Nice one – a 2CD set that brings together 2 of Melvin Van Peebles' wildest soundtracks! First up is Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song – one of the most fantastic soundtracks of the 70's – and of all time! For this, his masterpiece film, Melvin Van Peebles composed a non-stop collage of crazy sounds and funky jams, played by him and a very young
Earth,
Wind, &
Fire, and pasted together in a pastiche of music, dialogue, and sound effects that serve as an audio document of the film. If you've ever seen the movie – and even if you haven't – you'll find that the soundtrack works as a 40 minute version of the film, shifting back and forth with a loose narrative progression. Of course, the real appeal is the funky music – and you'll hear more than enough of that on tracks like "Sweetback's Theme", "Hoppin John", "Come On Fee", and "Sweetback Getting it Uptight". Next is a double album – Don't Play Us Cheap – a musical, but a pretty darn soulful one, as you might expect from the mighty Melvin Van Peebles! The soundtrack features tunes from Van Peebles early 70s stage production Don't Play Us Cheap – an attempt to bring the modes explored in his film work to the theater – and given the range of unusual tunes and odd timings for most of these numbers, the whole thing really must have been something to see! Peebles wrote and produced the whole thing – but gets some help on the music from funky Harold Wheeler – and performers in the cast include Rhetta Hughes, Joshie Jo Armstead, and Mabel King – all of whom bring some pretty soulful vocals to the record. There's a few great instrumentals – like "Bad Character Bossa Nova", "Break that Party", and "The Washingtons Thing" – and other titles include "Quartet", "The Phoney Game", "Saturday Night", "The Bowsers Thing", "If You See A Devil Smash Him", "Quittin Time", "Ain't Love Grand", "I'm A Bad Character", "Fest On Me", and "The Eight Day Week".
(Soul, Soundtracks)