(They Long To Be) Close To You by Isaac Hayes from Black Moses

Black Moses, the original LP cover of which unfolded in the shape of a cross three feet wide and four feet tall, “is a wondrously crafted, intense evocation of the vagaries of love gone bad,“ in the words of Stax historian Rob Bowman. Hayes used songs popularized by such artists as the Jackson 5, the Carpenters, Toussaint McCall, Little Johnny Taylor, Jerry Butler, the Whispers, Ray Price, and Dionne Warwick, along with his own highly erotic “Good Love,“ to express the heartbreak he was feeling about the breakup of his own marriage. “Isaac’s ability to take other people’s material and make it so deeply personal,“ Bowman observed, “is nothing short of brilliant.“ Get the latest official Master of Soul merch at: Official Isaac Hayes Synch Licensing: