Last year, Ace released the first of a two-volume series collecting Isaac Hayes' single sides for the Stax label and his own Hot Buttered Soul imprint of ABC Records.  As Hayes was known for his epic productions, the shorter single edits offered a very different listening experience than the full album tracks.  Earlier this year, the second volume arrived, and though Hot Buttered Singles Volume 2: 1972-1976 chronicles a period in which Hayes had less crossover success, it's nonetheless filled with the kind of grooves that only the writer-composer-singer-producer could have created.

Volume One covered the period in which Hayes stepped out from behind the scenes in Memphis to become a marquee artist and Academy Award-winning composer with Shaft.  The opening single on this set reinforces the Shaft connection: Side One, "Theme from The Men," is a TV theme that captures much of the sound and style of the earlier hit, while its B-side, "Type Thang," was written for the Shaft sequel Shaft's Big Score.  (It was Hayes' sole contribution to the film as he and MGM couldn't come to terms.) The specter of the "black private dick who's a sex machine to all the chicks" continued with Hayes' next Stax single, "Rolling Down a Mountainside."  Introduced in 1973 by Motown group Third Creation on their lone released single, the performance was included at the end of the landmark concert film Wattstax.  However, it was a late addition to the movie as MGM had blocked his performances of the Shaft material, necessitating him to specially film "Rolling Down a Mountainside."  Though Hayes' recording only "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100, The Main Ingredient later took the Leon Ware/Jacqueline Hilliard song to the R&B top ten.

Tension was brewing between Stax, in financial trouble of its own, and Hayes.  His next singles encompassed a heavily-edited version of the title track from studio album Joy (1973) and two cuts edited from the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation film (Three) Tough Guys as well as a non-LP single in which he paired his funky yet plush original "Wonderful" with a faithful, swooning cover of The 5 Royales' "Someone Made You for Me."  No singles were released off the soundtrack of Truck Turner, Hayes' final album for Stax.

Hayes made the move to ABC Records with what would today be described as a "360 deal": ABC would market and distribute his Hot Buttered Soul recordings, allow him to sign artists to the imprint, and administer his publishing.  His first ABC/HBS album, 1975's Chocolate Chip, was unmistakably Hayes, with the title track proving to be a floor-filler and a top 20 R&B hit in the nascent days of disco.  A second single, the romantic "Come Live with Me" b/w "Body Language," was next issued from the LP.  Hayes leaned even more expressly into the popular dance genre with his second HBS album, Disco Connection.  An all-instrumental affair, it yielded the artist's first U.K. top ten since "Theme from Shaft" with its pulsating title track.

1976's Groove-a-Thon built on the foundation of Disco Connection with another six songs designed straight for the dancefloor including the more slowly-burning, Latin-flecked "Rock Me Easy Baby," split into two sides of vinyl for its single debut.  Hayes' tenth studio album, Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak), arrived later in 1976.  While Hayes had continued to musically evolve with the times, listeners didn't take to his latest disco effort, and it, too, "bubbled under" the Hot 100 while missing the R&B chart entirely.

The Hot Buttered Soul imprint would come to a halt after the release of the 1977 joint live album with Dionne Warwick, A Man and a Woman, and a single toplined by their duet intertwining "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "I Say a Little Prayer" in the mold of Glen Campbell and Anne Murray's 1971 recording.  Alas, the Dionne duet single is not included here.  After a bankruptcy filing, Hayes would regroup and reappear on the Polydor label later in 1977.

Collectively, these two volumes of Hot Buttered Singles sample an unparalleled era of one of America's greatest soul men.  Tony Rounce provides the liner notes in the 16-page booklet, and Nick Robbins has remastered all of the audio.

This second entry is available now at the links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Hot Buttered Singles Volume 2 (1972-1976) (Ace CDTOP 1660/HIQLP2 154 (U.K.), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Theme from The Men (Instrumental)
2. Type Thang
3. Rolling Down a Mountainside
4. (If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right
5. Joy (Pt. 1)
6. Joy (Pt. 2)
7. Wonderful
8. Someone Made You for Me
9. Title Theme
10. Hung Up on My Baby (Instrumental)
11. Chocolate Chip
12. Chocolate Chip (Instrumental)
13. Come Live with Me
14. Body Language
15. Disco Connection - Isaac Hayes Movement
16. St. Thomas Square - Isaac Hayes Movement
17. Rock Me Easy Baby (Pt. 1)
18. Rock Me Easy Baby (Pt. 2)
19. Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) (Pt. 1)
20. Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) (Pt. 2)

Tracks 1-2 released as Enterprise single ENA-9058, 1972
Tracks 3-4 released as Enterprise single ENA-9065, 1973. Original version of Track 3 released on The Living Word (Wattstax 2) - Stax STS 2-3018, 1973
Tracks 5-6 released as Enterprise single ENA-9085, 1973. Original versions released on Joy - Enterprise EQS-5007, 1973
Tracks 7-8 released as Enterprise single ENA-9095, 1974
Tracks 9-10 released as Enterprise single ENA-9104, 1974. Original versions released on Tough Guys - Enterprise ENS-7504, 1974
Tracks 11-12 released as HBS/ABC single 12118, 1975. Original versions released on Chocolate Chip - HBS/ABC 874, 1975
Tracks 13-14 released as HBS/ABC single 12138, 1975. Original versions released on Chocolate Chip
Tracks 15-16 released as HBS/ABC single 12171, 1976. Original versions released on Disco Connection - HBS/ABC 923, 1976
Tracks 17-18 released as HBS/ABC single 12176, 1976. Original versions released on Groove-a-Thon - HBS/ABC 925, 1976
Tracks 19-20 released as HBS/ABC single 12206, 1976. Original versions released on Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) - HBS/ABC 953, 1976