Uptight is an updated remake of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer. Dublin becomes the Cleveland ghetto and the Irish Republicans are replaced by black revolutionary fighters.
Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Tank Williams (Julian Mayfield) is an unemployed and itinerant steelworker who turns over his militant friend, Johnny (Max Julien) to the police for the $1,000 reward, resulting in an underground all-points bulletin to exact vengeance on the squealer.
Durban, South Africa might not exactly be synonymous with psychedelic folk-rock, but, perhaps crucially, it is a port town (Liverpool, anyone?) where all manner of influences could have come drifting into the air, in the form of records imported from America and England. It's likely that this was the way Abstract Truth developed their sensibilities as heard on their 1970 debut album, Totum. Until its 2009 reissue, this was the kind of record that would make hardcore collectors salivate freely and empty their bank accounts, but at last the rest of us can come to know its subtle pleasures. Totum is made up almost entirely of cover tunes, but the band's distinctive if understated style is clearly stamped on each one.