2 “Tough Guy” Soundtracks
July 6th, 2008 by
Isaac Hayes had the disposition and talent but never found quite the right opportunity to follow up on the Hollywood success of “Theme from Shaft.” He did score two films, both in 1974; each presented circumstances and instances well suited to Hayes’ uniquely cinematic vision of soul and R&B, even if neither proved to be a particularly good movie.
Released in March ‘74, Three Tough Guys was an Italian film from the same period African-American action-adventure gangster (”blaxploitation”) genre as Shaft. It starred Fred Williamson, no stranger to the style, and also featured Hayes as a lead character. There’s not much more memorable about it.
The instrumental music on Hayes’ Tough Guys soundtrack fares a little better. “Joe Bell” crystallizes all the fine points of Hayes’ uniquely cinematic vision, as interconnected percussion, bass, guitar and horns lock down its potently soulful groove. Fiery alto saxophone leads “The Red Rooster” in its sturdy R&B cockwalk. “Hung Up On My Baby” owes its spirit if not royalties to Wes Montgomery, especially his tart, pop-with-strings work for A&M Records. (Though I’ve never seen the corresponding scene, I hope that the action here scored as the bumpin’ “Buns O’ Plenty” took place in either a bakery or a bedroom.)
Customarily, Hayes is the only named musician, with rhythm credited to The Movement and strings by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Tough Guys was arranged by Hayes, recorded at his Hot Buttered Soul studio in Memphis, and released on his subsidiary label, Enterprise Records. Built around the same type of staccato cymbal pattern that helped Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” flow like hot liquid mercury, the high voltage Tough Guys “Title Theme” was released as a single in June ‘74 and topped out as #72 R&B. It seems unlikely anyone knew it at the time, but this would be Hayes’ last single for the Stax label family.
Truck Turner, with Hayes starring on both soundtrack and celluloid, would follow in July.
