Across 110th Street

UNITED ARTISTS 1972, £12

You say: ” Essential blaxploitation soundtrack… worth it for the title track alone.” Mick Mickerson, via Twitter

In the ’70s, movie soundtracks offered soul stars fresh creative challenges and opened new commercial avenues. Films like Shaft, Superfly and Trouble Man had to work hard to match their excellent soundtracks. Though JJ Johnson composed the incidental music for this 1972 heist movie, Womack’s five songs remain memorable, notably the title track’s gritty picture of ghetto life – “pushers won’t let the junkie go free”; “pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak” – set against a typically catchy BW melody. Tarantino borrowed it for Jackie Brown. (If You Don’t Want My Love) Give It Back off

Communication is repurposed as a looser, more reflective piece; Do It Right transports Hendrix to a funkier place.