{"id":709,"date":"2017-09-14T18:07:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T18:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/?p=709"},"modified":"2018-01-01T03:01:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T03:01:54","slug":"lets-clean-up-the-ghetto-lp-pir-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/2017\/09\/14\/lets-clean-up-the-ghetto-lp-pir-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Clean Up The Ghetto LP &#8211; PIR &#8211; 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor\u2019s Note: I wrote this 8 years ago with so much hope and vigor about the state of change that was to come. It was such an honor and fun exercise to incorporate political history into what\u2019s essentially a review of an old record I loved. It\u2019s a strange and sad sensation to read this again now given the current state of affairs. Is it 2020 yet? <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s Clean Up The Ghetto<\/strong><strong><br \/>\n(Philadelphia International Records) 1977<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The planets were aligned for change in 1977. The Vietnam debacle had ended and President Carter begun issuing pardons for nearly ten thousand draft evaders. In the postwar glow, America\u2019s War on Poverty surfaced with renewed boldness. Politicians were reinvigorated and, more importantly, listening.<\/p>\n<p>A wail came from Philly by way of\u00a0<em>Let\u2019s Clean Up the Ghetto<\/em>, a Philadelphia International Records comp featuring elites of \u201cThe Sound of Philadelphia,\u201d a style that had long dominated R&amp;B charts. Kenneth Gamble (owner of Philadelphia International Records) combined his biggest acts\u200a\u2014\u200aThe Three Degrees, Billy Paul, the O\u2019Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Lou Rawls, and others\u200a\u2014\u200ato raise concern about Philly\u2019s growing ghettos. Gamble is quoted on the back as saying: \u201cAnything physical has to first start as a thought\u2026there\u2019s a message in the music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bobby Martin\u2019s arrangement of \u201cOoh Child\u201d, performed by Dee Dee Sharp Gamble, is pessimistic, dark, and nowhere as sunny as previous recorded versions. The Intruders\u2019 resounding \u201cSave the Children,\u201d paired perfectly with Archie Bell and the Drells\u2019 \u201cOld People,\u201d showed the generational effects of diminished opportunity. And Billy Paul\u2019s buoyant \u201cNew Day, New World Comin\u2019\u201d wove some hope into the record\u2019s ten-songs.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the title track is the project\u2019s real centerpiece. Written by Gamble &amp; Huff and Carey Gilbert, \u201cLet\u2019s Clean Up the Ghetto\u201d is a posse cut of epic proportions. The Philadelphia International All-Stars consisted of Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, Archie Bell, the O\u2019Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, and Dee Dee Sharp Gamble. Rawls pleads for \u201ccleanliness\u201d and \u201csafety\u201d on the opening dialogue sequence, followed by each artist echoing the sentiment, each in their own distinct fashion.<\/p>\n<p>Aesthetically, hefty bass and washes of harmony usher the song along for eight-minutes. And while it\u2019s hard to measure the effect of a single recording, it certainly voiced concerns of a voiceless minority, as all the profits from the record went towards local community development as promised.<\/p>\n<p>Kenneth Gamble went on to redevelop South Philadelphia for decades, and\u00a0<em>Let\u2019s Clean Up the Ghetto<\/em>\u00a0marked the start of his community-minded efforts. The project is a timely battle cry given that education, affordable housing, and job creation remain dominant hurdles in many communities of today. With Obama now at the helm, let\u2019s hope populist issues will no longer be approached with elitist policies. \u2013 <em>David Ma<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>(Originally ran in Waxpoetics issue #33, The Philly Issue)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>#letscleanuptheghetto #philadelphiainternationalrecords #waxpoetics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: I wrote this 8 years ago with so much hope and vigor about the state of change that was to come. It was such an honor and fun exercise to incorporate political history into what\u2019s essentially a review of an old record I loved. It\u2019s a strange and sad sensation to read this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":0,"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}