Isaac Hayes, Shaft and Sweet Stax Music

Cover Image Courtesy Craft Recordings

The toughest 1970s hero of them all wasn't James Bond, it was John Shaft, the baddest private detective of them all. He was played with almost effortless cool and super-charged charisma by Richard Roundtree in three films and a short-lived television series. The original Shaft (1971) helped catapult the blaxploitation genre into ongoing box office success, and the music composed for the film by Isaac Hayes is as perfectly cool as its title character. Hayes, who had been working behind the scenes for years as a session musician and producer, as well as writing songs (often with Dave Porter) for Johnnie Taylor, Carla Thomas and Sam & Dave, had recently broken out as a solo artist with landmark albums such as Hot Buttered Soul and The Isaac Hayes Movement. His music for Shaft is a gloriously funky, deeply soulful and jazz-tinged score which provides the perfect mood for the film's action. The memorable title song "Theme From Shaft" netted Hayes an Oscar for Best Original Song, and the soundtrack album captured three Grammys. Hayes continued working as a singer, songwriter and actor until his death in 2008.

Craft Recordings has put together a wonderful new edition of the music from Shaft, featuring the most complete collection of Hayes' score for the movie, as well as the soundtrack album. When he first worked on the film's music, Hayes did it in two batches. Originally, he recorded the tracks "Theme From Shaft" and "Do Your Thing" as well as a great deal of incidental music for the movie, in between tour dates. Hayes later went into the famed Stax Studios in Memphis to re-record much of the music for the film's soundtrack album, which was released in 1971 as Shaft - Music From The Soundtrack. Now both sets of recordings, including Hayes' full score for the film, have been released as a two-disc set. The first disc features the original soundtrack album, and the second disc includes the film's score. It's the most comprehensive release of this marvelous music, which not only helped define a genre, but cemented Isaac Hayes' reputation as a ground-breaking artist. With a new version of Shaft, featuring Samuel L. Jackson, now in theaters, it's a perfect time to revisit the thrilling grooves of Hayes' powerful music for the original movie adventures of Shaft.

Cover Image Courtesy Craft Recordings

But the soundtrack from Shaft isn't the only sweet soul music being offered by Craft Recordings this month. The label is re-releasing one album per day in June from the iconic Stax label, to help celebrate Black Music Month. Titles include the excellent two-disc collection, Soul Explosion, which helped ignite the label's reputation as a soul music powerhouse upon its release in 1969. That record originally came out after Stax had cut ties with Atlantic Records and went out on its own as an independent label. Soul Explosion features music from Johnnie Taylor, Albert King and Booker T and the MGs. Other releases include the soul-tastic Boy Meets Girl - Classic Stax Duets, a gathering of incredible twosomes featuring Eddie Floyd & Mavis Staples and William Bell & Carla Thomas, among others. There will also be releases of albums by David Porter, Kim Weston, The Mad Lads, The Sweet Inspirations, The Bar-Kays and The Dramatics, all available in digital format for the first time.

These records have all been lovingly curated for this project by the crew at Craft Recordings, a label who is at the forefront of issuing fantastic legacy releases by artists that need to be heard again, who were at the forefront of the soul genre. The music of Stax Records is some of the grooviest, funkiest, tastiest music ever recorded. You can read the full information on all of the Stax re-releases by visiting this link: https://concord.com/concord-music-news/craft-recordings-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-stax-soul-explosion/. I highly recommend checking out these essential recordings, which are the pinnacle of 60s and 70s soul. Here are a links to a fun promotional video of Johnnie Taylor's "Who's Making Love," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwFKa7z5VuE, and a trailer for Soul Explosion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpdchB9lw9s.