Shaft [SOUNDTRACK] [IMPORT]

Isaac Hayes, Shaft (Related Recordings)

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 25, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack, Import
• Label: Stax UK
• ASIN: B000026EVG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #472,150 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 --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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 --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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)

This review is from: Shaft: Music From The Soundtrack (1971 Film) (Audio CD)

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!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ikes a bad mutha-, January 18, 2004

By	brother_ike "brother_ike" (L-Boogie) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shaft: Music From The Soundtrack (1971 Film) (Audio CD)

By 1971 Ike was a big name in the R&B world. On his 1969 debut `Hot Buttered Soul' he had changed the game with his genius and innovation. However his two follow up albums had only shown flashes of the brilliance he flaunted so effortlessly on his debut.

Nevertheless much like Curtis Mayfield with `Superfly', being recruited to provide a film score (In this case Richard Roundtrees awesome Shaft) seemed to unlock the door to a hidden world of inspiration inside Ike's mind.

Everybody knows the distinctive and tongue in cheek title theme which these days seems to epitomise everything 70s. The remainder of the album is largely scene-related instrumentals and mood music that never stops being pleasing on the ear. The other two vocal cuts are the jazzy `Soulsville' and the mammoth `Do Your Thing'. In its 3 minute radio edit form `Do Your Thing' is a classic hard fonk number, however, the album version is dragged out to no less than twenty minutes(!), largely by an overly long electric guitar solo. Whereas previous extra length songs by Hayes had justified every second of their playing time, for once Ike seems to be doing it purely for the sake of it. Still it's a good tune and other than that its difficult to find fault with this album, which was a major hit and sealed Ike's name in history forever.

One of those Must Own type records.

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)

This review is from: Shaft: Music From The Soundtrack (1971 Film) (Audio CD)

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.