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Soul Ecstasy (OST)

Soul Ecstasy (OST)

a review by tim fisher of
release format Soul Ecstasy (OST) by Various Artists (CD Album)

text

Released by California's ever-interesting Emperor Norton records (home of Senor Coconut, Fantastic Plastic Machine and DJ Me DJ You), the Soul Ecstasy OST purports to be one of the only surviving elements from the 1972 blaxploitation flick.

The story goes that the film, which revolves around a Black Panther-esque gang selling girls to Hong Kong brothels, was felt to be over-stepping the mark just a tad in 1972, and it was pulled almost immediately on its release. Coupled with the fact that every known print in existence was destroyed in a fire at director Fulton James' house; a few stills, the script and this soundtrack are all we have left of the film.

With its wonderfully evocative track-titles (Soul Submarine, Citroens and Sitars, Pussyfoot Ray ...) the disc's polished funk gives a real sense of just what Soul Ecstasy was all about, and where it was coming from. Given Emperor Norton's past record for releasing soundtracks to fictitious films (and a plot which includes strapping young blokes being chemically transformed into mincing drag queens) you can make what you will of the above story, but whether all this is true or not, you've got to give them points for ingenuity and effort (and the excellent gatefold cover).

The disc swings into gear with the opening title track, sub-Curtis vocal stylings sounding like an outtake from a Jimi Tenor session, and from there moves into the urgent groove Soul Submarine. It's here that the album really comes into its own, all raw, wailing guitars and dirty funk workouts. Mostly instrumental, the album does a great job of bringing the film to life, trading on the familiarity of the classic blaxploitation images now embedded firmly in the post modern hipster psyche - Richard Rowntreee's John Shaft sliding under a windowsill, shotgun in hand, Foxy Brown and her high-kicking stilettos, fending off all comers without once disturbing her gravity defying afro.

Much is made in the liner notes of the attempt to fuse the sounds from the films Hong Kong and New York locales, and if taken in its early '70s context this works admirably. But in the wake of Dan the Automator's Bollywood Breaks, Talvin, Badmarsh et. al, Soul Ecstasy's attempt comes off a bit uninspired and half hearted. While it doesn't add anything new to the well ploughed furrow of early 70s east coast funk, Soul Ecstasy is nevertheless an enjoyable quirk that holds its own against the pantheon of great blaxploitation soundtracks. Posted by tim fisher at 00:00, 12 Apr 2001