Shaft: Music From the Soundtrack

Even the most well-made movie soundtrack is still, ultimately, a movie soundtrack. There's not quite enough substance to elevate it to a five star rating for me... presumably the experience of watching the film is what provides that substance. (I watch maybe two or three movies a year, it's not my preferred form of entertainment.)

Abseits des monotonen Titelthemas verliert sich der Soundtrack in langen, filmisch gedachten Passagen, die ohne visuelle Begleitung schnell an Zugkraft verlieren.

I’m at a 10, though I do have one little gripe here.

I mean, look, Isaac Hayes is in remarkable form throughout this thing. Say what you will about a soundtrack album making the list & any frustrations that might stem from this being a mostly instrumental album, but… my goodness, these compositions are fucking awesome even without the context of the movie. I’ve never seen Shaft, but goddamn, do I want to now. The funk present here is in top form, especially for 1971, and Hayes’ ability to capture a mood on so many of these tracks, with almost nothing but the titles alone to go off of, is incredible. There’s not really a dull moment here – points where you can easily zone out, sure, but it’s never in a way that leads to boredom. It’s zoning out in a way where the groove naturally glides its way into your ears & you can just feel it, even if you’re not paying attention to the chord structure or some of the prettier background details. This whole album never takes away from that energy, and it succeeds as both an instrumental album & as a movie soundtrack. I’m not sure if there’s many other soundtrack albums in history that have been nominated for an Academy Award & the GRAMMY Album of the Year. Even after trying to Google it, I can only really find a handful of examples (surprisingly, “Star Wars” & “Beauty & The Beast” among them).

So, what’s the gripe? For as much as I really like “Do Your Thing”, I do feel like the 20 minutes stall at a certain point. That’s not to say I wasn’t captivated by it, but unlike a lot of the other tracks where the groove glides & you never feel the weight of the length bearing on the track, it definitely hit more on that one. Between that & the sort of ear-splitting outro with the guitar deciding it wanted to go as loud as possible, it didn’t leave me as satisfied as I wish it had. That said, for the vast majority of its runtime, it’s still a pretty damn good track, and it barely takes away from a stellar soundtrack otherwise. It is the sort of thing that makes this a slightly shakier 10, as it might hit me a little differently on another future re-listen, but regardless, I fucking loved this. Isaac Hayes must’ve felt on top of the world in the early ‘70s, man. I’m very glad this is on the list, and for me, it’s a 10.

A pretty enjoyable listen, although most of it was acted as pleasant background music rather than a truly engaging experience. Definitely a few standouts among the bunch, though.

Isaac Hayes is a brilliang songwriter, that's for sure, and tracks like the epic Do Your Thing are really amazing and could easily be on studio albums' level, but it is still a soundtrack, which - as an album - makes it not as great, because in most of the tracks you can feel something is missing. The missing piece is the picute the soundtrack was written for.

Jamais écouté avant.

Compliqué à écouter dans la longueur sans le film qui va avec. Par contre, les musiciens sont brillants, et quand ça tape, ça tape fort (Do Your Thing, c'est quelque chose !).

Top : Do Your Thing
Flop : Shaft Strikes Again

I don’t think I’m in the best position to appreciate this album having never seen the movie. But it doesn’t really feel like something you’d want to actively listen to.

Worked quite well as background music as I was working. Nearly made working on corporate PowerPoint slides interesting.

Felt exactly like listening to a 74 minute soundtrack.

Three vocal songs save this from 1 star (Theme, Soulsville, Do your Thing)

"Theme From Shaft" is a legendary funk song, the rest is pretty much instrumentals that have been chopped and sliced for hip hop samples ever since, so in that sense it's a cultural touchpoint musically speaking... but it's still a movie score and there's no movie score you need to listen to before you die, not without the context of the movie, at least.

And did it really need a near 20 minute long number? Why yes, yes it did.

Shaft is an easy five for me.

This record lands squarely in my sweet spot. The instrumentation alone would be enough: deep bass, lush strings, tight rhythm section, and a sense of space that rewards sitting with the music rather than skipping around. It’s cinematic without being corny, groovy without being flashy, and confident enough to let long instrumental passages do the heavy lifting.

I know some people ding this record because much of it is instrumental, but that’s a feature, not a flaw. The band is locked in, the arrangements are rich, and the mood is so well defined that lyrics would almost get in the way. This is music that sets a scene and then trusts the listener to live in it.

The title track is iconic for a reason, but the deeper cuts are what really seal it. This feels like a record designed for vinyl. Drop the needle, let the side play, don’t overthink it. I can absolutely see myself reaching for this regularly if I had it on wax.

Stylish, patient, groove-driven, and endlessly replayable. Five stars, no hesitation.

floot grooves.

I'm sure it was great in the context of the movie, struggled to engage without.

The only title to be featured in the 1001 albums and 1001 movies books and I dont understand why it is in each one

The title track and do your thing are cool as hell and the other songs with vocals are solid jazzy soul social realism.tracks, but the rest is supermarket Muzak level smooth jazz. I'm sure it worked well for the movie, but it's not at all interesting outside that context, until it got chopped and samples a billion times for hip hop beats.

The dude on the cover looks like Severance's Milchick

Never seen this movie. Groovy AF from the start. It's giving 70s cop show, but still very enjoyable. 5* (wanted to dock 1* because the vocal tracks, while nice, kinda ruined my groove, but overall this is better than most albums on here).
Highlights: theme from shaft, end theme (it's the bookends, but they encapsulate the album really well)

Lots of great stuff here and man that voice.

Я розумію важливість Shaft (як кіно, так і музики) для афроамериканської культури. Втім слухати ці інструментали як альбом не дуже цікаво.

The second half is a romp! Not sure why this is on the list but it's a great time

It was a good album but way too long!

Less instrumentals would have been better, we wanna hear that voice!

3 ⭐️

Peasant enough but I can't shake the feeling that it would be better while watching the movie it was made for.

Fun and funky!