People Get Ready is an excellent example of mid-sixties Chicago soul, arranged and produced by leading Chicago music figure Johnny Pate and characterised by big, brassy, jazz-flavoured horn arrangements and uptown, cinematic orchestration. The famous title track was adopted as an anthem for the American civil rights movement and is still a powerful and emotive listen today. This song is where Curtis Mayfield revealed his potential as an important socially-conscious songwriter, a role he would fully develop over the next decade with The Impressions and then as a solo artist.