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Are there online notes for this set? If so, I've probably just forgotten how to find them.
I'm asking because I recently picked up the double CD which has the LP programme as Disc 1, and the (surprisingly, to me at least) FSM SHAFT as Disc 2. I wouldn't mind knowing what the liner notes have to say.
There were no online notes (at least, I don't remember any).
When you say the 'LP programme', not exactly. The FSM set covers the actual film scoring sessions, rather than duplicating the commonly available LP, which I think was a re-recording. Disc 2 covers 'Shaft's Big Score!' and then Johnny Pate's TV scores.
Great album which I return to mainly for Johnny Pate's tv scores.
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Posted: |
Feb 18, 2023 - 5:53 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Are there online notes for this set? If so, I've probably just forgotten how to find them.
I'm asking because I recently picked up the double CD which has the LP programme as Disc 1, and the (surprisingly, to me at least) FSM SHAFT as Disc 2. I wouldn't mind knowing what the liner notes have to say.
There were no online notes (at least, I don't remember any).
When you say the 'LP programme', not exactly. The FSM set covers the actual film scoring sessions, rather than duplicating the commonly available LP, which I think was a re-recording. Disc 2 covers 'Shaft's Big Score!' and then Johnny Pate's TV scores.
Great album which I return to mainly for Johnny Pate's tv scores.
Simon, I expressed myself poorly. The double CD which I bought in HMV Glasgow last week is on the Craft/Enterprise/Concord (?) label, released in 2019. CD1 is the re-recorded double LP from way back, CD2 is (apparently) the same as the SHAFT disc which was on the FSM set (which I don't have).
If there are no online notes, does anyone know if the CD liner notes explain exactly the role of Isaac Hayes and his collaborators? I'm asking because in David Meeker's book "Jazz in the Movies", he states that "Isaac Hayes receives screen credit for the music, but the movie's music director, Tom McIntosh claims credit for the score, adding that JJ Johnson was also involved as orchestrator".
I knew about the JJ Johnson thing (he's also on trombone on the soundtrack), but the idea that Tom McIntosh actually wrote the score is intriguing to say the least. Is it a case of a mere exaggeration? Perhaps McIntosh was so involved with the orchestration that it turned out to sound more like him than Isaac Hayes??? A similar case would be LAST TANGO IN PARIS, with music credited to Gato Barbieri, but which is clearly mostly the work of "arranger" Oliver Nelson.
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Oh, never heard of that particular album myself, Graham.
The booklet says:
As Hayes lacked film experience,the studio teamed him with Tom McIntosh, a composer/arranger who had assisted Gordon Parks with the scoring of 'The Learning Tree'. McIntosh was credited as 'Technical Assistant to Composer', a job he later discussed with Leonard Feather for the Los Angeles Times: "Issac was very pleasant to work with. He's the kind of person who is essentially meek and teachable. He knew what the situation was, that he could do with all the help he could get. Isaac works with his rhythm section and really does create themes. With him at the piano, plus his wah-wah guitar idea, that was what sold SHAFT".
Make of that what you will 
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Fantastic set even though SHAFT IN AFRICA couldnt be included due to legal issues.For me almost the best of the three movie scores! If you can get it on LP grab it...its awesome!!!
Agreed, SHAFT IN AFRICA would be my choice too.
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neumation:
Tom McIntosh was screwed over on his work for Shaft. Issac Hayes could not read or write music, Tom wrote and arranged everything, mostly uncredited. As consolation, MGM and Gordon Parks offered him Shafts Big Score. However, Hollywood politics meddled in that too. Parks took credit for Tom’s score. Parks was a songwriter, not a composer capable of scoring a film. It was all by Tom. Parks went as far as redacting Tom’s name on the written scores and writing his name one them. This experience led Tom to abandon film and return to teaching. It’s really tragic that this man wrote some of the most iconic music of the 70s and no one knows his name.
That's sad. I didn't know any of this.
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Posted: |
Feb 19, 2023 - 7:21 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Thanks Simon for the quotes from the FSM liner notes, to neumation for your views on how Tom McIntosh got "shafted", to Lukas for the fascinating blog entry, and of course to Isaac Hayes' grandmother.
In the case of McIntosh, I'm certainly listening to SHAFT with a "different" appreciation. It's a great CD no matter who wrote it, but it's always good to know the input of "arrangers", "orchestrators" and... "technical advisers". I remember picking up the LP of THE LEARNING TREE in the late '70s because I loved what I'd heard of the song and score from TV broadcasts, and thinking what a fantastic composer Gordon Parks was. Certainly a very talented man, in many fields.
I've just realised that I didn't have time last night to listen to the 10-minute climactic cue from the FSM disc of SHAFT, so I'd better remedy that now.
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