Discovery: Isaac Hayes LOVE ME OR LOSE ME

[remicks]

*****

OH , wow ......this is a good one !!! :D8)

LOVE ME OR LOSE ME
Isaac Hayes
From his JUICY FRUIT ( DISCO FREAK ) LP 1976

Isaac Hayes doin' a little Sound Of Philadelphia ......but Isaac Hayes style .... outta Memphis Tennessee .
This tune has that TSOP ongoing churning groove .... but not as thickly orchestrated, rarely applied horns and carefully placed strings ....this is instead strongly piano driven disco 8-) .... w/ tambourine .... incessant drumming and congos ( guitars , strings )
Endless and very upfront lovely female vocals ( Hot Buttered Soul Unlimited ) ... pleading over and over :
love me (piano tinkering) or lose me (piano tinkering) please me (piano tinkering) and you'll keep me (piano tinkering) kiss me (piano tinkering) or you'll miss me (piano tinkering)
hold me (piano tinkering ) and you'll control me ( piano tinkering)
repeat ..repeat ..repeat…..etc.
with Hayes doing a long ( two minute) call and response with the female vocals (softened Baptist gospel sounding ) ….. kiss me ….or you’ll lose me ... hold me ....and you'll control me .... until the end fade
…

One complaint ... a little muddy ( my copy ?) .... and why does Isaac so often sound like he's singing through a wet towel ???? :(

A good mix might be into AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW or WAKE UP EVERYBODY (the closest PI match )......


Boy .... had I found this BITD I'd have called Bobby Viteritti up on the phone myself ( if I had his phone number ) and said " Bobby dear friend (if he'd been a dear friend ) ... you've got to try this one as part of your morning music line-up" .............8-)






maybe he did ???:???::-D



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[Disco Funk]

I'll have to give that one another spin. I've been more a fan of the title track, Juicy Fruit. Love the syncopated beat and the flanged clavinet. A great funk track. But I'll dig out the album and check out Love Me or Lose Me and give my opinion on that cut.

Disco Funk

[remicks]

*****
I look forward to your thoughts DF !:D

Shall we do “ Juicy Fruit “ while we are at it ??

But first , I can't resist reviewing this album's cover :
It features a terrifically thoughtful photo shoot :

Isaac Hayes is in a swimming pool closely surrounded by an alluring assortment of lovely (topless ) ladies adorned in various juicy fruits .... it provides the jacket with a wonderful backdrop of pool water blue..... And including plenty of sexy tasty ladies never hurts ….

Now the remicks in me :roll::-P .... must point out the back of the jacket shows Isaac bursting out of the water (up and away ?) from the center of these lovelies with of all things .....a banana :o firmly fixed in his mouth !!!!! :lol::lol::lol: .... I'll let the more sensible here sort that out!!!!:lol:

This is a gatefold jacket and the inside also has some terrific imagery one has to see to appreciate .... lets just say it includes sets of feet and dropped panties wrapped around them ....:roll:

_______



Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak ) 6:17

Tune starts out with the most bawdy , ghetto dialoguing I think I’ve ever heard on a record ... a bunch of horny guys , not the least Isaac himself ....ogling some young lady ( Miss juicy fruit) and the dialogue is unapologetically racy ....guys wanting to pluck her peaches, eying the watermelons in her back pockets ….
But she more than handles herself well ( this ain't no shy lady ...seems to love the attention of so many guys ) when she's referred to as juicy fruit she answers , "Anybody want a stick of this ?" :o:lol:
Isaac first approaches her with a most embarrassingly childish line .... asking her if she had the mumps when she was a kid ( he has to correct himself because he first says "measles " ) and did them lumps then drop down into her chest " !!!:oops::oops::oops: Aye yi yi !!
The bantering between this young lady and these many men is quite sexually charged .. almost expect her to wind up on the pool table by the end ....This crowd is identified on the album jacket as :”Beauty and The Gorillas “.....and that’s about right !

Finally the song itself kicks in .... at first sounding somewhat Thom Bell like ...but that doesn't last long as it switches to a decidedly Ohio Players FIRE groove . Instead of a copy cat exploration .... I think its more of a well-done "homage'
So it sort of jumps back and forth between COULD IT BE I’M FALLING IN LOVE and FIRE …..before finally correctly deciding to stick with the “FIRE “ sound ….. .

Juicy fruit
sure is cute
In your sexy jumpsuit
You're really shaking your behind ...

or ...

(when you’re hot
you’re hot
and girl you've got a lot
You’re really something child ......)

About midway ....Isaac Hayes drops out ( good call but comes late ) and the tambourine beat gets effectively strengthened by prominent echoed handclaps.....
Instead of Isaac , the vocal becomes just a chorus of male vocals saying
Juicy fruit …sure is cute
disco freak.....sexy freak ..

with an occasional Lyn Collins type vocal doing some
"ya" ."that's right" along the way . “wanna squeeze? “

Mid-song on is definitely the better part ….

Three and a half *** 1/2





BTW Isaac’s closing line within the song :

“They say disco is here to stay
And it will never go away
So just as long as they’re around
You’ll find me in a disco getting down “ 8-)8-)8-)




*****