Baadasssss Cinema
Sure, there are other great soul and funk collections, including the hot UK releaseHarlem Sessionsand the big Rhino releaseCan You Dig It? The '70s Soul Experience. But none comes with such an exacting unifying premise. A riveting paean to the blaxploitation film era,BaadAsssss Cinemaopens with a swift kick inJames Brown's "People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul." And then the set finds a million ways to groove and sidle in its 57-minute expanse. Here'sCurtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" fromSuperflyalongsideIsaac Hayes's theme from 1974'sTruck TurnerandWar's "Happy Head" fromGhetto Man. Horns, slow-mo funk, and fat rhythms swirl amid orchestral arrangements; it's a sound that locks hand-in-glove with the films of the period.Hidden in plain view are some terrific links with the soul-jazz movement, including organistLonnie Liston Smith's mind-expanding "Expansions," vibistRoy Ayers's "Coffy Is the Color," and trumpeterDonald Byrd's Blackbyrds churning out "Cornbread." Assembled to accompany theBaadAsssss CinemaFestival, this set gives Marvin Van Peebles, the movement's Godfather, his due with the ultimate throwdown:Earth, Wind & Fire's "Sweetback's Theme," from the first Blaxploitation salvo, the $14 million-grossing 1971 urban epic,Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. This is supreme stuff.--Andrew Bartlett