Outside of the Superfly soundtrack, I know nothing about the man and his music.

Curtis was a giant. Criminally underrated in music history. He stays on my GOAT list.

He started out with the Impressions in the late 50’s. Curtis was the creative force behind the group as he penned an increasing percentage of its songs.

The Impressions (w/Curtis)went on to have a over decade long run with hits and some truly beautiful (but relatively unknown) gems. The style of the Impression music evolved with the times, moving from doo-wop to being on the leading edge of soul music in the late sixties. Keep on Pushin’, People Get Ready, This is My Country, We’re a Winner, The Young Mods Forgotten Story and Choice of Colors were a few of the great songs that the Impressions laid down. BTW-The Impressions continued without Curtis singing as part of the group and put down some quality records in the early seventies.

Curtis went on the start a solo career at the beginning of the seventies. His run of records from 1970 to 1975 is rivals some of the great mutli-album runs of any artist from Stevie to Prince. Album highlights include Curtis, Roots, Superfly, Back to the World and There’s No Place Like America Today. Start in this five year period if you want to learn more about Curtis’ music.

He continued to record regularly until a concert accident injured him severely. Trying to incorporate disco and eighties R&B into his music made the quality of his later stuff uneven.

I remember seeing some live bootleg Prince cd in 1996 where Prince did a show at paisley park and covered people get ready along with sometimes it snows in april....I heard some of this bootleg and most of it were covers of brick house, skin tight, and flashlight....This concert was during the gold experience era/slave written on his face. here is the link:

http://easymusicdownload.com/Prince-People-Get-Ready_4463904.html

somewhere in the 3-10 best artists to ever come out of Chicago everybody knows who Number 1 Real CHI-TOWN FOlks already know, but Curtis is way up there.

Great Producer, Great Musician, very Good Songwriter and Arranger.

for me the Impressions stuff was strong and solid on the Singles tip. a Soulful version of Simon and Garfunkel if you will.

Curtis Mayfield the soundtrack Man is where it is at for me

Supefly, eyes of laura mars, lets do it again,Sparkle, a piece of the action, claudine.

loved his work with Gladys Knight and the Pips for Claudine

loved Sparkle with him and Aretha Franklin.

loved his work with the Staple singers on the lets do it again and a piece of the action soundtracks.


hit and Miss with his studio albums though on a whole.

but loved his Curtis Live album.


he is an Important Artist and i respect him having his own label Curtom records. myself and My homies around my way had those records which had his stuff, Leroy Hutson and Linda clifford amongest others on the label.

he helped write and produce on the Five Stirsteps with a blend of his sound and SMokey RObinson's on there early records. the Five Stirsteps are probably in terms of instrumentalist and kids acts the most talented playing family act. the Burke Brothers.


anyway much respect for Curtis Mayfield as a SOngwriter, Producer and Instrumentalist and he was a good Singer and very Soulful.

he ranks in the 3-10 slot All time in Chicago and that is Great company he keeps with the locals from the CHI.

U should listen to the song "We the people who are darker than blue".....that song alone will school you about Curtis Mayfield.

I think Astroman pretty much nailed...the thing you have to remember about Mayfield is he influenced music on different levels...There's the new style of soul songwriting he helped create...there's the late 60s Civil Rights anthems he created as a member of the Impressions...There's his role as a producer (listen to the Sparkle soundtrack...Aretha was GREAT on that one)....and probably the most underrated aspect is his influence as a guitarist....He was so good in tone and texture that Jimi Hendrix utilized a lot his style ("Castles Made of Sand" for instance...)

Hell, just read my signature...

way up there however behind Number 1# R.Kelly and Maurice White who is number 2. Chaka and Him battle it out for #3.

but Curtis is way up there though.

>way up there however behind Number 1# R.Kelly and
>Maurice White who is number 2. Chaka and Him battle it out for
>#3.
>
>but Curtis is way up there though.


R is no threat to Curtis....U can name folks like Nat...And Sam Cooke....Both of those acts are before Chaka and Maurice, who are in my top 10...But Curtis' only competition for that top spot is Sam or Nat King Cole....R def. put in the work...He's in the top 10...

But before Curtis, Nat or Sam? only in your world...

R.Kelly got all types of R&B songs and he means more and matters more.

R got the best catelog Stats and Jewlery. you don't know nothing about da ARRUH!!!!!! Real CHI-TOWN will Rep da ARRUH!!!!!

after ARRUH!!!!!!!! is Maurice White turkey. then Chaka and Curtis.

Nat King Cole is Great and still down the street from Da ARRUH!

Sam Cooke is either 3rd or 4th. ARRUH could do his career and flip it like some Hot cakes.

my List is the Real One for the CHI.

ARRUH!!!!!!!!!!

so back off Fam. sitting around acting like da Kang of R&B ain't held it down for 2 decades is plan hatin.

everybody knows about da ARRUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

because a Great Artist is put in said category and that usually means they represent something higher than the normal.

turkey I don't know you and you don't know me, so you calling me those kind of names and have no clue and you got your feelings hurt over a subjective opinion? somebody call tito and get you some tissue.

>turkey I don't know you and you don't know me, so you calling
>me those kind of names and have no clue and you got your
>feelings hurt over a subjective opinion? somebody call tito
>and get you some tissue.

i aint dissin you dog, i'm dismissin u... get the r kelly tape & see how we piss on u (faggot)

Yep....

But I will say this...Kells has a genius about him, and I've seen it...first hand. But he didn't use that genius enough for me....

speaks for itself. anybody who even half way calls themselves a legit writer knows the impact of R.Kelly. Nelson George has gone on record talking about the Genius of R.Kelly.

he has covered so many styles of R&B and has his own lane, matter of fact if you were hip to R.Kelly you would notice how writers in other magazines when they talk about R&B they use his name as a means in describing other said acts.

two straight decades of holding it down. all due respect to Curtis Mayfield,however he didn't have the kind of run as R.Kelly and you know this.

much more diverse, not that I don't think Robert Kelly could get to that level but it would mean less sales and he knew what lane to be in to keep the gravy train rolling

Seek that album ASAP


Tilt - Arcade Funk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPtLcEoyxKY

>
>Seek that album ASAP

Oh ok, thanks!

I have a rare Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions lp that features the song "young lover" and I recommend that if you see this lp....pick it up....I cant think of the title of the lp but it features young lover, at the county fair and precious love...

It's much easier. Now if you want opinions get some album reviews. They are archived somewhere in the net. Or wiki that shit. Then come back and ask specific questions about some research you have already made. Otherwise folks wouldn't even know where to start. Really DIY is much better than some brainwash shit.


Come Barack ! (Hawuzwe !)
Nyamazana ! (Hawuzwe !)
Come Barack ! (Hawuzwe !)
Obama ! (Hawuzwe !)

Perhaps because he didn't cross over to the pop audience as heavily as Motown's stars, it may be that the scope of Curtis Mayfield's talents and contributions have yet to be fully recognized. Judged merely by his records alone, the man's legacy is enormous. As the leader of the Impressions, he recorded some of the finest soul vocal group music of the 1960s. As a solo artist in the 1970s, he helped pioneer funk and helped introduce hard-hitting urban commentary into soul music. "Gypsy Woman," "It's All Right," "People Get Ready," "Freddie's Dead," and "Superfly" are merely the most famous of his many hit records.

But Curtis Mayfield wasn't just a singer. He wrote most of his material at a time when that was not the norm for soul performers. He was among the first -- if not the very first -- to speak openly about African-American pride and community struggle in his compositions. As a songwriter and a producer, he was a key architect of Chicago soul, penning material and working on sessions by notable Windy City soulsters like Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler, Major Lance, and Billy Butler. In this sense, he can be compared to Smokey Robinson, who also managed to find time to write and produce many classics for other soul stars. Mayfield was also an excellent guitarist, and his rolling, Latin-influenced lines were highlights of the Impressions' recordings in the '60s. During the next decade, he would toughen up his guitar work and production, incorporating some of the best features of psychedelic rock and funk.

Mayfield began his career as an associate of Jerry Butler, with whom he formed the Impressions in the late '50s. After the Impressions had a big hit in 1958 with "For Your Precious Love," Butler, who had sung lead on the record, split to start a solo career. Mayfield, while keeping the Impressions together, continued to write for and tour with Butler before the Impressions got their first Top 20 hit in 1961, "Gypsy Woman."

Mayfield was heavily steeped in gospel music before he entered the pop arena, and gospel, as well as doo wop, influences would figure prominently in most of his '60s work. Mayfield wasn't a staunch traditionalist, however. He and the Impressions may have often worked the call-and-response gospel style, but his songs (romantic and otherwise) were often veiled or unveiled messages of black pride, reflecting the increased confidence and self-determination of the African-American community. Musically he was an innovator as well, using arrangements that employed the punchy, blaring horns and Latin-influenced rhythms that came to be trademark flourishes of Chicago soul. As the staff producer for the OKeh label, Mayfield was also instrumental in lending his talents to the work of other Chi-town soul singers who went on to national success. With Mayfield singing lead and playing guitar, the Impressions had 14 Top 40 hits in the 1960s (five made the Top 20 in 1964 alone), and released some above-average albums during that period as well.

Given Mayfield's prodigious talents, it was perhaps inevitable that he would eventually leave the Impressions to begin a solo career, as he did in 1970. His first few singles boasted a harder, more funk-driven sound; singles like "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go" found him confronting ghetto life with a realism that had rarely been heard on record. He really didn't hit his artistic or commercial stride as a solo artist, though, until Superfly, his soundtrack to a 1972 blaxploitation film. Drug deals, ghetto shootings, the death of young black men before their time: all were described in penetrating detail. Yet Mayfield's irrepressible falsetto vocals, uplifting melodies, and fabulous funk pop arrangements gave the oft-moralizing material a graceful strength that few others could have achieved. For all the glory of his past work, Superfly stands as his crowning achievement, not to mention a much-needed counterpoint to the sensationalistic portrayals of the film itself.

At this point Mayfield, along with Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, was the foremost exponent of a new level of compelling auteurism in soul. His failure to maintain the standards of Superfly qualifies as one of the great disappointments in the history of black popular music. Perhaps he'd simply reached his peak after a long climb, but the rest of his '70s work didn't match the musical brilliance and lyrical subtleties of Superfly, although he had a few large R&B hits in a much more conventional vein, such as "Kung Fu," "So in Love," and "Only You Babe."

Mayfield had a couple of hits in the early '80s, but the decade generally found his commercial fortunes in a steady downward spiral, despite some intermittent albums. On August 14, 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck down when a lighting rig fell on top of him at a concert in Brooklyn, NY. In the mid-'90s, a couple of tribute albums consisting of Mayfield covers appeared, with contributions by such superstars as Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and Gladys Knight. Though no substitute for the man himself, these tributes served as an indication of the enormous regard in which Mayfield was still held by his peers. He died December 26, 1999 at the age of 57.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV6BzsgOLAw

The percussionist lets loose on this

class dismissed

I remember I saw a curtis mayfield album cover in the thrift store last year titled love is the place but the lp was missing and I hated that the lp was missing because most used record stores that have this lp are selling it very expensive and I heard some of it at another used record store and it sounded like Curtis was trying to revive the doo wop era with duets ballads with some female singer named linda especially with how new wave and synthesizers dominated the early 80's. here is the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_is_the_Place

I have a rare curtis mayfield and the impressions lp called we are a winner that I bought at an antique shop about 4 years ago and it was recorded on vj records and my favorite song on it is young lover....

I saw the impressions self titled lp at a used record store last year that went for 80 bucks and the clerk was telling me about how great it is and how hard it is to find the lp anywhere else and he let me listen to it and it had a lot of the doo wop songs that they were doing around that era and it also features my favorite song "young lover" and I recommend that if you find this lp at any thrift store, get it because other used record stores are selling for a arm and a leg....the link is posted below....

http://www.discogs.com/Impressions-The-Impressions/release/2515707

I used to have this lp but I sold it. get this greatest hits lp because it had their best hits on it and I thought that it was a very solid lp.

http://www.discogs.com/Impressions-Greatest-Hits/release/1629103

Ive had the movie claudine dvd for 2 months now and I had an extremely hard time finding it and when I saw the movie....the way that the soundtrack fit with the movie is very classic and gladys knight did all of the songs but curtis mayfield wrote all of them and she even covered the makings of you but my favorite song so far is make yours a happy home. most of my friends love that song and get that claudine soundtrack if you can find it.

I remember renting the greatest hits complilation cd on rhino records at the library in 2000 and this song is what really got me into Curtis Mayfield.....its so uplifting....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z66wVo7uNw

just go to wikipedia or somewhere to get a list of his entire discography and cop it...

make him take you to the eye doctor to have your eyes checked out Brother.

Curtis is a Great Artist, but he ain;t even the Best Songwriter or Artist in CHicago let alone ever.

if not in soul music history, with apologies to Stevie and Smokey

What happened to the Mistermaxx of 10 years ago, who used to appreciate 70's soul and recognize real while operating a funky Rick James yahoo group?

I don't know this guy now.

i already said R.kelly and Maurice White for me out of Chicago and there is no way Curtis as a songwriter is seeing Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson as songwriters those guys wrote songs that 40-50 years later shine. they were more dominant as songwriters, meanwhile Mayfield wrote some big songs and bigger in the soundtrack field however not to there level IMO.