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Shaft (album)

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Released
  
August 1971

Length
  
69:29

Shaft (1971)
  
Black Moses (1971)

Release date
  
August 1971

Recorded
  
1971

Label
  
Enterprise ENS-2-5002

Artist
  
Isaac Hayes

Producer
  
Isaac Hayes

Shaft (album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen334Sha

Studio
  
Stax Recording Studios, Memphis, Tennessee

Awards
  
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

Genres
  
Soul music, Funk, Rhythm and blues

Similar
  
Isaac Hayes albums, Funk albums

Shaft is a double album by Isaac Hayes, recorded for Stax Records' Enterprise label as the soundtrack LP for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1971 Soul Cinema Classic film Shaft. The album mostly consists of instrumentals composed by Hayes as score for the film. Three vocal selections are included: "Soulsville", "Do Your Thing", and "Theme from Shaft". A commercial and critical success, Shaft is Hayes' best-known work and the best-selling LP ever released on a Stax label.

Contents

In 2014, the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Isaac hayes shaft motion picture soundtrack 1971 full length album


Conception

Hayes initially became involved with Shaft in hopes of having director Gordon Parks cast him in the title role, but was not aware that Richard Roundtree had already been cast as John Shaft. Hayes did appear in the film in a cameo role, but, more significantly, composed the film's score. While the film was still in production, Parks sent Hayes raw footage of some of the film's scenes, and Hayes wrote three pieces for the scenes: "Theme from Shaft" for the opening title sequence, "Soulsville" for a scene in which Shaft walks through Harlem, and "Ellie's Love Theme" for a love scene.

Pleased with the results, MGM hired Hayes to compose the rest of the score, and the musician spent two months working between tour dates on the score at the MGM studio. Once the score was composed and arranged, Hayes recorded the rhythm tracks with Stax band The Bar-Kays in one day. The orchestral tracks were recorded the next day, and the vocals the day after that. The songs were later re-recorded for the album at Stax Studios and slightly rearranged from their film versions: MGM's recording facility was based upon a three-track system, and Hayes wanted a richer sound for the album).

Reception

Upon its release in the summer of 1971, Shaft became the first double album of original studio material released by an R&B artist. The album peaked at number one on The Billboard 200 chart, and spent sixty weeks on the chart. It took the top position on the Top R&B Albums chart for 14 weeks. Both "Theme from Shaft" and "Do Your Thing" became Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the former peaking at number one.

At the 1972 Grammy Awards, "Theme from Shaft" won the awards for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical and Best Instrumental Arrangement. The film score as a whole won for Best Instrumental Composition Written Specifically For A Motion Picture or for Television. The National Association of Television and Radio Announcers gave Shaft its Album of the Year award. At the Academy Awards that year, Hayes became the first African-American to win an Oscar for a non-acting category when "Theme from Shaft" won the award for Best Original Song. Isaac Hayes was nominated for Original Dramatic Score as well, losing to Michel Legrand for the score to Summer of '42.

The 2009 re-release of the soundtrack on CD by Stax Records added an additional track, "Theme from Shaft" (2009 Mix), timed at 4:45.

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Isaac Hayes.

Side one

  1. "Theme from Shaft" (Vocal Version) – 4:39
  2. "Bumpy's Lament" – 1:51
  3. "Walk from Regio's" – 2:24
  4. "Ellie's Love Theme" – 3:18
  5. "Shaft's Cab Ride" – 1:10

Side two

  1. "Cafe Regio's" – 6:10
  2. "Early Sunday Morning" – 3:49
  3. "Be Yourself" – 4:30
  4. "A Friend's Place" – 3:24

Side three

  1. "Soulsville" (Vocal Version) – 3:48
  2. "No Name Bar" – 6:11
  3. "Bumpy's Blues" – 4:04
  4. "Shaft Strikes Again" – 3:04

Side four

  1. "Do Your Thing" (Vocal Version) – 19:30
  2. "The End Theme" – 1:56

Personnel

  • Lead vocals (tracks A1, C1, D1), keyboards (All tracks), and lyrics (A1, C1, D1) : Isaac Hayes
  • Rhythm, Horns and Strings arranged by Johnny Allen (tracks A1-A2, A4-D2), J. J. Johnson (A3), and Isaac Hayes (All tracks)
  • Backing vocals by Pat Lewis, Rose Williams, and Telma Hopkins (tracks A1, C1, D1)
  • Instrumentation by The Bar-Kays and The Isaac Hayes Movement
  • Electric piano by Lester Snell
  • Bass guitar by James Alexander (tracks A1-A4, B1-D2)
  • Guitar by Charles Pitts
  • Guitar by Michael Toles
  • Drums by Willie Hall
  • Conga, and Bongo drums by Gary Jones
  • Lead Trumpet by Richard "Johnny" Davis
  • Flute by John Fonville

    • Singles

    "Do Your Thing" was also a Top 40 Pop Single

    Grammy Awards

  • Shaft
  • Best Instrumental Composition Written Specifically For A Motion Picture or for Television (Isaac Hayes)
  • "Theme from Shaft"
  • Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Dave Purple, Henry Bush, Ron Capone)
  • Best Instrumental Arrangement (Isaac Hayes, Johnny Allen)

    • Later Samples

  • "No Name Bar"
  • "Soulja's Story" by 2Pac from the album 2Pacalypse Now
  • "Bumpy's Lament"
  • "Drugs" by Lil' Kim from the album Hardcore
  • "Xxplosive" by Dr. Dre from the album 2001
  • "Back At You" by Mobb Deep from the album Sunset Park (Soundtrack)
  • "Walk from Regio's"
  • "On the Double" by Grooverider from the album Mysteries of Funk
  • "Do Your Thing"
  • "Smooth Operator" by Big Daddy Kane from the album It's a Big Daddy Thing

    • Songs

    1Theme From Shaft4:37
    2Bumpy's Lament1:52
    3Walk From Regio's2:24

    References

    Shaft (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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