Black
Motion Picture Experience/Music For Soulful Lovers: Cecil Holmes
Soulful Sounds
(1973/Sony/Vocalion Import Hybrid Super Audio CD/SACD/SA-CD)/Shaft's
Big Score
(1972*)/Shaft In
Africa (1973/*both
MGM/Warner Archive Blu-rays)
Picture:
B Sound: B+ B B-/B-/B- Extras: C- Main Programs: B-/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Cecil
Holmes
Import hybrid Super Audio CD is now only available from our friends
at Vocalion, will play on all CD players, but you'll need a Super
Audio CD player to hear the ultra high definition audio tracks, while
both Shaft
sequels are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.
With
a second Samuel L. Jackson Shaft film surprisingly, belatedly on the
way, remastered Blaxploitation form the original era has been getting
reissued in impressive upgrades and here are three more of them...
We
start with an unusual item so interesting, everyone should know about
it. Music from Shaft has been issued in all formats and a limited
edition CD of two of the films and music from the TV show is
actually, probably barely still in print. There are also audiophile
vinyl releases and even a Super Audio CD form the first film that is
sadly now out of print (the stereo-only release is impressive and has
jumped to $75.00 as of this posting, though we expect it to go even
higher!) but you also have people wanting to remake the song.
Cecil
Holmes was one of those artists who thrived in the 1970s issuing
albums covering established hits and the great people at Vocalion
Records in the U.K have issued a double feature of two of his albums,
including one with mostly remakes of theme songs from the earliest
Blaxploitation films.
Black
Motion Picture Experience
and Music
For Soulful Lover
(both 1973) is not only part of a cycle of such albums, as common as
they were fun at the time, but both happen to have originally been
4-track quadraphonic releases and for the first time since their
original release, here they are in that configuration.
The tracks for both albums are...
The
Black Motion Picture Experience
1: ACROSS 110TH STREET
(Johnson; Womack)
2: SLAUGHTER (Preston)
3: BEN (Scharf;
Black)
4: ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (R Strauss) from the film 2001:
A Space Odyssey
5: SUPERFLY (Mayfield)
6: TROUBLE MAN/'T'
STANDS FOR TROUBLE (Gaye)
7: SHAFT (Hayes)
8: LOVE THEME FROM
LADY SINGS THE BLUES (Legrand)
9: FREDDIE'S DEAD (Mayfield) from
the film Superfly
Music
for Soulful Lovers
10: SOULFUL LOVE (Camillo; Bogart)
11:
I'M GONNA LOVE YOU JUST A LITTLE MORE BABY (White)
12: BREAK UP TO
MAKE UP (Gamble; Bell; Creed)
13: YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE
(Wonder)
14: NEITHER ONE OF US (Weatherly)
15: PILLOW TALK
(Robinson; Burton)
16: KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG (Fox;
Gimbel)
17: IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW (Gamble; Huff)
18:
LOVING YOU HURTS SO BAD (Camillo; Sawyer)
19: CALL ME (COME BACK
HOME) (Green; Mitchell; Jackson)
20: STAY WITH ME (Camillo;
Sawyer)
Of
course, most of those songs are standards and classic by now, but
most knew even then how great they were. It reminds us of how great
a time this was for music and though these remakes might not always
be as good as the originals (sometimes that is not the point) and
Holmes may take subtle liberties in his versions, these are very well
recorded and worth catching, especially in 4-track Quad. They are a
nice group of alternate versions and music fans (including
audiophiles) won't be sorry if they go out of their way for them.
A
booklet with an essay, pictures and informative text is the only
extra.
Now
for the two original sequels to the classic Blaxploitation film Shaft
(1971). Gordon Parks returned to direct the first sequel, the
underrated Shaft's
Big Score
(1972) which returns to the tough gumshoe detective roots of the
books as it also goes for all-out action (especially in the final
reel) in the Bullitt/Dirty
Harry
mode. The result is still the best film ever of the character as a
disturbed client has called John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) for help,
but he is too late to save the man as he is blown up in his own
business office.
This
leads to a tangle of gangster and police interests that are all over
the place, well thought out by the Ernest Tidyman screenplay, but it
is the most energetic of the Shaft
films and one 0of the best in all of the Blaxploitation cycle. Yes,
there are some down times and a few dated moments, but more of this
holds up than you might expect and now restored to its original
glory, looks great on Blu-ray here.
John
Guillerman (The
Towering Inferno,
Death On The Nile)
took over the helm on Shaft
In Africa (1973), an
interesting change of pace film where Shaft (Roundtree again) is
actually kidnapped and forced to take on a case where a young man who
turns out to be royalty has been killed. With shades of Apartheid
and a connection with the political 'back to Africa' movement that
was going on at the time, it was a credible move and the film has its
fans. However, I felt it got a bit muddled at times and some of it I
did not buy.
Still,
MGM and company were really trying, including getting the legendary
Four Tops (now at the Dunhill/ABC Records label, they just left
Motown) to sing the song in the opening credits. I enjoy the
ambition of both films as MGM was going to make sure the other
studios (especially American International and Warner) would not get
ahead of them in the genre.
Unfortunately,
the third time was not the charm at the box office and the film did
not connect with audiences no matter the reason and the series ended,
but it is the only series of films from that cycle that made it to a
third film, so that says something. MGM was not through with Shaft
yet and decided to produce a series of TV movies (ala Columbo)
to continue the character and though that was not the hit it should
have been, Warner Archive has issued them on DVD. You can read more
about them in my review here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12439/Ambushed+(2013/Anchor+Bay+Blu-ray+w/DVD)/T
The
only extra on both Blu-rays are an Original Theatrical Trailer,
though the covers of both discs do an excellent job of reproducing
the original poster art.
Now
for playback quality. Of course, the Cecil Holmes SA-CD has
no video, but it has three sound choices from its standard PCM
16/44.1 2.0 Stereo tracks that will play on any CD player and are not
bad, but the real action is on the ultra high definition DSD (Direct
Stream Digital) lossless audio tracks, here in an even better 2.0
Stereo and an especially impressive 4.0 Quadraphonic mix that is the
most fun, has the best clarity, depth, detail and impact. Since most
Blaxploitation films were monophonic in theaters, it is fun, though
their soundtracks were usually stereo. Audiophiles will get a kick
out of it too.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on both Shaft
Blu-rays were shot on 35mm film in real anamorphic Panavision and
processed by the great MetroColor labs. Warner
Archive has remastered and restored these films so well, they turned
out even better than I expected with great color, depth and detail
that will shock even the biggest fans and those who know the films
best. Most early films in the genre were not in scope, but these
were and that makes them stand out.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on both sound as
good as two theatrical monophonic films of the time can, but there
were more than a few times I wished they were in at least simple
stereo. Still, the remastering impresses.
You
can order the Cecil Holmes Vocalion Super Audio CD double
feature here....
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDSML8531
and
to order either of the Shaft sequel Warner Archive Blu-rays,
go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases
at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
