Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul

I don't have any other pressings, so I cannot say how this one compares, but the clarity and punch is there. Bass is a bit thin, but that could be down to how the album was mixed...

Keep in mind that this was recorded in 1969, on primitive equipment, and likely only at 8 tracks, so will never be a sonic marvel.

The absolute gold standard! This will never be bettered. Notice how they took away the sibilence on the female vocals during, “ Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic”. The whole presentation is far and away the best. It’s all here!

Bought originally on 8 track cartridge many decades ago, replaced into my collection in the mid 2010’s with a vinyl version, love all the tracks … Issac was a great artist

This pressing sounds good. The only downside for me is that I hear clicks and pops all over (after a deep clean). Maybe I'm the only one experiencing this.

This is a tremendous album, but can you really listen to One Woman without thinking about Chef? Also, this '72 pressing sounds terrific and you can get one in NM condition for less than $30.

I'm quite dissapointed in the Craft Small Batch Hot Buttered Soul. I can't be the only one wondering.... where's the bass? I only have the US 2018 Craft mastered LP by Dave Cooley to compare. I flipped between Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalmistic on both. They cymbals on the Cooley mastering sound crunchy and less detailed, less like cymbals. Where as the Small Batch sounds incredibly clear and lifelike. The soundstange on the small batch is much superior. It's also a very smooth presentation that begs to be turned up. But there is no slam, no bottom end. It would have been wonderful if the Grundman mastering has more of that slam with the bass! it would have been perfect.

ATC SCM20ASL Speakers
ATC CDA2 MKII Preamp
ATC C2 Active Subwoofer
Dynavector DV20X2L Cartfridge
Dynavector P75 Mk3.5 Phonostage
Well Tempered Simplex Mk2 Turntable

Outstanding. What a great choice for craft. Will be subscribing to future small batch one steps.

FINALLY!!!

A modern pressing that fully does justice to this masterpiece. Side 1 is about as good as music can possibly be for me.

The previous Craft issues sounded good but werent well pressed, being quite noisy for so called audiophile vinyl.

The very recent Rough Trade Essentials was a disaster for me. NON FILLED TO HELL.

So how does the One Step fare? Well, i almost shat a brick when i first inspected it (copy 01254) as i have some visible groove oddities, looking something like non fill/stitching on One Woman. Mercifully it is inaudible. Thankfully what is audible is just the sheer quality of sound. This is so much better than ive heard before and the record is almost silent bar two or three tics which could be static. And thats on first play through which is great because i find all RTI pressings tend to get quieter after 3 or 4 plays. Bare in mind ive ultrasonically cleansed my copy so have given it the best chance to impress.

And impress it does. Sonically its AMAZING. Clarity like never before with depth and richness.

The packaging remains........annoying for me. Once you take away the needless outer slip with its miniscule art and waste of shelf space, the main jacket is a plain single sleeve of no better quality than the Dave Cooley Craft reissue from circa 2018. Its really mediocre.

I wish MOFI/AP/Craft would just give us thick heavy high quality tip on gatefolds and save the BS fripperies that just offer nothing good at all while driving cost up.

Apart from that, im delighted!! This is my one!!

If the Craft One Step sounds $80 better than this, it’s really gotta be amazing, because this is fantastic.

Good sound but bad pressing with pops on both sides.