Beholder Halfway #24 - Soul Music and the Vietnam War

Monthly investigations of music politics with Paul Rekret.

This month: Beholder Halfway marks the forthcoming Melodies International reissue of the beautiful anti-war folk-soul ballad 'Blood of an American' by Bobby Wright (now Abu Talib). Little known and rarely heard, the record stages a reflection upon the unique intersection of popular music and radical politics in late 1960s and early 1970s soul music. This becomes an opportunity to think critically about the ways in which counter-cultural soundtracks have been sanitised and re-packaged in recent decades.

Tracklist

Bobby Wright, 'Blood of an American'
Marion Brown, 'Porto Novo'
Archie Shepp, 'Poem for Malcolm'
Cecil Taylor, 'Enter Evening (Soft line structure)'
Eddie Kendricks, 'My People... Hold On'
Syl Johnson, 'Is It Because I'm Black'
The Last Poets, 'Ho Chi Minh'
The Sweet Inspirations, 'Am I Ever Gonna See My Baby Again'
Archie Bell & the Drells, 'A Soldier's Plea'
Johnny & Jon, 'Christmas in Vietnam'
Penny Goodwin, 'Too Soon You're Old'
Lou Bond, 'To The Establishment'