A never-heard soundtrack for a never-seen film – and a record that's every bit as funky as better-known sets from the blacksploitation era! Final Solution were a small time group from Chicago's west side in the 70s, but on this wicked little soundtrack they sparkle just as brightly as Isaac Hayes, Willie Hutch, Curtis Mayfield, or any of our favorite soundtrack soul artists from the time – working in a really righteous approach to soul with lots of heavy rhythms on the bottom and rumbling bass in the mix – so that even when the tunes are mellow, there's still a bold, brash sort of power to the set! The vocals are mostly delivered in harmony style, again with a nice edge – a bit like The Impressions work on Three The Hard Way, but with more of an indie soul feel overall, given the production circumstances. Once again, our hats are off to Numero for unearthing this gem – and as usual, the full tale of the group, the movie, and the music is told at length in the accompanying 16 page booklet! Titles include "Brotherman", "Never Coming Back Again", "I Don't Care", "Girl In My Life", "Gotta Get Through To You", "One Day", "I'm Ready For Love", "Theme From Brotherman", "No Place To Run", and "We Can Work It Out". (Soul, Soundtracks) CD

Quite possibly THE mother of all funky soundtracks – the legendary score to Rudy Ray Moore's classic first Dolemite film! The record's been referenced for years, and all the hype is totally right – because the whole thing's overflowing with funky tracks both vocal and instrumental – cut with a sound that's as gritty and badass as the movie itself! The Soul Rebellion Orchestra provided the wicked instrumental grooves for the set – and vocalists include Mary Love and Ben Taylor – and the pacing of the whole record almost makes it come across like a mini-movie in sound! You'll find enough samples on here to cut a lifetime's worth of hip hop LPs, and the funky tracks will have you coming back to the record again and again! Tracks include "The Queen", "The Rumble", "Mayor Get Away", "The Jive Jungle", "Creeper", and "Ghetto Expressions". (Soul, Soundtracks) CD

James Brown gets even better than before – working here in the setting of a blacksploitation soundtracks – which makes the album a doubly funky outing from the 70s! James is a master throughout – beating Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield at their own games – as he works with super-tight work from the JBs, plus a bit of vocals from Lyn Collins – all in a massive batch of tracks that further expand his funky palette! Unlike other blacksploitation soundtracks, which usually have one or two key funky tunes, this one's almost entirely overflowing with gems – including Lyn Collins on a version of "Mama Feelgood" that's worth the price of the record alone! The whole thing's great, though – and titles include the classic "Down & Out in New York City", plus "Blind Man Can See It", "Sportin' Life", "The Boss", "Dirty Harri", and "Chase". (Soul, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

2 massive Isaac Hayes soundtracks in one set – both from the magical cinematic year of 1974! Truck Turner is a hard and heavy soundtrack that we like even more than his classic work on Shaft! Unlike Shaft, Ike actually starred in the film Truck Turner – which may be one reason why he brought his full game to the table for the record – and scored a batch of badass tunes that still stand with some of the best funky soundtrack work of the 70s! The rhythm's especially hard on the best cuts – really crackling with a lot of intensity, and a stark, hard funky sound that's made the record a favorite of beatheads for years! Ike kicks it hard on cuts like "Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile", "House Full Of Girls", "Drinking", "Give It To Me", "Now We're One", "Breakthrough", "House of Beauty", and the massive title cut "Truck Turner". Tough Guys is deeper and more complicated than the groove of Shaft and Truck Turner, and filled with some great tunes that glow with color, life, and imagination – showing an Isaac Hayes that almost seems to be moving beyond the usual blackploitation groove! The album sports 2 really classic tunes – the title theme "Tough Guys", and the classic "Hung Up On My Baby" – both of which have a solidly funky feel that will more than please the usual soundtrack beathead crowd. But overall, the other tunes twist and turn in a delightful mix of modes – expanding on the soulful territory Ike first explored in his original soundtracks, and offering up a great range of moods and emotion. The album's got some especially great chromatic guitar work – and other titles include "Joe Bell", "Randolph & Dearborn", "Buns O Plenty", "Run Fay Run", and "Red Rooster". (Soul, Soundtracks) CD

One of Isaac Hayes' richest soundtracks – deeper and more complicated than the groove of Shaft and Truck Turner, and filled with some great tunes that glow with color, life, and imagination – showing an Isaac Hayes that almost seems to be moving beyond the usual blackploitation groove! The album sports 2 really classic tunes – the title theme "Tough Guys", and the classic "Hung Up On My Baby" – both of which have a solidly funky feel that will more than please the usual soundtrack beathead crowd. But overall, the other tunes twist and turn in a delightful mix of modes – expanding on the soulful territory Ike first explored in his original soundtracks, and offering up a great range of moods and emotion. The album's got some especially great chromatic guitar work – and other titles include "Joe Bell", "Randolph & Dearborn", "Buns O Plenty", "Run Fay Run", and "Red Rooster". (Soul, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Quite possibly THE mother of all funky soundtracks – the legendary score to Rudy Ray Moore's classic first Dolemite film! The record's been referenced for years, and all the hype is totally right – because the whole thing's overflowing with funky tracks both vocal and instrumental – cut with a sound that's as gritty and badass as the movie itself! The Soul Rebellion Orchestra provided the wicked instrumental grooves for the set – and vocalists include Mary Love and Ben Taylor – and the pacing of the whole record almost makes it come across like a mini-movie in sound! You'll find enough samples on here to cut a lifetime's worth of hip hop LPs, and the funky tracks will have you coming back to the record again and again! Tracks include "The Queen", "The Rumble", "Mayor Get Away", "The Jive Jungle", "Creeper", and "Ghetto Expressions". This expanded 2CD edition features a bonus disc with a full 28 tracks of extra material – unreleased takes, mixes, acapellas, and instumental versions of album tracks plus a slew of untitled interludes! (Soul, Soundtracks) CD

An overlooked funky classic! Although it's easy to pass off this album as a cheapo follow-up record to Roundtree's fame in the Shaft movies – it's actually a pretty groovy soul record, with production by Eugene McDaniels, and arrangements by Leon Pendarvis and McDaniels – with an overall feel that's similar to some of McDaniels' off-beat soul work of the same time. Includes the cool cut "Street Brother", plus other nice ones like "Sagittarian Lady", "Gets Hard Sometimes", "Peace In the Morning", and "Tree Of Life". And sure, Roundtree's not the best singer – but with great writing and production – and players like Billy Harper, Sonny Fortune, and Hubert Laws – who cares how he sings? (Soul, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Nothing too blue about this nude – as the tune's a sexy little romp, and one that nicely mixes up acoustic guitar, floating violin, and romping rhythms – all set to some cool offbeat lyrics! The tune's an overlooked funky soundtrack cut from Piero Umiliani – and it's backed here by "Life Goes On", which is mellower, and also features English language lyrics. (Funky 45's, Soundtracks) 7-inch, Vinyl record

A stunning soundtrack from the legendary Francis Lai – a record that got a fair bit of circulation at the time, as it was a follow up to his huge global hit, A Man & A Woman (aka Un Homme Et Une Femme)! The style here is equally great – a groovy sound that completely changed the way soundtrack music was used in the 60s – airy, jazzy, and with the same mix of bossa and mod styles that you might find in some of your favorite Italian soundtracks of the time – although at a global scale, we always think that Francis really set the tune for others to follow! There's some nice organ, great use of trumpet, and the record even has some groovy vocals at points from the wonderful Nicole Croisille – who'd sung on the Man & A Woman soundtrack, and also worked with Lai on other Saravah Records albums too. And in a way, since Pierre Barouh had a hand in some of these tunes, the whole thing is almost a precursor to Saravah – certainly, like A Man & A Woman, where Barouh had some help in raising the funds for that project. Titles include "Theme To Candice", "Theme To Catherine", "Theme To Robert", "All At Once It's Love", "Zoom", and a few versions of the title cut! LP, Vinyl record album