Deadlier than Dracula

The movie tagline may be terrible, the title even more questionable, but despite initial appearances the 1972 blaxploitation movie “Blacula” does have a lot going for it. It is certainly a whole lot better than Eddie Murphy’s “Vampire In Brooklyn”, but perhaps that is a different debate because its merits as a movie are completely secondary to the fact that its soundtrack is absolutely first class. And also provides the missing link between the genius of the Walrus of Love Mr Barry White and blaxploitation cinema with a horror twist, that elusive connection you have all surely been dying to make all these years.

The link is in the form of the soundtrack composer Gene Page, the quite brilliantly prolific producer/composer/arranger whose work you will know even if you don’t immediately realise it. Because it is Gene Page who worked closely with White on many of the Love Unlimited Orchestra’s finest pieces, filling their rich sound with his wonderfully sculpted orchestration. In fact such is the breadth of Page’s work amongst popular artists from the late 1960s to his sad death in 1998 that it is virtually impossible to either categorise him, or do justice to his reach and influence in a concise manner. Suffice it to say that his work decorates over 200 gold and platinum records.

But it is Page’s solo work which has somehow drifted off the radar and which is hugely worthy of our attention. You can pick anyone of the five solo albums he released in the mid to late 1970s and not hit a duff note, but it is one of his first solo efforts, the “Blacula” soundtrack, which takes our attention here. This has become an absolute cult classic, and the key to this is in the creation of a raft of new sounds that Page developed to do justice to the aural picture that he was crating as a backdrop to this most over the top of films. Page, it is said and as unlikely as it sounds, immersed himself in the character of the film in order to develop the score, forging strange combinations of instruments and creating a soundtrack that in his own words spoke of love as well as terror.

Crystal glasses filled with different levels of water and vibrated to give a chilling eerie effect, marimbas, vibes, Yamaha organ, African water drums, harpsichord and the ARP synth all contributed to the sound in an orchestra certainly never seen before and probably never again since. He even patented some of the new sounds created, such were their freshness and importance to his vision. And the result is a soundtrack that is simply outstanding. If “Shaft” and “Superfly” are the widely known and widely regarded benchmarks, then “Blacula” is the third but often hidden element of a triumvirate of true excellence. In fact, you might say that it is scarily good, while I would just say to Gene Page, sincerely, fangs for the memory and for the music.