NAT TURNER REBELLION - Laugh To Keep From Crying LP

Recorded in various sessions between 1969 and 1972, the 12 songs on this LP are so good, any reasonable listener would have to wonder why they hadn’t heard this music until now.

The answer is a common one. The Philly-based funk-rock-soul group simply didn’t get the breaks its music so richly deserved. The back-story concerning how the music came to light a few years ago is fascinating in and of itself (Drexel University was granted access to Sigma Sound Studio’s archives, and a researcher happened across this material while cataloging the archive) but ultimately it’s less important than the music and musicians themselves.

A few of the tracks on the new LP did see local release as singles; expect to pay a premium should you happen across any of them. But the group led by Joseph Jefferson – who penned nine of the tracks on the LP – never got a shot at making an album-proper.

That fact is belied by the manner in which these songs hold together as a cohesive whole. There’s a unity of purpose, perspective and aesthetic vision at work here. While Jackson had already established a track record as a commercially successful songwriter (The Spinners’ “One of a Kind (Love Affair)”), he was truly at the top of his game with the socio-politically charged songs he wrote for Nat Turner Rebellion.

From the pointed historical touchstone of the group’s name to the socially aware subject matter of songs like the title track, “Fruit of the Land” and “Plastic People,” The Nat Turner Rebellion made music that chronicled the urban experience of its day.