In 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. Dozens of recordings followed over a decade long span, issued on local labels and warehoused on cassette tapes. Perennial optimists, Key & Cleary tried any perhaps every! path they could demarcate in hopes of forwarding their agenda of self-effected, positive change. They formed Buffalos 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, Buffalos Reflection. On itthey released their masterpiece, What It Takes To Live, a sought-after disco and Northern Soul classic, which previously appeared on Now-Agains Soul Cal anthology. This album collates the breadth of Key & Clearys 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.

Tracklist:

1.A Man
2.There Are Troubles
3.Young People
4.Turn Me On
5.The Secret
6.Dog’s Delight
7.Since I Lost Your Love
8.Lay Your Head
9.Salamanca
10.Storm of ’77
11.Help Build Buffalo
12.What It Takes To Live
13.To Live