Progressive Boink

[Kyle]

1970s blaxploitation movies have undergone a critical re-evaluation in the last ten years or so and several are now part of the accepted american film canon. one thing i feel has not really been given the proper attention, though, is their soundtracks. for a while, it was sort of the thing to do for a prominent soul songwriter to score at least one blaxploitation film. marvin gaye, isaac hayes, and most famously curtis mayfield, with superfly, all had at least one soundtrack under their belt. as far as i'm concerned, though, the best of these is the lesser-known willie hutch's soundtrack for the mack. here it is: link

i will withhold my comments and judgment until people who haven't heard the album before have listened and commented

[zack hoagie!]

its a generally great album but "I choose you" is fucking amazing and makes the rest of it look silly in comparison

it's kinda the antithesis of the "one bad song that ruins an album" idea

[Duzzy Funlop]

okay i'm probably not gonna download this but i love the balls out of i choose you

partially because it's the reason this was the best hip-hop song of last year: http://youtube.com/watch?v=t3PgZ9bqShc

[Jon]

Vampin - 3 stars

I immediately feel like the problem I'm going to have to get over while listening to this is to not hear the soul horns and think "oh i heard this sort of thing in a loose shaft parody commercial/cartoon/whatever". That's a completely retarded association to make, and I plan on listening through this as though I have never heard this sort of music before. I really like the guitar on this.

Theme of The Mack - 3 stars

I really dig the first minute of this. I was kind of disappointed to hear it switch back over to the more lively stuff, but pleasantly surprised. The bass is awesome.

I Choose You - 5 stars

I love this shit. The whole song creates a really warm, pleasant sort of atmosphere.

Mack's Stroll/The Getaway (Chase Scene) - 4 stars

Once again, loved the first part and was disappointed when it ended. I was liking the idea of a song like that being called "The Getaway", but figured it was going to move on to something different. I like the second part, but less.

Slick - 4 stars

Dude's voice is awesome.

Mack Man (Got To Get Over) - 4 stars

I like how the song hangs around this relatively slow beat the whole way through. Also like the WOOOOOOO that he holds for like fifteen seconds. For the first time this album, I'm appreciating the backing vocals.

Mother's Theme (Mama) - 5 stars

Predictably, I love this song. There's So Much God Dam Feeling In It!

Now That It's All Over - 5 stars

The contrast between the pleasant-sounding flute, harp, etc. and the depressed lyrics is pretty interesting. If I were going through a breakup I would probably rate this either 0 stars or 8 stars.

Brother's Gonna Work It Out - 4 stars

I loved the first part, but for the first time, I was totally okay with it picking up.

Whole album - 4 stars

Which kind of sucks, because "4 stars" seems like the safest rating you could possibly give in this exercise. It's the numerical "Heh, yeah man I dig it!" Half the album (most of the upbeat stuff) was stuff I enjoyed listening through, but likely wouldn't listen to on a regular basis. The other half (most of the slower stuff) was really incredible and is the kind of thing I will definitely be listening to a lot.

[Z.S. Ghost]

Regarding .rar stuff, right now I have a WinRAR free demo but it's bound to run out. Anyone know where to get a free, non-expiring one?

[Casey]

You can either

a) keep using WinRAR past the demo because it doesn't actually expire and if you use the menu you get when you right-click on the file itself to unrar it you never even see a nag screen

or

b) Use http://www.7-zip.org/

[Kyle]

u mothefuckers

[Illinois Smith]

i've only listened to the first three tracks or so, will put in my votes sometime tonight

[Casey]

I listened to it once, I need to listen again while I'm not playing video games

[Z.S. Ghost]

I listened to it once, I need to listen again while I'm not playing video games

Same, except I just wasn't thinking that hard. Votes will be in by tomorrow, I swurr.

[Justin]

Vampin - Awwwwesome opener. I can tell already that I'll be thinking of the Go! Team a lot while I listen through this. Funk is interesting for me because while I enjoy all of its components individually I've never really invested much time into the genre proper. Now is as good a time to start as any I guess.

Theme of the Mack - I feel the opposite way Jon does about this. The first minute wasn't anything special to me but I got into it when the harmonies kicked in. The bongos are rad. The lyrics are dumb, but endearing. It's just a guy telling me what the movie is about, but whatever. There's enough going on in the background to distract me.

I Choose You - Eh. Nothing special here.

Mack's Stroll - Same as track two. Didn't hook me until the guitar kicked in. I liked the trade-off of the horns for a piano. Bassline was disappointing though.

Slick - I know Jon was trying to not think of this stuff as a Shaft parody, but this was just laughable. "They call him slick! (Slick!) He's full of tricks! (Tricks!)"

Mack Man - Another track I didn't really care about.

Mother's Theme - I really can't get into these slow songs. The jazz flute was kind of cool, but in general the track didn't really go anywhere. Maybe it suited the scene it was intended for, but out of context I just don't like it.

Now That It's All Over - Bleh.

Brother's Gonna Work it Out - I was hoping they'd finish with some energy and I wasn't let down. First two minutes bored me to tears but I was delighted when the horns kicked in. This also was my favorite bassline of the album.

Overall there were four or five songs I really enjoyed but just as many I didn't. The tracks I liked will stick around in my collection though, so thanks for that.

[Justin]

feh, listen to someone's suggested music? methinks naught... *signs up for four rounds of music projects*

[Jon]

Yeah, come on guys. This is an awesome idea. Just give the album a listen, it'll be well worth the 40 minutes of your time regardless of whether or not you like it.

[Wez]

I haven't had time the past few days, but I plan to listen tonight.

Edit: Listened and voted. I can make some more in depth comments later, but a brief overview is I mostly agree with Justin.

[webber]

i've been busy ok