. ' Released: November, 1970. ' Released: June, 1971 Curtis is the debut album by American musician, released in September 1970.
Produced by Mayfield, it was released on his own label. The musical styles of Curtis moved further away from the sounds of Mayfield's previous group and featured more of a and -influenced sound.
The album's subject matter incorporates political and social concerns of the time. Curtis sold well at the time charting at number one on the (for five nonconsecutive weeks) and number nineteen on the charts. Only the single ' charted in the United States; however, an edited version of ' would spend 10 weeks in the top 50 of the. Contents. Background Mayfield began work on his own self-titled album in 1970. Although he never intended to leave the Impressions permanently, he would officially leave them in 1971, under recommendation from his business manager Marv Stuart and given the trend for both R&B and rock artists to go solo.
Recording and production Like with some of his later Impressions work, Mayfield's lyrics reflected the social and political concern rising in black America at the time. Mayfield was one of the earliest artists to speak openly about African-American pride and community struggle.
Mayfield reflected upon this time as a 'happening era.when people stopped wearing tuxedos.people were getting down a little more.' The album had a more hard edged sound than the Impressions had before. On this new sound Mayfield claimed it was something he 'long wanted to do.but were out of category of what was expected of me and the Impressions. What I got off in the Curtis album allowed me to be more personal for myself.' The two singles off the album ' and ' showcased Mayfield's new musical style, while the rest of the tracks were much softer based songs. Not having any traditional music lessons, Mayfield claimed his backing band would occasionly comment 'gosh, this is a terribly strange key to play in', but still played it accordingly as written.
According to Joseph L. Tirabassi of, 'We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue' exemplified the 'gliding soul' and 'hard-hitting funk' the rest of the album veered between. Critical reception Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating B+ 4.5/5 B In a contemporary review for, John Wendell was disappointed by Curtis, finding much of Mayfield's music more rhythmic than melodic, 'fragmentary, garbled and frustrating to listen to'; he called the lyrics haphazardly written and mealy-mouthed.
'He tries to deal with some pretty serious and complex subjects by stringing together phrases that end with the same sound—whether they make sense together or not', Wendell critiqued. 'Sure, it's all subjective, but I can't myself see that what we need is 'Respect for the steeple/power to the people.' ' critic was also somewhat unmoved by the album's 'essentially middle-class guides to black pride' but qualified his judgment as reflecting a certain degree of on his part, making note of African-American audiences having embraced the record. Christgau revisited Curtis in subsequent years and found it far less on further listens, writing in a retrospective review for Rolling Stone, 'cut for cut, Mayfield's solo debut is stronger than '. Bruce Eder from said Mayfield had 'embraced the most progressive soul sounds of the era' on an album that was 'practically the album of '70s soul'.
In (2004), Geoff Himes wrote that the songs remained irresistibly catchy, even though sometimes Mayfield's messages were oversimplified and the production sounded excessively 'ornate'. Track listing All tracks written. Title Length 1.
Jul 18, 2016 - We're not uncovering anything new here in praising Curtis Mayfield. You off, for this record could easily serve as a greatest hits for Mayfield. Curtis Mayfield - Pandora. If problems continue, try clearing browser cache and storage by clicking here.This will cause a logout.
'The Other Side of Town' 4:01 3. 'The Makings of You' 3:43 4. 'We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue' 6:05 Side two No. Title Length 5.
'Miss Black America' 2:53 7. 'Wild and Free' 3:16 8.
'Give It Up' 3:49 Total length: 40:28 All songs written and composed by Curtis Mayfield except where noted. 2000 Remaster bonus material No.
Title Writer(s) Length 9. 'Power to the People' (demo version) 2:47 10. 'Underground' (demo version) 3:11 11. 'Ghetto Child' (demo version) 5:10 12.
'Readings in Astrology' (demo version) 3:31 13. 'Suffer' (demo version), Mayfield 2:31 14.
'Miss Black America' (demo version) 2:22 15. 'The Makings of You' (Backing Tracks, Take 32) 4:35 16. '(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go' ((Backing Tracks, Takes 1 & 2)) 9:34 17.
Jones, Chris (2008). Retrieved July 13, 2016. ^ Pruter 1992, p.306-307. ^ Thompson 2001, p. 158.
Unterberger, Richie. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
Tirabassi, Joseph L. (October 2, 2008). Retrieved July 13, 2016.
^ Eder, Bruce. Retrieved April 22, 2008. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the '70s.
Retrieved July 13, 2016. 'Curtis Mayfield: Curtis'. ^ Christgau, Robert (February 3, 2000). Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 13, 2016. ^ Himes, Geoff (2004).
'Curtis Mayfield'. In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. Arp, Louis (January 17, 2006). Retrieved July 13, 2016.
^ (1970). Retrieved April 5, 2013. Wendell, John (26 November 1970). Archived from on 2007-12-02.
Retrieved 22 June 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
Warwick 2004, p. External links.
at (list of releases).
Disclaimer: This is one of those questionable picks that pepper the list: 16 years of music in a greatest hits double album. Not sure that’s a particularly fair means of assessment or an accurate picture of Curtis Mayfield as an artist. For the sake of fairness I’d be happy to go straight to the late-‘60s and early ‘70s political flowering and Blaxploitation soundtrack cuts and skip the Motown-esque love songs of the Impressions years, as fine as they are. If, however, Rolling Stone had made the sensible rule against including greatest hits albums (which they really should have done), I’ll happily take Curtis, Roots, or the Superfly soundtrack and put it up against any other album in this general numerical range on the RS list ( Curtis, his 1970 solo debut must have been a mammoth shock to the system: the opening cut, “If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go” Holy gawd! Get a load of me! A list of society’s ills followed by the lyric, “Nixon talking about, Don’t Worry.” America is great already.) Now I discover Superfly is already on the RS list at no.
72, one hundred-plus long albums away, despite several of its songs appearing on this anthology. I don’t get it. Anyway, sailing on. End Disclaimer.
In eighth grade, I bought a cassette tape from the bargain rack at Kemp Mill Music (same place I bought Hysteria, my contribution at #464, full price though) with a cool Black Caesar, Fred Williamson-looking dude in a colorful suit holding a gun in one hand and a scantily dressed babe in the other on the cover. It was entitled Greatest Pimpin’ Hits or something similar and anthologized many of the classic soundtrack cuts of ‘70s Blaxploitation-era cinema. Isaac Hayes’s “Shaft,” of course; Bobby Womack’s “Across 110 th Street” and Marvin Gaye’s “Troubleman” are other ones I remember, along with Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly.” Come to think “Pusherman” and “Freddie’s Dead” were on the tape as well.
I would imagine three tunes making Curtis the leading representative of Greatest Pimpin’ Hits. If the pimp shoe fits. I loved this cassette tape. Listened to it all the time. Not because I — nestled in an affluent Washington, D.C. Suburb — was particularly aware of the socioeconomic context and political backdrop of these films, or had ever even seen any of them at the time, but because it was damn funky soul music. I remember one summer I was mowing lawns — I hated mowing lawns — despised it with all my heart — and it was a regular in my Walkman.
Now for a related embarrassing suburban-white-kid-early-‘90s-cluelessness anecdote: as junior high schoolers it was required of me and my buddies to hang out at the local mall, where we occasionally partook in the activity of “Pimpin’.” This meant we would dress up in ‘70s clothes gathered from the basement, attic, or bargain bin and strut around the mall blaring Greatest Pimpin’ Hits from a boombox. Curtis Mayfield’s smooth falsetto: “I’m your momma, I’m your daddy, I’m that nigger in the alley / I’m your doctor, when in need, want some coke, have some weed” and our long strides around the Sbarro’s and Cinnabon. Nigh 25 years ago in suburban Virginia we thought that was pretty sweet.
Nowadays maybe not so much. I recall the people from the Glamour Shots appreciated it anyway, gifting us with some fine 8 x 10 glossies in our pimp gear in exchange for momentarily enlivening the tedious hours of their mall working day. Ah, the foibles of youth. Having thankfully moved on from my pimping years, I came back to Curtis Mayfield via my preferred genre of metal, courtesy Fishbone’s cover of “Freddie’s Dead.” Thrashing about in the pit at some humid summer festival: hey, I know this song — wait a second, this is from that tape! Then picking up this very anthology I earlier denigrated Rolling Stone for selecting at a used record store in a strip mall in Vienna, VA. If I had to name my all-time favorite band, Bad Brains would get a better than decent shot at the title (as they will never ever see a list like this, I will include them here).
Along with being righteous heavy music, Bad Brains tick all my personal boxes: subvert expectations, crash genre, local boys to boot, but as I think about it, maybe there is also some related connection to my early courtship with Curtis. They are, foremost, city music: Curtis from Chicago; Bad Brains, my own D.C. And later NYC when they were forced to relocate in search of an audience and clubs where they were allowed to play (see: “Banned in DC”). Their music speaks to an awareness and connection with legitimate social concerns developed from real experience and expressed in a kick-ass musical fashion.