The Bar-Kays were going through some things when this album was released. Cultivated in part by Otis Redding and Booker T. and the M.G.’s, members of the band perished on the day soul music died in 1967. This reconstituted band, which in 1969 backed Isaac Hayes on the epic Hot Buttered Soul album, had its turning point with 1971’s Black Rock. They went on to be one of the quintessential funk bands.
Despite making 8:37-18:42 of Hayes’ version of By the Time I Get to Phoenix is the greatest song of all time, I think this album marked a transition and nothing more. It’s not in the party pile.
