Brotherman : The Lost Blaxploitation Soundtrack
Numero Group continues their series of re-issues of the highest order with “Brotherman” Original Soundtrack by The Final Solution. For those of you unaware of Numero Group, owners Ken Shipley and Rob Sevier take crate digging to a completely different level by not only re-issuing some of the rarest soul and funk on the planet, they actually find the people involved back in the day and manage to uncover unreleased material that is nothing short of amazing. Funk archeologists of the highest order! History will list Ken and Rob in the same regard as Harry Smith & Alan Lomax for their contributions to soul music. I can easily recommend anything that this label releases will be money well spent.
“Brotherman” is a 1975 never released soundtrack to a Blaxploitation film that was never released. The idea of the film “Brotherman” is as follows, a drug dealer/pimp serves soup from his Coup Deville like a mutant Robin Hood/Friar Tuck. As the script was being written the producers commissioned the soundtrack to hop on the chart success of “Superfly” and “Shaft”. “Brotherman” shares the funk workout grooves of both of these soundtracks standing on its own ground stylistically. The Final Solution was a barely known vocal group from Chicago‘s west side. Carl Wolfolk’s guitar is unique and drives every song to great effect.
Before filming a single shot, the plug was pulled on “Brotherman” and the project was cancelled. Nearly 35 years later, enter Numero Group to find these master tape and uncover one of the coolest stories of the Blaxploitation era. As with all of the Numero releases, the CD is housed in a jewel case with a nice thick paper sleeve. The booklet is worth the price of admission as it unravels the sorted details on what became of the lost “Brotherman” film.
Highest Recommendation!
