Prince Phillip Mitchell - Loner (1991)

     hey from the reflection again. local record store had a big ol' stack of these, took a flier on it. last solo record from mitchell, and it's just an okay record. all soul throughout, with some of the tunes leaning on that funkier side. decent tracks all over it, but While The Cat's Away is easily the top choice. a funky soul tune that i found myself playing over and over all night, quite catchy. nothing more to say, just some laid back grooves.

Don Julian and the Larks - Super Slick (1974)

     i have so many records with the wrap on, reflection says hello. when i was scrolling through a local record store's page with new releases, i came across this. had no idea that this was finally gonna be available for under a billion dollars. went to said record store the following day and luckily they still had em. the price was a tad steep but i'd never get this anywhere else so i just went in on it. this amazing funk/soul record starts with a bang, Super Slick. followed right along with a great soul one, Ooh Baby I Love You. now i found out about don from my blaxploitation love, and Shorty The Pimp fits that mold perfectly. rounding out the highlights with the best tune, Schoolin and Foolin, super funky one. i remember like 10 years ago i was on my way home from university, and went into a different local toronto record store, and the guy was playing the original press of this. i was shocked! picked up a lot of great stuff over the years from there, and i'll never forget him blasting this record!

Blacula (1972)

     no other film and its soundtrack mean more to me than 'Blacula'. the greatest blaxploitation movie and my second favourite record of all time. the stuff that gene page does for this film is out of this world. the film was one of the first blax films that i saw, and the funkyness got me right away. coming out in 1972 (the first definitive year of blax with other classics like 'Hit Man', 'Cool Breeze', 'Hammer', etc.) really helped give the genre its legs. the amazing thing about it is the family friendly nature really, cause this is certainly not a genre for that. but it works so well here. a while ago i compiled a list in chronological order of what i consider to be every blaxploitation film, which you can find here. out of the 234 films, this one takes that cake. and the soundtrack, oh man it's just incredible. pre-Barry White here Gene Page is a master. now the released soundtrack does have all the good tunes, but some of the versions are different than the ones that were used in the film.
     the main theme version that is on the soundtrack release is excellent, but i honestly prefer the film version. "Theme (Original)" from the film is much more in-your-face i'd say, and it just sounds like a theme. whereas the album version sounds more like a funky track that could appear anywhere in the film. the version of "Movin' (Original)" that is used in the film is the opposite however, the album version is much more lively than its film counterpart. the other stellar tracks "Run, Tina, Run!", "Good To The Last Drop", and "Firebombs", appear to be the same versions. creating the true soundtrack has been a long time coming.