This 1972 album by Ray Charles was his most political record, epitomised by the track ‘Hey Mister’ that asks why, if the USA is “the richest country in the world”, has it “got so many hungry people?”.

Very few of the messages here, from the unifying ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ to ‘Hey Mister’ by way of ‘Heaven Help Us All’, seem out of place today, in a country – and a world – that seems to have learned very little since this heartfelt plea for social and racial unity from 50 years ago.

The events of the last few years, such as the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, are brought into sharp focus in lyrics such as “Heaven help the black man if he struggles one more day”. Listening through the entire album is something of an emotional and political roller- coaster. Yet dig a little deeper and there are contradictions – Charles himself played this album’s version of ‘America The Beautiful’ at the 1984 Republican Congress that promoted Ronald Reagan for re-election, supported by George Bush Sr. Yet in this original recording we find the ironic socio-political commentary of ‘Look What They Done To My Song’, which suggests that Charles himself was well aware of the political climate. Repeated listenings make one realise what a remarkable recording it was for its time, and more than the occasional tear squeezes out, as one recognises how little progress has been made in half a century.