Single Version] - The Righteous Brothers
• 8. I've Got To Love Somebody's Baby - Peter Gallagher
• 9. I'll Understand - Edwin Starr & Blinky
• 10. I Take What I Want - The Bishops
• 11. I Thank You - Z Z Top
• 12. My Baby Specializes - Delaney & Bonnie
• 13. Never Like This Before - Marcia Ball
• 14. Soul Man - Sam & Dave
• 15. Left Over Love - Ruby Johnson
• 16. The Sweeter He Is [Parts 1 & 2] - The Soul Children
• 17. Toe Hold [unedited version] - Johnnie Taylor
• 18. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby - Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
• 19. Wrap It Up - Archie Bell and the Drells
• 20. You Don't Know Like I Know - Keith Powell and Billie Davis
• 21. You Got Me Hummin' - The Hassles
• 22. Your Good Thing [Is About To End] - Mable John
• 23. Love Is After Me - Charlie Rich
• 24. I'm Dedicating My Life - Danny White

Various Artists [Songwriter Series] - Wrap It Up - The Isaac Hayes And David Porter Songbook - Ace Records

[kenneth]

What a great release. I have many of the volumes in this series but not all of them, and they’re all really well done just as you would expect from Ace. Very happy to see they included both parts of “The Sweeter He Is” by the Soul Children.

Who is the singer on the cover? Also, I’ve never seen such an early photo of Isaac Hayes. What a handsome guy.

[reese]

What a great release. I have many of the volumes in this series but not all of them, and they’re all really well done just as you would expect from Ace. Very happy to see they included both parts of “The Sweeter He Is” by the Soul Children.

Who is the singer on the cover? Also, I’ve never seen such an early photo of Isaac Hayes. What a handsome guy.

Mable John.

[kenneth]

Mable John.

Thanks! I didn’t recognize her and forgot she recorded for Stax. I think her comp “Stay Out of the Kitchen” was from that period, as I recall.

[reese]

Thanks! I didn’t recognize her and forgot she recorded for Stax. I think her comp “Stay Out of the Kitchen” was from that period, as I recall.

Yes it was. It is a nice bookend to her Motown comp MY NAME IS MABLE.