You wake up in what at first appears to be the early morning, only to realize that it's early afternoon. Your shoes are still on, but you're not wearing pants and your head's pounding. As you struggle to keep your stomach from the back of your throat, flickering memories of the previous night's debauchery materialize slowly like Polaroid snapshots, inducing from you embarrassed and wracked cringes. Eyes still closed, you reach your hand timidly toward the emptiness next to you on the bed, hoping that it is indeed empty.

When they're considered at all, the 1970s are remembered with the remorse of the penitent drunk as if sometime in the 1960s, someone found the key to the country's liquor cabinet and a great party ensued, stretching into the wee years of the next decade before people had the good sense to stop drinking. Unfortunately, this hungover hindsight view of that decade is a gross injustice, especially to the music of the period. See, it was during this early morning haze that one found the ground zero of funk- and soul- infused rock in the work of Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, and perhaps most successfully, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly.

Soul Ecstasy begs immediate comparison to Superfly, in that it serves as the soundtrack to a now defunct blaxploitation film. But it's the vibe of the record's title track that owes the greatest debt to Mayfield-- one might say, 100% of the royalties. That said, the Inner Thumb was a band of Philly session musicians brought together specifically to record this soundtrack in 1973, and they do manage to find some success outside of Mayfield's realm. There's an interesting exploration of eastern themes incorporated that seems far ahead of its time, especially on "Citroens and Sitars." (Actually, you can probably thank the Beatles for this.) Similarly, the guitar funk of "Club Kidnap" rolls over a hip-hop beat that defies explanation.

When you really dig, it's obvious that the early '70s are a grossly unappreciated mine of great music. If you don't already have Superfly, I feel obligated to point you in its direction. If you do have it, and you're looking for something similarly steamy, Soul Ecstasy's pretty much got it goin' on. Just don't expect another "Pusherman."

-Neil Lieberman