Curtis (Curtis Mayfield album)

Curtis
Studio album by Curtis Mayfield
Released September 1970
Recorded May - July 1970 at RCA Studios, Chicago
Genre Funk, soul, psychedelic soul
Length 40:28 (original)
77:53 (2000 reissue/Rhino)
Label Curtom
Producer Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield chronology
Curtis
(1970)		 Curtis/Live!
(1971)
Singles from
Curtis
  1. "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go"
    Released: November, 1970
  2. "Move On Up"
    Released: June, 1971
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB+[2]
Mojo(favorable)[3]
Q[4]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
The Village VoiceB[7]

Curtis is the debut album by American soul/funk artist Curtis Mayfield, released in September 1970. Produced by Mayfield, it was released on his own label Curtom Records. The musical styles of Curtis moved further away from the pop-soul sounds of Mayfield's previous group The Impressions and featured more of a funk and psychedelia inspired 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 Billboard Black albums (for five nonconsecutive weeks) and number nineteen on the Billboard Pop albums charts. Only the single "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" charted in the United States, however an edited version of "Move On Up" would spend 10 weeks in the top 50 of the UK Singles Chart. Curtis receives very high praise from modern day critics with Bruce Eder of Allmusic commenting that the record is "...practically the Sgt. Pepper's album of '70s soul..." [1]

Background

In 1970, Curtis began work on his own self-titled debut album. Although he never intended to leave the Impressions permanently, under recommendation from his business manager Marv Stuart, and the trend for both R&B and rock artists in the seventies was to go solo.[8][9] Mayfield wouldn't officially leave The Impressions until 1971.[9]

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.[10] Mayfield reflected upon this time as a "happening era...when people stopped wearing tuxedos...people were getting down a little more."[8]

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.".[8] The two singles off the album "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" and "Move on Up" showcased Mayfield's new funk musical style, while the rest of the tracks were much softer soul based songs.[8] 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.[9]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Curtis Mayfield. 

No. Title Length
1. "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go"   7:50
2. "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. "Move On Up"   8:45
6. "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.

Chart history

Album

Year Peak chart positions
U.S. Pop albums[11] U.S. R&B albums[11]
1970 19 1

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions
U.S. Pop
[12]		 U.S. R&B Singles
[12]		 UK
[13]
1970 "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" 29 3 —
1971 "Move on Up" — — 12

Personnel

Technical personnel

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Eder, Bruce. Curtis > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Curtis Mayfield". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  3. ↑ Brown, Geoff (19 February 2010). "Review: Curtis". Mojo. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010.
  4. ↑ Unknown (December 2000). "Curtis Mayfield: Curtis: Review". Q. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  5. ↑ Wendell, John (26 November 1970). "Curtis Mayfield: Curtis". RS 71. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007.
  6. ↑ Unknown (2 March 2000). "Curtis Mayfield: Curtis: Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  7. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1970). "Consumer Guide (16)". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Pruter 1992, p.306-307
  9. 1 2 3 Thompson 2001, p. 158
  10. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. Curtis Mayfield > Biography at AllMusic. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  11. 1 2 Curtis Mayfield > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums at AllMusic. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
  12. 1 2 Curtis Mayfield > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
  13. ↑ Warwick 2004, p. 713.

External links

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