Shaft! (Shut your mouth)

Compilation: Shaft! (Shut your mouth)

“Who’s that black private dick who is like a sex machine to all the chicks?” John Shaft of course. The movie Shaft from 1971 is one of the most famous blaxploitation films of all time, not only because of its ultra cool black superhero but also for the award winning score by Isaac Hayes. The main theme for the movie is a guitar driven funk piece with Isaac’s hot buttered soul voice driving it forward. There are countless covers and variations of the theme and today I give you fifteen of the best ones. The styles range from psychedelic organs to disco to reggae, there’s something for everyone in the family. This compilation is not up to the usual standards and style that visitors of this blog might be used to, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. Feedback and comments are as always greatly appreciated, can you dig it?

01. Ray Conniff – Theme From Shaft
02. Hollyridge Strings – Theme From Shaft
03. Decimo – Theme From Shaft
04. Alan Hawkshaw & His Orchestra – Theme From Shaft
05. Joe Bataan – Theme From Shaft
06. Prophets Of Soul – Theme From Shaft
07. Sammy Davis Jr – John Shaft
08. Eddy And The Soul Band – Theme From Shaft
09. Birds N Brass – Theme From Shaft
10. The Chosen Few – Shaft
11. Bernard Purdie – Theme From Shaft
12. Isaac Hayes – Shaft II
13. Jimmy Mcgriff – The Theme From Shaft
14. Maynard Ferguson – Theme From Shaft
15. The Ventures – Theme From Shaft

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About the author: Chris

Founded Ultra Swank in 2005. Has a crush on Pan Am, Disneyland and the Century 21 Exposition. Lives life as an expat in Barcelona, Spain.

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By Chris

October 14th, 2007

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Comments for this post

  • Charles

    Are you insane? LOL! This has fun written all over it! I grinned from ear to ear as I read the play list. I cannot wait to hear The Ventures version. I seriously cannot wait to download it and I will make sure the folks that read my blog know about it too. You’re quite clever. Just stop the torture already and get the link up. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!

  • k

    i love this funky mix. thanks for sharing it! i just discovered your blog yesterday and within minutes of reading, i declared myself a fan. you have great taste! :)

  • oschene

    No Malik Adouane?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nMqX1RS8-Q
    Brilliant, otherwise.

  • Charles

    Downloaded it. Listened to it. GREAT as usual!

  • Anonymous

    Oh, man, what a super idea but it fails totally due to your use of suh a poor and SLOW download service.

    Move over to Rapidshare, PLEASE.

    Harry

  • Charles

    I was able to download reasonably quickly. Besides, Chris’s work is definitely worth waiting a few additional seconds for. The collection is wonderfully fun and it hardly fails because of the choice of download service.

  • Anonymous

    Need to mention the best parody – the theme to the Jewsploitation film Hebrew Hammer. “No one understands him but his mother…”

  • Bob

    I love this one ! Great choices, love the variety.

    Thanks !

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, happy happy birthday!
    :D

  • THXjay

    Hope you don’t mind me mentioning this and linking to it on my blog.

    Great collection and great artwork (as always).

    My CD copies of your Space Age Lounge collections are only half as thick as my other discs because the laser has worn them down with all the playing they get :)

    When’s volume 4 coming?

    All the best

    Jay The Crime Lounge

  • Cheeky_Pete

    Hi, Just found your blog whilst scouring for a few different things to listen to. Looks like a great selection of versions of ‘Shaft’. It took me back to 1972 when I worked with a guy who was such a huge fan of the tune, that he recorded the Isaac Hayes 45 version continuously onto two sides of a 90 minute cassette – 36 separate recordings! So whenever he played the tape, it played Shaft!!

  • Chris

    Thank you for all your praises and comments! Didn’t expect that you would like this compilation as much as my others to be honest.

    Many people have requested that ‘Retro Christmas’ to be uploaded again, and yes I will make sure it is reposted in around November :)

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, this one is a keeper.The only problem is that after listening to it two or three times last weekend, I still have the Theme from Shaft stuck in my head.ARRRRGGGGH! Oh well, listening to it a few more times will make it go away, right? Right?
    Regards,
    Robert
    P.S. I was sort of wondering about Space Age Lounge IV myself.

  • Charles

    I’m sure Chris has some tricks up his sleeve. I did a training for two days for 50 people and during the lunch break I played Music to Buy Toasters By as the Muzak and the folks loved it.

  • Jean

    Hello Chris, All the tracks of the Shat compilation are ‘broken’ (please excuse me for my english), is it possible to upload them ?
    Thanks for sharing all those good sounds :)

  • http://www.ultraswank.net Chris

    The link is working, just tried it. You have to wait for 20 seconds on the download page for the link to appear at the bottom left side. Enjoy Jean!

  • Jim

    I am dying to hear this, but I think there is a problem with the file. It downloads, but there are error messages and it won’t unzip. I tried extracting and still…errors. Any chance of reuploading?

  • http://www.ultraswank.net Chris

    Okay, seeing you are the second person having this problem there must be something wrong with that file. I will try and re-upload it next week.

  • http://www.defekto.com Jim

    Thanks! This is sooo sweet! All good, but love the Ray Conniff white bread take on this classic.

  • Michael

    I cannot get this file either. Download button appears in bottom left, but does not work, just keeps redirecting me. Had no problems with any of the other files. Thank you.

  • Bob

    Any chance of a repost?  I missed this first time around cat!

Ultra Swank – Your one stop blog for retro living, style and design

Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s, 60s and the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality of that era – but also on the music and movies that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris, a Swede born in the wrong decade that currently resides in Barcelona. Read more

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