Curtis Mayfield – Curtis / Live! (1971, US)

As randomly chosen via Fedi survey,[1] our next spotlight is on number 294 on The List, submitted by myself (buffyleigh).

This is one of my favourite live releases in my vinyl collection, the first solo live album from the indomitable Curtis Mayfield, recorded in 1971 at the (now if not, at the time, already) legendary NYC nightclub, The Bitter End. Mayfield leads his backing band on guitar, with Craig McMullen on rhythm guitar, Joseph “Lucky” Scott on bass, Tyrone McCullen on drums, and “Master” Henry Gibson on percussion, congas, and bongos (all of whom would join Mayfield on future albums including Super Fly).

Nearly half of the songs on Curtis/Live[2] were originally released by the soul/R&B vocal group The Impressions, which Mayfield had been a part of since the age of 16 and had just recently left to pursue a solo career. Mayfield was the primary songwriter on all 12 albums he released with The Impressions – from their 1963 s/t debut to their 1970 album Check Out Your Mind! – so the inclusion of these songs are more reworkings than covers. Three of the other tracks[3] come from the one solo album Mayfield had released by this time, Curtis (1970), and the remaining four[4] see their first (and, afaik, possibly only album) release here, including a cover of the Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun”.

Mayfield would go on to release (if I’m counting correctly) 17 more solo studio/soundtrack albums (including one after being paralyzed from the neck down, wtf) and a handful of other live albums, plus would pen albums for other artists such as Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mavis Staples, and Aretha Franklin. Both in his lifetime and after his death in 1999, Mayfield would be recognized for his influence on soul/R&B music and his impact on the civil rights and Black pride movements, all of which deserves thousands more words than we have here. If you haven’t yet gone down the Curtis Mayfield rabbit hole, this is a great place to start.

Happy listening and, don’t worry, if there’s a hell below, we’re all going to go.

The cover art is a somewhat dark/shadowy photo of the artist standing in front of a brick wall, presumably while performing live on a stage, holding/playing an electric guitar. He's wearing glasses and a light-coloured collared, long-sleeved shirt, with a wood bead necklace. The photo is turned so his head is in the upper right corner, legs in the lower right corner, guitar nearly horizontal and feet outside of the frame. Another guitar neck and hand is seen in the upper left corner. The album name is in the top right corner, "Curtis/" in white font and "Live" in yellow.
  1. The survey choices that led to this spotlight were: “If you set you mind free, baby”, “Maybe you’d understand”, “Starfish and coffee”, and “Maple syrup and jam, oh oh” (following a survey that had “Starfish and coffee”/”Maple syrup and jam”/”Butterscotch clouds, a tangerine”/”And a side order of ham”). The last three were tied as the winning selections, so the survey results will be translated for three spotlights, each picking an album in The List that contains a (part of a) word from one of those phrases – in this case, “May(be)”. ↩︎
  2. “Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)”, “We’re a Winner”, “People Get Ready”, “Check Out Your Mind”, and “Gypsy Woman”. ↩︎
  3. “The Makings of You”, “We the People Who are Darker Than Blue”, and “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go”. ↩︎
  4. “I Plan to Stay a Believer”, “We’ve Only Just Begun”, “Stare and Stare”, and “Stone Junkie”. ↩︎
#1970s #CurtisMayfield #funk #liveAlbum #soul