'Wake Up!' recalls soul music of Civil Rights era

Are today's younger listeners sorely lacking knowledge of soul music, especially the protest classics of the 1960s and '70s?

So suggests Salamishah Tillet, University of Pennsylvania assistant professor of English and Africana Studies, in her scene-setting liner notes for the vital (and in all ways Philly-connected) John Legend and the Roots collaborative project "Wake Up!" (Columbia, A-), focused on period anthems of the Civil Rights Movement and leading our new releases parade today.

Drawing parallels between then and now, this funky swirl of pop, soul, jazz, hip-hop, reggae and gospel pulls you in, then hits you upside the head with freshened versions of classics like "Compared to What" and "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free."

Also featured are lesser-known enlighteners/inspirers of the protest soul era like Marvin Gaye's "Wholy Holy" and Baby Huey and the Babysitters' "Hard Times."

As Legend (known as John Stephens in his days at a Penn student) himself suggested in a news release from Columbia, "These songs sound so relevant now. On most of them you wouldn't change a lyric."

Referring to the album highlight "Wake Up Everybody" (originally recorded here by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes), Legend noted the "the first (verse) is a general statement, the second is about education, third is about health care and the fourth is about making a better environment. No editing needed."

And if the rap hollers injected by the Roots' Black Thought, Common and Malik Yusef make the messages seem even angrier today, so be it, argued Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer/musical director of the Philly-based Roots and curator of this project.

"When these songs were written, people were more spiritually in tune. It was fresh from the civil rights era and there was a feeling of hope that maybe, yes, someday we will all be free. In 2010, not so much."