Keep On Pushing

Keep On Pushing
Studio album by The Impressions
Released June 1964
Genre Chicago soul
Label ABC-Paramount
The Impressions chronology
The Never Ending Impressions
(1964)The Never Ending Impressions1964		 Keep On Pushing
(1964)		 People Get Ready
(1965)People Get Ready1965

Keep On Pushing is an album by American soul music group the Impressions, released in 1964. It was the biggest album of their career, reaching the top ten on both the Billboard Pop and R&B Album charts, peaking at #8 and #4, respectively. It produced five Pop and R&B top 40 hit singles, two of which, ("Amen" and the title track), hit the Billboard pop top ten, and a third of which, "Talking About My Baby", came close, peaking at #12.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Production

"Amen" was an African-American spiritual arranged and sung by Jester Hairston for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field, starring Sidney Poitier. Curtis Mayfield had been inspired by the film and the song "Amen" in particular: "Of course, I'd decided to do a version of it. We put it together in the studio starting off with a musical 'swing low sweet chariot', and then we fell into that particular song with somewhat of a marching rhythm."[2][3]

The album cover has a photograph taken by Don Bronstein of the group pushing Mayfield's Jaguar E-Type.[4]

Reception

Keep On Pushing was the Impressions' most successful album, reaching the top ten on both the Billboard Pop and R&B album charts.

The album was one of those displayed on the cover of Bob Dylan's 1965 Bringing It All Back Home.[5] It was an influence on Bob Marley who included "Amen" and "I Made A Mistake" as part of the regular set list of the Wailers,[5] and recorded versions of "Amen", "I Made a Mistake", "Talking About My Baby" (as "Diamond Baby"), and "Long, Long Winter".[1] Covers of songs from the album by other artists include, "Keep On Pushing" by Ike & Tina Turner; "I've Been Trying" by former Impression Jerry Butler, The Bar-Kays, Archie Bell & The Drells, Phil Collins, Jewel, Pat Kelly, the Heptones, the Hour Glass, the Blues Brothers, and Eric Clapton; "Talking About My Baby" by Cliff Bennett, and Chuck Bernard.[1]

Track listing

All songs written by Curtis Mayfield, except where noted.

  1. "Keep On Pushing"
  2. "I've Been Trying"
  3. "I Ain't Supposed To"
  4. "Dedicate My Song to You" (Mayfield, Alice Beard)
  5. "Long, Long Winter"
  6. "Somebody Help Me"
  7. "Theme from Lillies of the Field (Amen)" (Traditional African-American spiritual; arranged by Jester Hairston, Mayfield and Johnny Pate)[2][6][3]
  8. "I Thank Heaven"
  9. "Talking About My Baby"
  10. "Don't Let It Hide"
  11. "I Love You (Yeah)"
  12. "I Made a Mistake"

Personnel

Charts

USA - Album

Year Chart Peak position
1965 Black Albums 4
1964 Pop Albums 8

USA - Singles

Year Song Chart Peak position
1964 Keep On Pushing Pop Singles 10
1964 Talking About My Baby Pop Singles 12
1965 Amen Pop Singles 7
1965 Amen Black Singles 17
1965 I've Been Trying Black Singles 35
1965 Long, Long Winter Black Singles 35

Credits

References

  1. 1 2 3 Keep On Pushing at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
  2. 1 2 "Amen, Amen". hymnary.org.
  3. 1 2 Robert Pruter, Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, The Anthology, 1961-1977, liner notes
  4. ↑ Idris Muhammad (26 Apr 2012). Inside the Music. Xlibris Corporation. p. 126.
  5. 1 2 Denise Sullivan (1 July 2011). Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-hop. Chicago Review Press. p. 43.
  6. ↑ "Jester Hairston, 98, Dies". chicagotribune.com. 21 January 2000.
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