Official Release List
• USA Releases • Copies listed are for the entire country
Continued from page 42
during the two-ton swing of “Veil of
Shadows” while Tankel plays a mournful
line and Deller’s organ conjures
Steppenwolf’s grimiest grooves. On
“Valley of the Damned” the Budos mold a
menacing melody and desolate dirge into
freaky fun featuring Rob Lombardo’s
crafty conga. Put the band in the pantheon
alongside your favorite horn-fueled party
bands, but Tower of Power, Chicago, or
Earth, Wind & Fire this isn’t. The Budos
give their body-moving music a darker
spin. Play the publicly-sanctioned materi-
al on V, and the Budos Band will scare you
onto the dance floor once again.
- Jeff Elbel
8
WILLIE HUTCH
Foxy Brown
Original Soundrack
(Motown)
This heavyweight vinyl reissue will be
a must for fans of so-called “blaxploita-
tion” film soundtracks like Isaac Hayes’
genre-defining 1971 score for Shaft and
Marvin Gaye’s brilliantly soulful work for
1972’s Trouble Man. The film Foxy Brown is
a 1974 crime caper starring Pam Grier as a
dangerous beauty set to avenge the mur-
der of her government-agent lover by
drug pushers, and the “super bad” femme
fatale is duly praised in “Theme of Foxy
Brown.” Hutch had mid-70s R&B hits
singing “Get Ready for the Get Down”
and “Party Down,” and composed 1970’s
“I’ll Be There” for the Jackson 5. Hutch’s
48 illinoisentertainer.com april 2019
Foxy Brown score leans on the conventions
of the period. The title cut “Foxy Lady”
features taut funk guitar, noodling
clavinet keyboard, and wah-wah guitar.
“Out There” approaches the grand sweep
of Hayes’ production with a shimmering
string arrangement joining the pop music
rhythm section featuring Lawrence
Dickens’ hypnotic bass. Hutch lets loose
with soul screams to match the wailing
saxophone of “You Sure Know How to
Love Your Man.” The ebullient “Whatever
You Do (Do It Good)” could have suited
the beaming pop bounce of Billy Preston
or the emotive vocal flights of Al Green.
The percolating instrumental “Chase”
(and for that matter, the overall album)
serves as a musical time machine set to 45
years ago.
– Jeff Elbel
7
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