Pretty rhythmic for a soundtrack -- if a backup band played this stuff before the star-of-our-show came on you wouldn't get bored until midway into the second number. Proving that not only do black people make better pop-schlock movies than white people, they also make better pop-schlock music. As if we didn't know. C+

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

Bonus Reviews!

Isaac Hayes surprised many in the film and R&B/soul world when he produced, arranged and composed the music for Shaft. Only three of the 15 tracks featured vocals, and Hayes displayed a finesse and capability with strings and mood pieces that his fans already knew he possessed from earlier albums, but which the general audience might have missed. This was a #1 pop LP and eventually earned Hayes an Oscar. It's also held up much better than the film. * * * *

- Ron Wynn, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Further reading on Super Seventies RockSite!: Single Review: "Theme From 'Shaft'" Isaac Hayes: In His Own Words

Isaac Hayes made his mark with his own recordings; his sweaty, epic productions featured extended sides of influential soul orchestration and ushered R&B into the concept album era, while his work on the Oscar- and Grammy-winning Shaft soundtrack paved the way for similar blaxploitation artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. The Shaft soundtrack features several shorter cuts, including the classic title track and a series of instrumentals. Yet it also features a lengthy workout, the nearly 20-minute vocal ramble, "Do Your Thing." While the soundtrack does not address social concerns, a la Curtis Mayfield's Superfly, it still grooves hard. It also features a crack rhythm section, the Bar-Kays. * * * * 1/2

- Joshua Freedom du Lac, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

Gordon Parks' film was one of the very first blaxploitation pics and, as such, it had to have a killer soundtrack in order to reach the desired audience of teens and twentysomethings. Who better to provide it than veteran soul producer and singer-songwriter, Isaac Hayes? "You didn't know life could be that good," style guru Peter York later said about first hearing the Oscar-winning Shaft theme and you could see his point. Hayes had created a huge, pulsing symphony of a track, with flickering high-hats, speaker-shaking basslines and staccato brass stabs crashing around the rhythm guitar -- a slab of post-Hendrix wah-wah. The theme was also supremely orchestrated -- radio DJs forgave Hayes for keeping his gruff vocals and the supporting girlie chorus off the track until almost two minutes in. Originally released as a double album (at the time a format usually reserved for ponderous rock concept or classical albums), like the film it helped to promote, the sound soundtrack cut across genres and set new standards. The surreally dynamic "Do Your Thing" and the bluesy "Cafe Regio's" showed Hayes could master other moods with dexterity, but it was the stunning Shaft theme itself that will always be linked with his name.

- Collins Gem Classic Albums, 1999.

The title track is a bad mother by any yardstick, but the rest of Isaac Hayes' blaxploitation opera is a funkified mama jama too. You want uncut Stax soul? Here 'tis. The 20-minute "Do Your Thing" is as evocative a period piece (and sentiment) as was ever waxed. As Hayes sings, "If the music makes you move, 'cause you can dig the groove, then groove on."

-Entertainment Weekly, 2001.

Wanna be a badass? Get that wah-wah pedal crankin' and wail along as the bald-headed, multi-instrumentalist sex machine creates the coolest soundtrack for the blaxploitation flick about that namesake "mutha." One of the best movie themes of all time provides the most distinctive build-up to a gritty tour de funk that ushered in a whole new era of innovative, dynamic, rhythmic sound. Can you dig it? It's a classic 'cause ya just don't mess with Shaft. * * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

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