Isaac Hayes : Don't Shaft

[Disco Funk]

I just remembered seeing this clip on youtube of the Soul Train gang dancing to James Brown's 'I Got A Bag Of My Own'. Now it may not have all the trademarks of a disco song, it's clearly a dancefloor stomper in the spirit of disco. And it was released in early 72



Disco Funk

[remicks]

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

I just remembered seeing this clip on youtube of the Soul Train gang dancing to James Brown's 'I Got A Bag Of My Own'. Now it may not have all the trademarks of a disco song, it's clearly a dancefloor stomper in the spirit of disco. And it was released in early 72



Disco Funk

oh dear ...well, of course in the early seventies folks were dancing to the funky dance tunes of James Brown

no arguing that !!!


Just like they were gettin' down to the funkiness of Joe Tex

from that same year 1972:



.... so then what??


*****

[Disco Funk]

Hmm...strings...four on the floor beat...sounds like disco to me. Check out this James Brown cut from his Reality LP. The track was originally recorded in early 1974, but didn't get released until the end of 74 after overdubs were recorded.



The Original Disco Man appears to be doing a soul disco groove, if you ask me.

Disco Funk

[remicks]

*****

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

Hmm...strings...four on the floor beat...sounds like disco to me. Check out this James Brown cut from his Reality LP. The track was originally recorded in early 1974, but didn't get released until the end of 74 after overdubs were recorded.


The Original Disco Man appears to be doing a soul disco groove, if you ask me.

Disco Funk

Well .................it is 1974
so there's hardly anything original about JB getting a little more disco by then ......... By 1974 Barry White has perfected his expansion of the musical foundation that Isaac Hayes developed on HOT BUTTERED SOUL and is fully engaging the world in this new found sound .

Speaking of HBS

Here's something of interest ....a DJ discotheque playlist for 1970:

Selected Discography

from THE HAVEN -1970

James Brown--- GET UP I FEEL LIKE BEING LIKE A SEX MACHINE ` SEX MACHINE LP
James Brown --- GIVE IT UP OR TURN IT LOOSE ` SEX MACHINE LP
James Brown --- IT'S A NEW DAY
The Doors --- ROADHOUSE BLUES
The Four Tops --- I CAN'T HELP MYSELF SUGAR PIE HONEY BUNCH
Aretha Franklin --- RESPECT (?---an in house "oldies" fave ???)
Marvin Gaye --- I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
Isaac Hayes --- BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX
Gladys Knight & The Pips --- GOT MYSELF A GOOD MAN
Wilson Pickett --- I'M A MIDNIGHT MOVER
Diana Ross --- AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
The Supremes --- STONED LOVE
Marva Whitney --- IT'S MY THING (YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHO TO SOCK IT TO)
Stevie Wonder --- SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED




Now that it is loaded with James Brown songs may seem to bolster your argument DF .....but the claim here has never been that people weren't dancing to James Brown's records (what were James Brown's records ... if not something to dance to !!) ....its more about when doing so, were they dancing to "funk" records or "proto-disco" records by James Brown ....

So one would expect to see JB listed here (and congrats to him for having three of such , shows how popular he was)

What actually surprised me on this list is the inclusion of Isaac Hayes' BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX off the HOT BUTTERED SOUL lp
I've been contending that on that album you will find (radical) new musical structure , a stylizing that spearheaded music toward the lush drawn out compositions that would become disco.
I hear many disco elements within the music from the LP as discussed before.

But I never really considered it "disco" or "dance music' or even club music for that matter .... sexy bedroom music ....ambiance ....mood music ...so its very surprising to me to find this song on this DJ list .
This suggests Isaac Hayes' new sound has captured the imagination of the Disc Jockeys right out of the box , affecting club play more directly & earlier than I had imagined .

Of the music represented here, there seems to be much of the expected from the status quo ... James Brown ,Wilson Pickett, Aretha , and lots of Motown. But to me the stand out selection here of something original

& the indicator of where (dance) music is headed ...

(((how the sound will change ))) in the 70's ....

that'd be the Isaac Hayes cut .


*****

[Disco Funk]

By The Time I Get To Phoenix is a nice piece of orchestral soul, a cover of a Jimmy Webb tune. But putting dance beats to orchestral music certainly wasn't anything new in the industry. Gamble & Huff were doing it; Motown was doing it; it was common in crossover soul tunes. I think the DJ played it because it was big around that time and if you see the song preceding it, I think the DJ was going for a certain theme of songs about backstabbing women. :) Marva Whitney's track was also a James Brown production, so 4 songs out of 14 is a pretty good average for The Godfather Of Soul.

But did sweeping orchestral music alone translate into a club hit? Or was a club hit something that had a pumping, funky groove? I think it was the latter, with orchestras just being a nice icing on the cake, but as we've discussed before, disco tunes didn't always have or need strings!

Unfortunately, Ike was not consistent with his dancefloor numbers. His bread and hot butter was slow to medium ballads. He preferred to cover middle of the road pop songs instead of churning out the funk. Shaft was a product of him making music for a film soundtrack, as opposed to him just writing any old song. The structure of Shaft was that of mood music for a film score, meander from one section to another, like the lead character of the film's journey through the plot. Disco songs weren't written to start slow, go this way, then that way, then this way, then dance, then slow again. They were mostly constant grooves from beginning to end, which is what James Brown delivered.

And I can safely say that if Isaac Hayes had never been commissioned to write a movie score at that time, Shaft or anything like it would ever have been recorded by him.

JB was and always will be the Original Disco Man! :)

Disco Funk

[remicks]

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

By The Time I Get To Phoenix is a nice piece of orchestral soul, a cover of a Jimmy Webb tune......... I think the DJ played it because it was big around that time and if you see the song preceding it, I think the DJ was going for a certain theme of songs about backstabbing women. :)

Disco Funk

ank!
Incorrect kind sir !!! gallant try .....if not a bit desperate ...

That playlist is simply arranged alphabetically by artist !!

Disco Funk:
And I can safely say that if Isaac Hayes had never been commissioned to write a movie score at that time, Shaft or anything like it would ever have been recorded by him.

Yes yes yes Absolutely ....you make a very good point ...in the process of creating a sound intended to evoke energy , momentum, and movement so as to emphasize the action within the film ... in doing so Isaac Hayes stumbles upon key ingredients that will become pivotal for creating that same energized feeling in music soon to be termed "disco" . This is a magical moment in the disco story ....the day Isaac Hayes sets out to create a musical sound with intensity with energy , one that moves ....a sound that consequently makes one similarly want to move ....to groove.... to shake your groove thing ....

The whole lineage stemming from Isaac Hayes's scoring of SHAFT and how that lead to the coming decade of disco-y music for soundtracks of action movies and TV shows .....this is no small point concerning the credit needed to be given Isaac Hayes by his initiating this sound .

....It's a part of this topic that needs to be documented more .....

.....one day , ........soon!!!




*****

[cbelisimmo]

This compilation are my favorite of the best Billboard Top R&B in 1970 -1971 -1972, included Shaft

Those track are made to listen origninal track.

Studio54

MixUpload.com Best_RnB_70_71_72 Added by Studio54

[remicks]

*****

cbelisimmo ,

this site's second rule when posting :

"Choose the category to post in carefully and only post your message ONCE"

your promo belongs

here:

Online DJ Mixes and Web Radio Shows


*****

[remicks]

*****

bump:

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

Hmm...strings...four on the floor beat...sounds like disco to me. Check out this James Brown cut from his Reality LP. The track was originally recorded in early 1974, but didn't get released until the end of 74 after overdubs were recorded.



The Original Disco Man appears to be doing a soul disco groove, if you ask me.

Disco Funk

*****

Quote:
Originally Posted by Disco Funk
Hmm...strings...four on the floor beat...sounds like disco to me. Check out this James Brown cut from his Reality LP. The track was originally recorded in early 1974, but didn't get released until the end of 74 after overdubs were recorded.


The Original Disco Man appears to be doing a soul disco groove, if you ask me.

Disco Funk

Well .................it is 1974
so there's hardly anything original about JB getting a little more disco by then ......... By 1974 Barry White has perfected his expansion of the musical foundation that Isaac Hayes developed on HOT BUTTERED SOUL and is fully engaging the world in this new found sound .

Speaking of HBS

Here's something of interest ....a DJ discotheque playlist for 1970:

Selected Discography

from THE HAVEN -1970

James Brown--- GET UP I FEEL LIKE BEING LIKE A SEX MACHINE ` SEX MACHINE LP
James Brown --- GIVE IT UP OR TURN IT LOOSE ` SEX MACHINE LP
James Brown --- IT'S A NEW DAY
The Doors --- ROADHOUSE BLUES
The Four Tops --- I CAN'T HELP MYSELF SUGAR PIE HONEY BUNCH
Aretha Franklin --- RESPECT (?---an in house "oldies" fave ???)
Marvin Gaye --- I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
Isaac Hayes --- BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX
Gladys Knight & The Pips --- GOT MYSELF A GOOD MAN
Wilson Pickett --- I'M A MIDNIGHT MOVER
Diana Ross --- AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
The Supremes --- STONED LOVE
Marva Whitney --- IT'S MY THING (YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHO TO SOCK IT TO)
Stevie Wonder --- SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED




Now that it is loaded with James Brown songs may seem to bolster your argument DF .....but the claim here has never been that people weren't dancing to James Brown's records (what were James Brown's records ... if not something to dance to !!) ....its more about when doing so, were they dancing to "funk" records or "proto-disco" records by James Brown ....

So one would expect to see JB listed here (and congrats to him for having three of such , shows how popular he was)

What actually surprised me on this list is the inclusion of Isaac Hayes' BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX off the HOT BUTTERED SOUL lp
I've been contending that on that album you will find (radical) new musical structure , a stylizing that spearheaded music toward the lush drawn out compositions that would become disco.
I hear many disco elements within the music from the LP as discussed before.

But I never really considered it "disco" or "dance music' or even club music for that matter .... sexy bedroom music ....ambiance ....mood music ...so its very surprising to me to find this song on this DJ list .
This suggests Isaac Hayes' new sound has captured the imagination of the Disc Jockeys right out of the box , affecting club play more directly & earlier than I had imagined .

Of the music represented here, there seems to be much of the expected from the status quo ... James Brown ,Wilson Pickett, Aretha , and lots of Motown. But to me the stand out selection here of something original

& the indicator of where (dance) music is headed ...

(((how the sound will change ))) in the 70's ....

that'd be the Isaac Hayes cut .


*****

[remicks]

******

bump:

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

By The Time I Get To Phoenix is a nice piece of orchestral soul, a cover of a Jimmy Webb tune. But putting dance beats to orchestral music certainly wasn't anything new in the industry. Gamble & Huff were doing it; Motown was doing it; it was common in crossover soul tunes. I think the DJ played it because it was big around that time and if you see the song preceding it, I think the DJ was going for a certain theme of songs about backstabbing women. :) Marva Whitney's track was also a James Brown production, so 4 songs out of 14 is a pretty good average for The Godfather Of Soul.

But did sweeping orchestral music alone translate into a club hit? Or was a club hit something that had a pumping, funky groove? I think it was the latter, with orchestras just being a nice icing on the cake, but as we've discussed before, disco tunes didn't always have or need strings!

Unfortunately, Ike was not consistent with his dancefloor numbers. His bread and hot butter was slow to medium ballads. He preferred to cover middle of the road pop songs instead of churning out the funk. Shaft was a product of him making music for a film soundtrack, as opposed to him just writing any old song. The structure of Shaft was that of mood music for a film score, meander from one section to another, like the lead character of the film's journey through the plot. Disco songs weren't written to start slow, go this way, then that way, then this way, then dance, then slow again. They were mostly constant grooves from beginning to end, which is what James Brown delivered.

And I can safely say that if Isaac Hayes had never been commissioned to write a movie score at that time, Shaft or anything like it would ever have been recorded by him.

JB was and always will be the Original Disco Man! :)

Disco Funk

Quote:
Originally Posted by Disco Funk
By The Time I Get To Phoenix is a nice piece of orchestral soul, a cover of a Jimmy Webb tune......... I think the DJ played it because it was big around that time and if you see the song preceding it, I think the DJ was going for a certain theme of songs about backstabbing women. :)

Disco Funk

ank!
Incorrect kind sir !!! gallant try .....if not a bit desperate ...

That playlist is simply arranged alphabetically by artist !!

Quote:
Disco Funk:
And I can safely say that if Isaac Hayes had never been commissioned to write a movie score at that time, Shaft or anything like it would ever have been recorded by him.

Yes yes yes Absolutely ....you make a very good point ...in the process of creating a sound intended to evoke energy , momentum, and movement so as to emphasize the action within the film ... in doing so Isaac Hayes stumbles upon key ingredients that will become pivotal for creating that same energized feeling in music soon to be termed "disco" . This is a magical moment in the disco story ....the day Isaac Hayes sets out to create a musical sound with intensity with energy , one that moves ....a sound that consequently makes one similarly want to move ....to groove.... to shake your groove thing ....

The whole lineage stemming from Isaac Hayes's scoring of SHAFT and how that lead to the coming decade of disco-y music for soundtracks of action movies and TV shows .....this is no small point concerning the credit needed to be given Isaac Hayes by his initiating this sound .

....It's a part of this topic that needs to be documented more .....

.....one day , ........soon!!!




*****