The late 60s were a time of incredible change in black American Music. Civil rights had brought some advances but there was still much to do. In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King politics got radical, whilst financial gains were relished. ‘The World Needs Changing’ reflects the growing confidence of black music in a decade of change.
Soul, jazz and funk was a mirror onto the black urban world, and represented a growing confidence and sophistication. Records like Lonnie Liston Smith’s ‘Expansions’ (presented here in its rare 7 inch version) or Leon Thomas’ ‘Just In Time To See The Sun’ show jazz musicians reaching for the discos without losing their spiritual self. Gil Scott Heron, Esther Marrow, Darrow Fletcher and our super rare title track (selling for £200 recently) show the political struggle continued to bubble away.
The majority of the music made at the time was still aimed firmly at the feet, and we’ve rare collectors items by The Original Soul Patrol, Ceaser 830, club classics by the Willard Posey Reunion and Little Eva Harris whose medley of ‘Get Ready/ Uptight’ has been massive in London for a couple of years now. Our trips into the vaults allow us to include two amazing cuts from Fame’s short lived Memphis studio from George Jackson and the mysterious Tina Bryant.