Curtis

by Curtis Mayfield

Overview

The first solo album by the former leader of the Impressions, Curtis represented a musical apotheosis for Curtis Mayfield -- indeed, it was practically the "Sgt. Pepper's" album of '70s soul, helping with its content and its success to open the whole genre to much bigger, richer musical canvases than artists had previously worked with. All of Mayfield's years of experience of life, music, and people were pulled together into a rich, powerful, topical musical statement that reflected not only the most up-to-date soul sounds of its period, finely produced by Mayfield himself, and the immediacy of the times and their political and social concerns, but also embraced the most elegant R&B sounds of the past. As a producer, Mayfield embraced the most progressive soul sounds of the era, stretching them out compellingly on numbers like "Move on Up," but he also drew on orchestral sounds (especially harps), to achieve some striking musical timbres (check out "Wild and Free"), and wove all of these influences, plus the topical nature of the songs, into a neat, amazingly lean whole. There was only one hit single off of this record, "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Down Below We're All Going to Go," which made number three, but the album as a whole was a single entity and really had to be heard that way. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	01/27/2023
Label:	Rhino
UPC:	0603497837717

Tracks

1. (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go
2. The Other Side of Town
3. The Makings of You
4. We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue
5. Move on Up
6. Miss Black America
7. Wild and Free
8. Give It Up

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Curtis Mayfield   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals

Technical Credits

Riley Hampton   Arranger
John Ross   Musician
Robert Lewis   Musician
Sam Heiman   Musician
Ronald Kolber   Musician
Roger Anfinson   Engineer
Harold Lepp   Musician
Harold Dessent   Musician
Dan Turbeville   Assistant Engineer
Curtis Mayfield   Composer,Producer
Donny Hathaway   Composer
Phil Upchurch   Musician
Patrick Ferreri   Musician
Tom Flye   Overdub Engineer
Leonard Druss   Musician
Robert Sims   Musician
Loren Binford   Musician
Harold Klatz   Musician
Sol Bobrov   Musician
Richard Single   Musician
Marv Heiman   Contractor
John Howell   Musician
Henry Gibson   Musician
Don Simmons   Musician
Gary Slabo   Arranger,Musician
Rudolph Stauber   Musician
Elliott Golub   Musician
Clifford Davis   Musician