Curtis Mayfield: Classic or Dud?

I stand corrected. 1959, you say? I had no idea he'd been recording that long. Okay, so not a hippie at all. I couldn't really come up with a suitable negative description of him. Anyway, as I said I've not really listened to much of his stuff. Could you recommend any albums to a Curtis newbie like myself?

Timeless, a true classic.

Personal favourite song: People Get Ready - Mayfield said it straight: there's a train a-comin'...you don't need no baggage, you just get on board.

Agree with Andrew and John - 'Curtis Live!' is a great place to start, one of my favourite live albums. Most of his best songs, performed beautifully in a low-key setting.

Also search 'Curtis', 'Superfly', 'Roots', 'There's no place like America today', and any Impressions albums you can get your hands on. (I've not heard a bad one yet.)

They've got the 'Soul Legacy' box set in Fopp for £20. Should I buy it even though I've got a lot of his individual albums?

Word

I also noticed a post upthread that says the following:

"despite the fact live albums suck and live soul albums (mainly) suck harder"

I totally disagree with this statement (at least the latter part). I can't think of any live soul albums that suck, and I have Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Mayfield, Donny Hathaway and others, and to me, they are superior to the other live albums that I own.

(Dave Q's comment will forever change the way I hear, etc.)

as someone else said, if you can find the demo versions of a lot of his songs on superfly and the curtis album (i got mine on a 3 cd cheapo box set love peace understanding), theyre a lot more understated than the finished versions. he didnt pretty them up with strings and extra ornamenation.

And also because the break down is great.

I completely agree with all the praise too. I'm fairly new to Curtis; started listening to him because of the high praise Robbie Robertson (among many others) gave him as both a guitar player and songwriter.

I don't have near enough of his material - Impressions or solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi6DDa5cVMU

'Back to the World,' 'Got to Find a Way,' 'There's No Place Like America Today,' 'Sweet Exorcist' and 'Short Eyes' never get enough props. Somebody needs to make those albums easily available. Mayfield is definitely my favorite soul artist.

^this.
I picked up vinyl of 'Let's Do it Again' OST, produced by Curtis with Staple Singers on at least one track. Also recommended.

How did I previously miss "There's No Place Like America Today"? Had seen it, but never listened till last night on Spotify.

I think it may have been one of the first of his lps I heard about since it was on the mid 80s NME best 100 lps of all time list if I remember rightly. Took me a lot longer to get my hands on it and I really need to give it another ear soon.
Iconic cover.

I have most of the solo lps up to about '75. Really need to grab the 2fer cd of Sweet Exorcist/Got to Find a Way and could do with a new copy of the s/t lp Curtis. Think my last copy is in pretty naff state.

Still wish there was more performance footage of him around.

How had I never heard this before?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy56BvFDgEE

this is the shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sBQPVnKO_Y

"Do Do Wap" was a common pick of mine when I dj'd out. Love that song. I had never heard the Patti Jo one, really diggin' my first listen.

Doo Doo Wap is one of my favourite Curtis songs. Short Eyes is his most underrated album.

He did his own version of Make Me Believe In You on Sweet Exorcist but I think the first version I heard of it was Amerie's cover in 2007.

Never heard short eyes. Title always weirded me out a bit

I assume he meant something else besides pedophile

the first version I heard of it was Amerie's cover in 2007

same tbh

mayfield's records are pretty damn strong until the end of the 1970s, then they start getting soporific pretty quick.

XP - Cusrtis' Short Eyes album is a soundtrack to a prison flick which details how child molesters are treated in prison.

So, yes, it is a pedo reference.

*Curtis'

75th Birthday Tribute event in Washington DC

*Curtis Mayfield tribute with Professor Aaron Cohen and DJ Jahsonic at 11 am Sunday December 17th at the National Gallery of Art East wing Theatre for free followed by movie Urban Soul at 1:30pm

https://www.nga.gov/calendar/lectures/lectures-signings/curtis-mayfield-tribute.html

An interesting presentation. Professor mentioned Mayfield's use of f sharp, and how Hendrix learned some from Mayfield when Jimi opened for him. He played a demo from when Mayfield was 15 and showed a video clip of Mayfield acting in a movie

Looking forward to Cohen’s book, although I also need to read that one by Mayfield’s son

Over the years, I've become to really love "Here but I'm Gone". That tune is so lovely, sad and true. It even takes a whole other trip when you consider the circumstances that Curtis wrote and sung it. It is a rare piece of music that if considered, makes you check yourself.

Future Song (Love a Woman) slays

https://open.spotify.com/track/3hi078NgfqTvFj98hbECFR?si=tzu63FwrQ6-jDkJX5p824A

Shit is tight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpJtb3rL2SU

HAWTT uncut '72 set from Beat Club:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk4n52qwwlI

Soundcheck from same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF1uF-28MZE

absolute perfection.

damn, curtis is so good

inner city blues, holy shit!

yeah this set is radical. whole band smokes.

XP IKR Silly me never realized until now how much of a Curtis song it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSoULq1pOsE
The Notations - Superpeople

Heard this and thought wow that's the most Curtis Mayfield-y thing I've ever heard. Turns out they were on the Curtom label. Dope song.

So classic. I'm no expert or completist, but did Curtis ever sing in anything other than his falsetto?

Tuomas being so dense itt.

hmm. I mean I'd say technically he goes out of a true falsetto a lot but I can't think of anything that wasn't in a high register.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOzlCJDPjV0

This song has the lowest register vocals from him that I've heard, and he still does a semi-falsetto in the chorus.

Anyone know anything about the Rhino reissue of his first 4 solo albums that happened last year?

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Keeping-Curtis-Mayfield-1970-1974/dp/B07KLS2XDZ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=curtis+mayfield&qid=1591438979&sr=8-1

This one? It is a nice set.

Yeah that one. Reading some good things

hard to beat that price tbh

Looks good, be prepared, tho, that Sweet Exorcist isn't quite as good as the first three. That and his other 1974 album Got to Find a Way are okay, then There's No Place Like America Today from 1975 raises the bar again, but that one is pretty much his last truly good album. The ones after that are still worth listening because they usually have one or two great songs, but his peak creative period as a solo artist was those five years from 1970 to 1975.

wrong, "sweet exorcist" is amazing

Oh lord that long LP version of "Move On Up" is one serious bongo jam.

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Keeping-Curtis-Mayfield-1970-1974/dp/B07KLS2XDZ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=curtis+mayfield&qid=1591438979&sr=8-1🕸

This one? It is a nice set.

boooo!

Oh lord that long LP version of "Move On Up" is one serious bongo jam.

― earlnash, Friday, July 24, 2020 9:21 PM

alltime jam.

Two greatest 'wow's ever: Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, when Rod Steiger pulls the gun on him in the backseat; "If you wanna be a junkie, wow."

Wow

To be invisible
Will be my claim to fame
A man with no name
That way, I won't have to feel the pain
Indispensable
Just a plain old human being
Today, don't mean a thing
In a world that's so mean
A world that seems not for me
So privately, I'll be invisible
That way, I won't have to explain a thing, if you know what I mean
I won't even have to be here, on the scene
It's so ridiculous
But the strife and the bliss
Will go right on through, right on through me
To have missed
All the things that hurt your soul
No one would ever know
They'd never know
Life so preciously
Just don't seem to be
As free as they claim freedom to be
Things are going fast
To have found that all is in the past
To have to take what you can get
Sure can make a heart upset
Inconspicuous
I must behave myself
For somebody else
Who may have a little fame, fortune and wealth
It's so ridiculous
But the strife and the bliss
Will go right on through, right on through me
To have missed
A world that seems not for me
So privately, I'll be invisible
That way, I won't have to explain a thing, if you know what I mean
I won't even have to be here, on the scene
It's so ridiculous
But the strife and the bliss
Will go right on through, right on through me
To have missed
All the things that hurt your soul
No one would ever know
They'd never know
Life so preciously
Just don't seem to me
As free as they claim freedom to be
Things are going fast
To have found that all is in the past
To have to take what you can get
Sure can make a heart upset
So I'll be invisible
Invisible
Invisible

Wow what an amazing lyric-So heartbreaking and profound

The man had a highly rare sense of grace that was definitely captured in his music.