The Final Solution -

The Final Solution was an American soul-funk band from Chicago that recorded music for Brotherman, a proposed 1974 Blaxploitation movie.

Members: John Banks, Allen Brown, Darrow Kennedy, Ronnie Kennedy, Carl Wolfolk

Background

The Final Solution formed in Chicago in the early 1970s when singers John Banks, Allen Brown, Darrow Kennedy, and Ronnie Kennedy renamed the West Side vocal group the Kaldirons and worked with guitarist, songwriter, and arranger Carl Wolfolk. The four singers had come through Crane Tech High School, where they developed their ensemble sound before Chicago club dates with help from Five Stairsteps member Marcellus Burke.

The Kaldirons cut one Twinight single in 1970, “You And Me Baby” backed with “To Love Someone (That Don’t Love You).” Wolfolk, another Crane Tech alumnus, had already co-written “Can I Change My Mind,” the 1968 Tyrone Davis single written with Barry Despenza. After the name change, the group connected with the producers of Brotherman, a proposed 1975 film whose producers commissioned a soundtrack before the script reached completion. The Final Solution cut the Brotherman material at DB Studios in Chicago in the mid-1970s, but the film stalled before release.

Brotherman

In 2008, the Numero Group released Brotherman, an intended sountrack recorded in 1974 by The Final Solution. The album compiles music commissioned for Brotherman, a planned 1975 film whose producers cancelled the project before the start of photography. Carl Wolfolk wrote and arranged the score.

The album contains ten vocal tracks and two instrumentals, “Theme From Brotherman” and “No Place to Run.”

“Brotherman” charges through tight group replies and sharp guitar punctuation as the lyric tracks a pusher-turned-preacher figure. “Never Coming Back Again” snaps through an urgent pulse while Wolfolk cuts sharp turns around the lead line. “I Don’t Care” locks the vocal part against sparse guitar figures.

“Girl in My Life” glides through close male harmony and a high lead line. “We Can Work It Out” lingers over slower vocal phrases and tight backing parts. “Gotta Get Through to You” rides another elaborate guitar figure beneath the vocal entries. “Theme from Brotherman” shifts into extended instrumental cue work through Wolfolk’s strummed guitar pattern.

1. “Brotherman” (4:36)
2. “Never Coming Back Again” (4:09)
3. “I Don’t Care” (4:17)
4. “Girl In My Life” (4:24)
5. “Gotta Get Through to You” (4:44)
6. “One Day” (3:57)
7. “I’m Ready For Love” (3:29)
8. “To See You Again” (4:08)
9. “We Can Work It Out” (4:36)
10. “Where There’s A Will” (4:58)
11. “Theme From Brotherman” (7:19)
12. “No Place to Run” (7:58)

Charles Colbert produced Brotherman. James Hayford mixed the Numero issue, and Jeff Lipton mastered the album. Sevier, Shipley, and Tom Lunt produced the reissue. Sevier and Shipley wrote the liner notes.

The release credits name cover artists Mike Davis and Michael Gaughan and designer David Castillo.

Numero paired “Brotherman (Extended Mix)” with “Theme From Brotherman” on a 2008 single.

Discography: