{"product_id":"key-cleary-love-is-the-way-lp","title":"KEY \u0026 CLEARY - LOVE IS THE WAY LP","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the early ’70s, Jessie Key and Sylvester Cleary – two passionate idealists living in Buffalo, New York – formed a close friendship based on a mutual mission to better their city. The Attica State Prison Riot of 1971 was a burning memory, and the Arthur vs. Nyquist lawsuit – brought against the City of Buffalo for creating and maintaining a racially segregated school system – was on the docket. Key was once a cotton-laborer in Mississippi, who journeyed north for school where he met his kindred spirit, Cleary. The two struck up an intense friendship, bought a drum machine and recorded their first 45, “A Man,” a paean to self-actualization and Black American empowerment, which they custom pressed and issued privately.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDozens of recordings followed over a decade long span, issued on local labels and warehoused on cassette tapes. Perennial optimists, Key \u0026amp; Cleary tried any – perhaps every! – path they could demarcate in hopes of forwarding their agenda of self-effected, positive change. They formed Buffalo’s first minority-owned construction company, opened a health food restaurant in a building previously occupied by a fast food chain, and even concocted a candy bar called “The Buffalo Treat,” which they manufactured and sold locally. Eventually they started their own label, Buffalo’s Reflection. On it they\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ereleased their masterpiece, “What It Takes To Live,” a sought-after disco and Northern Soul classic, which previously appeared on Now-Again’s Soul Cal anthology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis album collates the breadth of Key \u0026amp; Cleary’s recordings from 1970 until the mid 1980s, both the songs issued on rare 7” singles and previously unreleased. It presents a conjoined musical vision and tells the story of a duo years ahead of their time, both musically and culturally. Love Is The Way was their ethos – their goal was to enlighten humanity and to bend history in a more loving direction through communion.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BLACK DOTS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52046556758262,"sku":"pid1793048070016","price":11.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0807\/9261\/7206\/files\/key-cleary---love-is-the-way-lp_1.jpg?v=1793048077","url":"https:\/\/vacationfit.shop\/products\/key-cleary-love-is-the-way-lp","provider":"Vacationfit","version":"1.0","type":"link"}