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- Date Released: January 1, 1971
- Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B
- Style: Soul
- Label: Fantasy / Stax
-
We Say...
Before he provided the voice of Chef on South Park, Isaac Hayes co-wrote R&B classics like Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" and "Hold On! I'm Coming" with a fellow Memphis, Tennessee, collaborator whose name is buried deeply in music history books, if at all: David Porter. While Hayes became the Shaft-celebrating Black Moses of '70s soul, Porter attempted a similarly orchestrated solo career by mixing down-home funk (here provided by the Bar-Kays and the Memphis Horns) with astoundingly elaborate symphonics.
Porter's 1971 album, Victim of the Joke?: An Opera, overlays even more drama in the form of extended spoken interludes chronicling the delirious private ups and catastrophic public downs of an archetypal love triangle. Although voice-acted with period blaxploitation excess, most of the talky segments pale next to Porter's musical grandiloquence. Like Hayes, Porter transforms pop hits like the Beatles' "Help!" into widescreen soul extravaganzas boasting jagged rhythm guitars, biting trumpet blasts and cooing female background singers. Porter's own opening and closing compositions provide much up-tempo momentum, but it's his labyrinthine treatment of the Tin Pan Alley oldie "The Masquerade Is Over" that should've made Porter a star. Over the course of nearly ten gloriously theatrical minutes, Porter constructs a roller coaster of an arrangement that provides multiple peaks through its first half, suddenly drops down to its knees for an extended funky breakbeat and then builds back up again for an agonized finale reverberating with instrumental bravado. The title aside, this soul opera is no joke. -
They Say...
Victim of the Joke?: An Opera is a concept album of sorts, the songs linked together by dialogue based around a thin romantic plot. The tunes (including both originals and surprising covers of the Beatles' "Help!" and the Tin Pan Alley tune "The Masquerade Is Over") are OK, but not special, treading closer to pop-soul than the grittier tone of many of David Porter's '60s compositions with Isaac Hayes. Porter's voice, again, is OK but unremarkable. While the construction of the LP was a laudably ambitious outing by early-'70s soul standards, the results weren't all that interesting; indeed, the thematic "concept" (of a typically rocky love affair) that drives the album is pretty simple and innocuous.
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| 01. |  |
Act 1 Scene 1 Introduction |
3:35 |
|
| 02. | |
Act 1 Scene 1 If I Give It Up, I Want It Back |
2:28 |
|
| 03. | |
Act 1 Scene 2 Interlude |
1:39 |
|
| 04. | |
Act 1 Scene 2 When You Have To Sneak (You Have To Sneak) |
3:28 |
|
| 05. | |
Act 1 Scene 3 Interlude |
1:15 |
|
| 06. | |
Act 1 Scene 3 Help |
3:36 |
|
| 07. | |
Act 1 Scene 4 Interlude |
0:48 |
|
| 08. | |
Act 1 Scene 4 The Masquerade Is Over |
9:41 |
|
| 09. | |
Act 2 Scene 1 Interlude |
1:59 |
|
| 10. | |
Act 2 Scene 1 Storm In The Summertime |
5:45 |
|
| 11. | |
Act 2 Scene 2 Interlude |
2:41 |
|
| 12. | |
Act 2 Scene 2 Pretty Inside |
3:32 |
|
| 13. |
Act 2 Scene 3 Interlude |
0:21 |
|
|
| 14. | |
Act 2 Scene 3 Human |
3:50 |
|
| 15. | |
Act 2 Scene 4 Interlude |
2:23 |
|
| 16. | |
Act 2 Scene 4 Airplane Ticket, Bus Ride, Can I Borrow Your Car? |
3:48 |
|
16 Total Tracks, 50:49 Total Length
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Credits
- The Memphis Horns - Horn // The Memphis Horns - Brass // The Memphis Horns - ? // David Lee Porter - Main Performer // David Lee Porter - Performer // The Bar-Kays - Percussion // The Bar-Kays - Rhythm // The Bar-Kays - ? // Harold Beane - Guitar // Harold Beane - ? // William Brown - Engineer // Henry Bush - Engineer // Henry Bush - Cast // Ron Capone - Engineer // Ron Capone - Remixing // Ron Capone - Cast // Buddy Davis - Guitar // Buddy Davis - Percussion // Buddy Davis - ? // Phil DeLancie - Digital Remastering // Donald "Duck" Dunn - Bass // Donald "Duck" Dunn - ? // Peter Granet - Engineer // Willie Hall - Drums // Willie Hall - ? // Leon Hodges - Bass // Bobby Manuel - Guitar // Bobby Manuel - Percussion // Bobby Manuel - Engineer // Bobby Manuel - ? // Memphis Symphony Orchestra - Strings // Memphis Symphony Orchestra - ? // Larry Nix - Cast // David Porter - Arranger // David Porter - Vocals // David Porter - Producer // Dave Purple - Engineer // Dave Purple - Remixing // Dale Warren - Arranger // Ronny Williams - Organ // Ronny Williams - Piano // Ronny Williams - Producer // Ronny Williams - ? // Al Jackson, Jr. - Drums // Al Jackson, Jr. - ? // Rob Bowman - Liner Notes // Darryl Williams - Editing // Ronnie Williams - Organ // Ronnie Williams - Piano // Ronnie Williams - Arranger // Ronnie Williams - Producer // Ronnie Williams - Cast
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