David Porter: "Victim Of The Joke?"

This is a very strange album.  On the cover it is subtitled as being an “opera,” and I suppose it is one of sorts, only this is an opera made with the Bar-Kays and the Memphis Horns playing the backing music.  David Porter, of course, was one half of the legendary Hayes-Porter songwriting duo at Stax records, responsible for such massive hits as Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man” and “I Thank You.”  Porter is definitely taking some cues from former co-writer Isaac Hayes here, creating long, drawn-out symphonic soundscapes that feature behind his half-sung, half-spoken vocals.  The “concept” of the LP is as follows:  Porter lusts after another man’s woman, has affair with woman, woman’s boyfriend beats the shit out of Porter, Porter separates himself from the situation, then finds himself regretting his decision and wanting woman back.  The storyline barely holds together; without the spoken interludes in between songs there would be nothing to latch onto in terms of plot.  Yet said plot is rendered completely insignificant by the tunes Porter recorded for this outing, with none standing out more blatantly than the break-heavy “I’m Afraid The Masquerade Is Over.”  The old standard is given quite the re-vamp in Porter’s hands, and the minute you hear the intro, stolen wholesale years later by the RZA for Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.,” you know you’ve got the vinyl goodness rotating on your turntable.  The interesting thing is, RZA used a lot of Stax breaks for his work with the Wu-Tang, and yet all his choices were the most desolate, vacant-sounding loops found in the label’s catalogue.  What he missed—albeit intentionally—were the joyous sounds of Southern soul in between the breaks.  The heavy horns, the Steve Cropper-esque guitar licks, the detailed yet sparse arrangements…these are the qualities that always made Stax so great, while simultaneously being the qualities that a generation of sample-happy beat-heads have let fall by the wayside.  I mean, it’s cool searching for breaks and everything, but what about the music y’all?!?