Up-Tight

Up Tight (shown as Up-Tight Everything's Alright on the cover) is a 1966 album by American singer Stevie Wonder. It was his fifth studio release.

Background

The album was released on May 4, 1966 on Motown Records' Tamla label. The album features the U.S. Top 5 single "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", which Wonder co-wrote with Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby. The tracks on Uptight (Everything's Alright) were the beginning of Wonder's development into a mature recording artist, independent of his earlier "Little Stevie Wonder" moniker and his image as a young Ray Charles imitator. Nonetheless, it included two earlier recordings, the 1962 single "Contract on Love" and the unissued 1964 single "Pretty Little Angel".

Also included on the album are "Nothing's Too Good for My Baby", another Wonder co-write, and a cover of folk star Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", which made Wonder popular with crossover audiences, and a cover of the standard, Teach Me Tonight, featuring vocals with Levi Stubbs and The Four Tops.

Uptight (film)

Uptight (also known as Up Tight!) is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer, but the setting was transposed from Dublin, Ireland to Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T. & the MG's. The film opens with documentary footage of the funeral procession of Martin Luther King, Jr., which is used as a backdrop for the film's fictional narrative.

The film was released on DVD by Olive Films on October 16, 2012.

Plot

In Cleveland, Ohio, at the time of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., protesters riot in the streets. Johnny Wells (Max Julien), a charismatic black revolutionary, leads a group of black men on a mission to steal guns from a warehouse as preparation for violent racial conflict. Johnny's best friend Tank (Julian Mayfield), who formerly worked at the steel mill with several of the men, is supposed to help with the robbery, but when the group goes to his house, they find him drunk and watching the television coverage of King's funeral. Tank is a middle-aged, unemployed alcoholic who supported King's non-violent approach, which the others have rejected in favor of violent revolution. It is later revealed that Tank lost his longtime job at the steel mill when he attacked a white co-worker who harassed the black mill workers. As a result, Tank was sent to prison and since being released, has been unable to find work. The black revolutionary group is going through a deeper radicalization, and they see Tank's inconsistent behavior as threatening to their cause.

Up Tight! (album)

Up Tight! is an album by saxophonist Gene Ammons recorded in 1961 and released on the Prestige label. The album was recorded at the same sessions that produced Boss Soul!.

Reception

Allmusic awarded the album 4 stars, with its review by Scott Yanow stating: "His sound and style effectively bridged the gap between bop and soul jazz".

Track listing

All compositions by Gene Ammons except as indicated

Personnel

Uptight

Uptight may refer to:

UpTight (soundtrack)

UpTight is a soundtrack album by Southern soul band Booker T. & the M.G.'s for the film of the same title.

The album's highlights include "Time Is Tight," the single version of which became a US Top 10 hit (the second biggest of their career) and a signature song for the band. The version of "Time Is Tight" included on the Up Tight soundtrack album is an alternate recording, which differs from the single version in several respects: it is in stereo, it is played at a faster tempo, it runs almost two minutes longer (4'55"), and it includes both an extended introduction and an instrumental "breakdown" (beginning around 3'30"), neither of which are in the single version. "Johnny, I Love You" (the B-side of "Time Is Tight") features a rare vocal by keyboardist Booker T. Jones. Judy Clay provides vocals on "Children, Don't Get Weary."

The album was recorded at Stax Records' studios by Ron Capone, produced by Jones, and was overdubbed and mixed at Ardent Studios by Steve Cropper and Terry Manning.