The Time For Peace Is Now is the title of Luaka Bop’s long awaited second instalment in the World Spirituality Classics series. Gospel guru Greg Belson has selected the private presses and there are words and insight by Jonathan Lethem – it is out on September 13th.

The selection of songs is accompanied by a beautifully curated website featuring interviews,  photos, lyrics, as well as some supremely well-informed and engaging articles about the artists and history of gospel. Any aficionado will benefit from the expert writing and this is a suitable education for the newly converted.

Crucially, as Luaka Bop state, these choices provide something different to previous gospel comps, that have unearthed those stirring dancefloor sermons, or stirring hymnal gems – “blurring the line between Saturday nights in the soul clubs and Sunday morning in church [this] collection of obscure 45’s dug up in attics, sheds and crates across the American South, [is] shining a light for the first time on a subset of Seventies-era gospel, that focused not on Jesus or God, but the conditions of life”.

As mentioned, you can experience enlightenment on the The Time For Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us website. It’s a MUST.