"Stop The War: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1965-1974" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring Michael Lizzmore, Dionne Warwick, William Bell, Joe Medwick, Allen Orange, Jimmy Hughes, The Shirelles, The Emotions, Chairmen Of The Board, Marvin Gaye, Stu Gardner, The Staple Singers, R.B. Greaves and more (May 2021 UK Ace/Kent Soul CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Say A Little Prayer..."

 

Another clever and timely compilation from Ace of the UK on their Kent Soul imprint with many tracks appearing on CD for the first time. And as Chairmen Of The Board worry and ache through "Men Are Getting Scarce" - you're reminded of the Hellishness of War and the USA's decade-plus fiasco in Vietnam (300,000 black soldiers went there, 8000 of them didn't come home).

 

Ace have touched on Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America twice before – November 2003 gave us "A Soldier's Sad Story" on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 226 covering 1966 -1973, while June 2005 offered "Does Anybody Know I'm Here?" on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 245 covering 1962-1972. The compilation "Stop The War..." is essentially 'Volume 3' in the Series (see list below for full details). There's a lot to decipher here, so let's get down with the lonely soldiers and their dirty duties...

 

UK released Friday, 28 May 2021 (June 2021 in the USA) - "Stop The War: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1965-1974" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 474 (Barcode 029667087223) is a 23-Track CD Compilation of R&B, Soul and Pop Remasters that plays out as follows (79:46 minutes):

 

1. Promise That You'll Wait - MICHAEL LIZZMORE (November 1972 US 45-single on Capitol 3480, B-side of "Try A Little Tenderness")

 

2. I Say A Little Prayer - DIONNE WARWICK (October 1967 US 45-single in Scepter SCE-12203, A-side)

 

3. Lonely Soldier - WILLIAM BELL (July 1970 US 45-single on Stax STA-0070, A-side)

 

4. Letter To A Buddie - JOE MEDWICK (1966 US 45-single on Boogaloo 1002, A-side)

 

5. V.C. Blues - ALLEN ORANGE (October 1966 US 45-single on Sound Stage 7 45-2573, B-side of "Where The Lonely People Are")

 

6. Fighting For My Baby - DONALD JENKINS (June 1970 US 45-single on Thomas TH 806, B-side of "A New World Beautiful")

 

7. (Mama) My Soldier Is Coming Home - THE SHIRELLES (December 1965 US 45-single on Scepter SCE 12123, B-side of "Soldier Boy")

 

8. Uncle Sam - JIMMY HUGHES (November 1967 US 45-single on Atlantic 45-2454, B-side of "It Ain't What you Got")

 

9. Going On Strike - THE EMOTIONS (from the July 1969 US LP "So I Can Love" on Volt VOS-6008, September 1970 in the UK on Stax SXATS 1030)

 

10. Johnny - KING HANNIBAL (1973 Aware Records recording - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED, 2021)

 

11. My Ship Is Coming In (Tomorrow) - THE PACE SETTERS (1966 US 45-single on Mica 503, A-side)

 

12. (The Two Wars Of) Old Black Joe - Dr. WILLIAM TRULY, Jr. (December 1970 US 45-single on House Of The Fox HOF-2, A-side)

 

13. Hymn No. 5 - THE MIGHTY HANNIBAL (October 1966 US 45-single on Josie 45-964, A-side)

 

14. I'll Be Home - ARTIE GOLDEN (1968 US 45-single on Bunky 7758, A-side)

 

15. Wish You Were Here With Me - THE FAWNS (June 1967 US 45-single on New Frontiers NF 4401, A-side - reissued October 1967 on Capcity 105, A-side)

 

16. Men Are Getting Scarce - CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD (November 1971 US 45-single on Invictus IS 9103, A-side - also on the 1972 US LP "Bittersweet" on Invictus ST-9801)

 

17. I Want To Come Home For Christmas - MARVIN GAYE (unissued 1972 Motown recording withdrawn at the time, finally issued in September 1990 on the 4CD US Box Set "The Marvin Gaye Collection" on Motown MOTD4-6311)

 

18. Stop The War - THE IMPRESSIONS (from the 1972 US LP "Times Have Changed" on Curtom CRS 8012 – 1972 in the UK on Buddah 2318059)

 

19. Leave Him Alone - STU GARDNER (from the 1974 US LP "And The Sanctified Sound" on Volt VOS 9503)

 

20. Glad To Be Home - CHARLES SMITH & JEFF COOPER (1971 US 45-single on Blue Dawn OCS-571, B-side of "My Great Loss (Ashes To Ashes)" - reissued August 1971 US on Seventy 7 Records 106, also as a B-side)

 

21. The War Is Over (My Brother) - THE SENSATIONAL SAINTS (1973 US 45-single on BOS Records B-024, A-side)

 

22. John Brown - THE STAPLE SINGERS (from the 1966 US LP "Pray On" on Epic BN 26237, a Bob Dylan cover)

 

23. Home To Stay - R.B. GREAVES (January 1970 US 45-single on Atco 45-6726, B-side of "Always Something There To Remind Me")

 

NOTES:

Tracks 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20 are in MONO

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23 are in STEREO - Track 10 is PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED

 

Longstanding Ace cohort TONY ROUNCE - a name I trust implicitly when it comes to details, annotates the 20-page booklet. Each song gets the usual thorough discussion packed with factoids that collectors love. There are rare US 45-single labels repro'd alongside album covers by The Impressions, Stu Gardner and The Staple Singers - the text peppered with Trade Adverts and cool black and white publicity photos of lesser seen artists like King Hannibal and The Emotions. Audio Mastering for Volume number 3 is by DUNCAN COWELL - a name I look for too - every track leaping out your speakers (12 are in glorious Stereo). To the tunes and the message...

 

First up I would have to say that the listen doesn’t always work (hence four stars instead of five), but many of these track choices are impressive and even cool (check out The Emotions for instance). "Stop The War..." opens with an impassioned 1972 cover version by Michael Lizzmore of "Promise That You'll Wait" - a B-side done by Skip Jackson and The Shantons on Dot-Mar Records in 1969. Lizzmore's vocals are guttural impressive, but it was a B-side, Capitol trying to plug the Otis Redding A-side of "Try A Little Tenderness" - so it got lost in the rush. Between it and Dionne Warwick's sweeter-than-sweet "I Say A Little Prayer" - you could be forgiven for asking 'where's the war' in any of this? More true to the compilation's concept is "Lonely Soldier" - William Bell's vocal capturing that ache and longing for normalcy. The terrible "Letter To A Buddie" by Joe Medwick is a spoken story piece with truly awful lyrics about how lucky the soldier was to be in Vietnam and not back home with Sally and the other cheating wives. Better is the over-here-in-Vietnam "V.C. Blues" where Allen Orange gives it some slow smooching Blues-Soul as he sings of the lady whose always on his mind as the bullets fly too close to the thing that's actually holding his brain in place.

 

"Fighting For My Baby" is a keyboard chugger where Donald Jenkins does the Elephant Walk in the Jungle (good groove) followed by the way-too-saccharin "(Mama) My Soldier Boy Is Coming Home" by The Shirelles - the kind of sappy sitting-home-every-night crooner that didn't ring true then and feels even more clunky now (gorgeous audio though). Way sharper is "Uncle Sam" where Jimmy Hughes uses his fabulous pleading voice to ask his government to look out for his family while he's gone. Coolsville comes in the shape of The Emotions and an album cut tucked away on their 1969 US Volt Records LP "So I Can Love" – a declaration of loyalty and monogamy to the man away on active duty. That's unfortunately followed by the hup-two-three-four plod of "Johnny" – an awkward Soul stab by King Hannibal and easy to see why it was unreleased at the time. Fighting to make a foreign land free – The Pace Setters go Soul marching in with their "My Ship Is Coming In (Tomorrow)" – a pleasant enough tune.

 

Sleeping in a ditch and eating out of a can, "(The Two Wars Of) Old Black Joe" is a funeral-paced dub from a 45 where a Purple Heart vet is shipped home only to find he can't be buried in a white cemetery. Despite its highly charged spoken content by Dr. William Truly, Jr. – for me it's the first occasion that this CD actually gets under the uncomfortable truth about Black People's treatment during that sickening conflict. Equally powerful is "Hymn No. 5" by The Mighty Hannibal - Page 11 of the booklet featuring a trade advert by Josie Records declaring that its slow Gospel preaching is 'the biggest R&B single in the country'. Lyrically it's impassioned and despite the deeply downbeat nature of the music, it leaves a mark. More in a Soul Ballad tradition, Artie Golden does well to get across the longing in "I'll Be Home" - a grunt with only months to go before he's shipped away from imminent death. The Fawns too talk of letters to their loves, temptations at home avoided, wishing their beaus were in their arms instead of a rain-soaked foxhole overseas.

 

No man wants to be seen as a coward, but a man's duty to his country and freedom is being ruthlessly tapped by the crooked men in Washington - and as a result the Chairmen Of The Board inform all women that "Men Are Getting Scarce" – wasted in the foolishness of War (a great Funk tune on Invictus). This is smartly followed by the soaring vocals of Marvin Gaye who wanted "I Want To Come For Christmas" to be a Seasonal 45 call for peace in 1972 – a 'get us home' ballad message, but Motown typically canned its contentious content. It's a gorgeous performance and you can hear his sincerity and a genuine highlight on here. Genius steps up to the plate with The Impressions who get seriously Funky with the CD's title track "Stop The War". Written by Curtis Mayfield and sung with dig-deep-passion by Fred Cash, Sam Gooden and LeRoy Hutson, it's another genuinely smart inclusion - a 6:23 minute Funkathon laced with Guitars, Strings and all manner of disgusts spoken and expressed in its last few minutes of the song. "Leave Him Alone" is a clavinet Funky too, Stu Gardner putting in an impressive vocal behind top musicians. And on it goes...

 

For sure, 'War' is hardly a subject matter that's conducive to a joyful Soul listening experience, but that doesn't stop this compilation from impressing more times than not. As Charles Smith sings on "Glad To Be Home" that some mother's son had died, you get a feel for the loss and especially the stupidity of that protracted conflict.

 

Putting medals on walls and walking tall in the community after their boy returns victorious from 'over there' is promised to Mom and Pop in the Bob Dylan song "John Brown", sung with guitar-jangling menace by an on-the-money Staple Singers in 1967. Well I'm glad Ace have documented that the reality was an unrecognizable face on return from Vietnam – a mind traumatized inside a young man who noticed that the person his country asked him to kill was a human being just like him. Impressive stuff again from Ace Records of the UK and well done to those involved...

 

Compilations in the Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America CD Series

 

1. A Sad Soldier's Story: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1966-1973 - released November 2003 on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 225 (Barcode 029667222624)

 

2. Does Anybody Know I'm Here? Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1966-1972 - released June 2005 on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 245 (Barcode 029667224529)

 

3. Stop The War: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1965-1974 - released May 2021 on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 474 (Barcode 029667087223)