Craft Recordings' 180g Vinyl 2LP of Isaac Hayes' Shaft Remastered from the Original Analog Tapes by Dave Cooley for Splendid Sound: Packaging Features Old-School Tip-On Jacket

You can see this cat Shaft is a bad mother. Oh yeah. Isaac Hayes’ unforgettable, eminently quotable title track about the suave private detective is just the tip of the iceberg of the Grammy-winning 1971 film soundtrack, whose deep grooves, extensive instrumental workouts, and funky jams only truly sound right in analog. Particularly on this audiophile pressing, remastered from the original analog tapes by Dave Cooley and with packaging featuring an old-school tip-on jacket.

Hayes was a guiding light behind Stax Record's mission to turn America on to the best R&B and soul music to ever come out of the South. A pioneer in terms of productions and sensibilities, Hayes modernized conceptions of deep dark soul when he moved away from the confines of the singles hit machinery and the conveyor belt chart approach and concentrated on the album as a long art form in its own right. To that extent he also revolutionized soundtrack scores with his witty and experimental Blaxploitation scores, of which Shaft and the smash global anthem "Theme From Shaft" are just the start.

Hayes had actually auditioned for the lead role as John Shaft in the Gordon Parks crime caper, precursor to just about every gangsta flick and Quentin Tarantino movie, but settled for the score commission which he accomplished in days with Stax in-house band the Bar-Kays leaving the studio as the string section were ushered in. The double LP shot to the top of the charts in every category and remains an unequivocal classic to this day.