various artists - gotta get a good thing goin': Black Music in Britain in the Sixties / 4CD set

2022 U.K. CD compilation.

Gotta Get a Good Thing Goin' documents the musical impact of postwar Caribbean and African immigration on Britain in the '60s and leaves ample room to accommodate selections by Black American expatriates. Its four discs celebrate Black artists whose music -- issued on labels ranging from independents Planetone, Blue Beat, and Island to the majors -- circulated first through domestic blues parties and mobile sound systems, extending to the annual Notting Hill Carnival (launched in 1959 as Caribbean Carnival, following a wave of racist attacks) and beyond. The deep-digging nature of the set is indicated by its title song.

Among many tracks making a first appearance on CD, "Gotta Get a Good Thing Goin'" is an upbeat piece of group harmony pop-soul by the short-lived Soul Brothers, featuring Trinidadian Tony Wilson (before he co-founded Hot Chocolate). Many other shades of R&B fill the anthology's first half. Horn-decked swinging soul is served up by U.K.-stationed U.S. Air Force veteran Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, an inspiration for Dexys Midnight Runners' chart-topping "Geno." London-based South Carolinians the Flirtations deliver the girl group cult classic "Nothing But a Heartache," a belter. Caleb Quaye draws the link to Ghana with the wild freakbeat of "Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad." The grandest and most riveting song here is provided by the Chants, a Beatles-approved group from Liverpool. Their "A Man Without a Face" is a sorrowful ballad that reveals: "I go and see a movie show, the people move when I come near/But when I'm standing on that stage, people shout and then they cheer." Incredibly, it was a B-side, and is among the tracks new to CD.

Shifting focus, disc three focuses on Caribbean-derived styles such as calypso, ska, and rocksteady, offering apposite and largely underappreciated tunes from the likes of Laurel Aitken ("Scandal in Brixton Market"), "My Boy Lollipop" singer Millie (the Desmond Dekker-penned "My Love and I"), and Cab Kaye, Caleb Quaye's calypsonian father ("Everything Is Go"). The last disc casts a wider net, spotlighting artists as dissimilar as pop powerhouse Shirley Bassey (another B-side, "Sunshine"), folk singer/autoharpist Dorris Henderson (beside John Renbourn on "Watch the Stars"), and pianist Winifred Atwell (with the aptly titled instrumental "Bossa Nova Boogie"). In addition to the trove of music, there's an image-rich booklet with an extensive essay from Soul Survivors magazine co-founder Fitzroy Facey and track-by-track annotation.

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