213. Isaac Hayes | Shaft (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Theme from Shaft
2. Bumpy's Lament
3. Walk from Regio's
4. Ellie's Love Theme
5. Shaft's Cab Ride
6. Cafe Regio's
7. Early Sunday Morning
8. Be Yourself
9. A Friend's Place
10. Soulsville
11. No Name Bar
12. Bumpy's Blues
13. Shaft Strikes Again
14. Do Your Thing
15. The End Theme

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Shaft is a forgettable album, mostly. The music is soul. This is a soundtrack album filled with filler. No matter how good the band is, they're still performing uninteresting, uninspired and pointless music.

This is not an album that I would willingly choose to listen to. There are some good moments on this album, but even if they were to counterbalance the filler, it wouldn't become a proper album. As far as soundtracks go, it's quite good, but to judge it as a soundtrack is not one of the criteria. Therefore, I don't recommend this unless soundtracks are your thing. I certainly don't think this belongs on the 1001 Albums list.

There are some good songs on this album. The stand outs are: Theme from Shaft, Be Yourself, Soulsville and Do Your Thing.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

165. Isaac Hayes | Hot Buttered Soul (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Walk On By
2. Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic
3. One Woman
4. By the Time I Get to Phoenix

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Hot Buttered Soul is a sexy album. With this album, Isaac Hayes charts the course soul will take in the 1970s. It may not seem like soul music of the 1960s. However, Isaac Hayes has the charisma of Sam Cooke and James Brown and the music has elements of James Brown's funk. What's different is it's got a harder edge to it and the groove is a lot slower.

For those who like long, slow, funky jams then this is a great album. For others, it could become boring and repetitive very quickly. I like the progression within most of the songs. They are slow, casual and carefree and slow from the outset, but slowly build up to a powerful climax.

There are only four songs on the album and they are all excellent, but none stand out above the others.

★★★★★★★★★☆