Shaft: Music From The Soundtrack (1971 Film) [SOUNDTRACK]

Isaac Hayes, Shaft (Related Recordings)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 1991)
• Original Release Date: July 2, 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Stax
• ASIN: B000000ZML
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,267 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The "Theme from Shaft" is now so ingrained in popular consciousness as the blaxploitation-movie track that it's hard to listen to it without a faint smirk. ("Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?"!!) But if you can get past the inadvertent humor, it's still a devilishly exciting piece of music--all hi-hat 16ths, wah-wah guitar, strings, and woodwind, like a Norman Whitfield Motown production taken to a baroque extreme. The rest of the album consists mainly of incidental mood music of no great worth: "Walk from Regio's," "Ellie's Love Theme"--you know the sort of thing. Only two other tracks feature the Black Moses pipes, while the endless "Do Your Thing" takes its place in the catalog of Hayes epics that began with Hot Buttered Soul. --Barney Hoskyns

Product Description

Of the many wonderful blaxpoitation soundtracks to emerge during the early '70s, Shaft certainly deserves mention as not only one of the most lasting but also one of the most successful. Isaac Hayes was undoubtedly one of the era's most accomplished soul artists. With the Theme From Shaft, Hayes delivered an anthem just as ambitious and revered as the film itself, a song that has only grown more treasured over the years, after having been an enormously popular hit at the time of its release. Soulsville operates effectively as the sort of down-tempo ballad Hayes was most known for, just as the almost 20-minute Do Your Thing showcased just how impressive the Bar-Keys had become, stretching the song to unseen limits with their inventive, funky jamming. This CD features cinematic moments of instrumentation, composed and produced by Hayes while being performed by the Bar-Kays - some down-tempo, others quite jazzy. A Stax records

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Better!!, December 7, 2003

By	Paul J. Pacelli "paulpinct" (Wallingford, Connecticut United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Simply put, the greatest movie soundtrack of all time. No other soundtrack has seemlessly tied together a storyline, mood and the time it was released. It's a lyrical painting of urban America in the 70s. And the opening cymbal/wah-wah guitar combo has NEVER been matched. Think about it. What other classic is immediately recognizable within the first five or ten seconds?? I'm a white, suburban, 42-year-old guy who grew up on great music like this. I just wish American youth (white and black) would be more exposed to guys like Issac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Al Green instead of the hip-hop garbage that passes today as urban/soul. They could learn a thing or two about arrangements and composition too!!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing better, June 5, 2000

By	Eric V. Moye (New York, by way of Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It is hard sometimes to remember how seminal a work Shaft was, now some thirty years ago.

And the music was as groundbreaking as the movie was. There had not been very many pieces of music like it at the time. Few have been able to be this innovative since that time.

Issac Hayes had already established himself as an arranger and producer par excellence. He could twist new and different music from oft-heard classics, as was done in his first three albums like no one else, before or since. His bona fides as a writer were long established, from a ton of work for the Atlantic/Atco stable.

The guitar scratching opening of the "Theme From Shaft" has been repeated to death, and the song itself gets lots of airplay on oldies stations (and we'll probably hear this even more when the re-make comes out in a few weeks). But there was nothing like this ever heard in 1970! This album, though, has a ton of other good music, seldom heard. "Cafe Reggio" is as cool as the other side of the pillow. "Ellie's Love Theme" is soft and romantic. Those who might dis this work as being as banal as elevator music are missing something really special.

This single CD is a good place upon which to recapture Ike's creative excellence.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Soundtrack That Changed It All, June 1, 2000

By	Eddie Landsberg "10 years reviewing on Amazon... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The influence of SHAFT, not only the movie but the sountrack on popular cultural is immeasurable, and I'm sure with the new Samuel L. Jackson movie, people will be renting, and hopefully buying the soundtrack once again. - - But the question is, what makes this sountrack so special that while movie scores come and go, this movie which wasn't even a musical has had such a major impact on our popular culture ? There are a lot of answers, but what made the movie stand out at the time in part was the music, which plays almost back to back through the film and performed by Issac Hayes, who back then was the soul icon and superstar. But he not only "sung" a few songs, he practically wrote and orchestrated the entire score and created a soundtrack which practically sold the movie. His fame at one point in the early '70s had him known as the Black Moses of Soul, with his shaved head, riding out on stage on a motorcycle wearing nothing but chains... this is CHEF from South Park we're talking about here. - - But it wasn't just his image that made him an icon. Issac Hayes created a form of orchestral soul which the soundtrack to Shaft epitomized. Slick, commercial arrangements with his notorious "love raps", and energetic hooks and emotions. He could be wicked, funky and nasty or slick and soulful - - and even though his songs broke the 3 minute radio airplay rule often by entire album sides, his albums sold. Sadly, the demise of Stax, which in years would go from riches to financial ruin, would lead to the downful of the Hayes and The Movement who by then was also an action film star (check out Truck Turner ! ! !) From what I understand he doesn't even get residuals on his hits, but a new generation is discovering Hayes's talent... now more often then not as an actor, not the architect of the STAX sound of the '60s and '70s (he wrote many of Sam & Dave's big hits as well as other Stax hits). Kudos for Issac Hayes in his ability to remain fresh and re-invent himself... he was always ahead of the times, as is this album which despite the fact that for many people SHAFT was a partial embodiment of soul culture in the '70s, is fresh and entertaining today. - - While Theme from Shaft is the most memorable cut on the album, DO YOUR THING, CAFE REGIOS'S, ELLIE'S LOVE THEME and SOULSVILLE are my faves. If you can get your hands on it... check out ISSAC HAYES LIVE AT THE SHARA TAHOE ! ! !