The Department of Afro American Research, Arts and Culture

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Dr. Cecil Graham [Featuring The Brand New Review] - The Guy From Harlem (Original Soundtrack, 1977)

The Guy From Harlem (1977) was scored by Dr. Cecil Graham while the vocals was sung by the group The Brand New Review. There is little to no information available about the musical artist. The soundtrack for the film is somewhat poorly recorded. I guess this is not surprising because if you have seem the film, then the soundtrack makes sense. For the most part, the soundtrack is repetitive. The theme song is played several times throughout the film in different variations. Sometimes with vocals, sometimes without vocals. There are a few tracks that are pretty funky or soulful, so this soundtrack does have its moments. Many of the other tracks are drained out with dialog from the movie, but my guess is that is the best we are going to get because I highly doubt there will be an official soundtrack release for this film.

Tracks
01. The Guy From Harlem (Theme)
02. The Guy From Harlem (Interlude)
03. That's No Woman
04. Nobody Fools With The Guy From Harlem
05. Interlude
06. Playboy Harlem Detective
07. The Guy From Harlem (Theme)
08. Interlude
09. Let's Get Out of Here
10. Hiding Out
11. Interlude
12. Slow Dance
13. The Guy From Harlem (Theme)
14. Fight Scene

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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Michael Stokes Featuring Enchantment - Deliver Us From Evil (Original Soundtrack, 1975)

Deliver Us From Evil is a fairly good Blaxplotiation movie, but like many of those films, an official soundtrack was never released (to our knowledge). The film was scored by legendary music producer, Michael Stokes along with Jimmy Roach and Paul Riser. Vocals from the soundtrack was performed by The Enchantment. The soundtrack features several cuts that are really groovy, especially the title theme. The film is filled real life type drama, so the score does well in capturing those moments in the movie. It's possible that there may be some rare 45s that contain a couple of the tracks somewhere in the world. It's wouldn't surprise me if the title theme was to appear out of nowhere. Enjoy this BP exclusive soundtrack!

Tracklist
01. Deliver Us From Evil [Theme, Instrumental]
02. Deliver Us From Evil [Theme, Vocals by The Enchantments]
03. Dialog
04. Mindy's Theme
05. Car Ride
06. The Playground
07. Dialog
08. Chris' New Apartment
09. Road Rage
10. The Playground (Part II)
11. Mindy's Theme (Part II)
12. Chris Meets Lil' Joe
13. Campus Paper (Dialog)
14. Chris Meets Michelle
15. Dialog
16. Mindy's Lament
17. Deliver Us From Evil (Theme, Part II)
18. Deliver Us From Evil (Theme, Part III)
19. Mindy's Lament (Part II)
20. I'm Uptight (Dialog)
21. Not My Richie!
22. Interlude
23. They Killed His Mother and Sister
24. What Will We Do Now

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Sunday, June 5, 2016

Maurie [a.k.a. Big Mo'] (1973)

Starring:

Storyline
When an African-American basketball star, Maurice Stokes (Bernie Casey, Hit Man and Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde) suffers sudden paralysis, his white friend, Jack Twyman (Bo Svenson) and teammate assists in his rehabilitation. Janet MacLachlan (Uptight and Sounder) also stars. Based on the true story of Maurice Stokes.

This film straddles the line of Blaxploitation vs. Black Cinema. Interpretation or how one defines is subjective to the individual, but the social context is interesting.

"There’s a massive subtext going on here about white guilt. They are certain to clarify several times that Twyman, “Wasn’t all that good of friends with Maurie.” Of course, they never delve any further into it, and I’m probably just making it up in my head because I’m bitter and can’t understand doing something for anyone."

-The Beta Max Rundown

I can see how the author of the article would come to that conclusion, however, one could also see it from the "doing a good deed" standpoint, that Twyman was just helping. Of course, a film being made in the 70s that was practically know for exploitative purposes, it wouldn't be difficult to see how one could associated this film as Blaxploitation.