Retro Review: Curtis Mayfield's Curtis and Superfly
We haven’t talked Curtis Mayfield enough on DefineaRevolution.com. Let’s
change that. And fast. How? Well, let’s talk two of his classic albums, the
1970 album Curtis and his 1972 Super Fly soundtrack album (don’t you
just miss the days where one artist would drop a concept soundtrack album? I
kind of do). We’re going to keep this short-ish and sweet, since we all know
that Curtis Mayfield is a genius. First up,
Curtis.
Mayfield’s first solo album after unofficially leaving The Impressions,
Curtis spawned tracks such as “(Don’t
Worry) If There’s a Hell Below…” and “We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue.”
We also got “Move On Up,” which producers such as Kanye West sampled on tracks
such as “Touch the Sky.” That’s kind of a no duh moment, so let’s talk the
album. When the album dropped initially, it was met with some “eh” critics.
Why? Well, simply put, some critics found the album to be “middle-of-the-road.”
When I first heard Curtis some years
ago, I immediately called “BS” on those sorts of reviews.
From the first track, listeners are given a trip (both types of trips)
through some sort of psychedelic funk-soul. Not quite P-Funk, not quite Motown.
Somewhere comfortably and epically in-between, bridging the eras together in a
way that many artists today still try to do with genres. Each track is an
experience within itself.
We get moments and messages ranging from the “let’s try to make this world worth living
in, since we’re all probably going to burn if we don’t” message of “If There’s
a Hell Below,” to the Black Power vibes from tracks such as “We the People” and
“Miss Black America.” All in all, we get eight tracks of sheer beauty. We got the struggle
of the Black person in the late ‘60s, early 70s. We got an album which
encapsulated an era that was even less about niceties and more about being free
to protest the craziness in our world. It’s a spiritual album (and no, I’m not
just saying that because of the first track). We’re given the spirit of a man,
but also the spirit of an era, of a people who were finding their roots once
again.
Superfly is the exact same,
only ramped up a bit to mesh even better with the Superfly movie.
That’s not a bad thing. Oh, hells no. That’s a great thing. Fresh off the heels of the criminally-underrated Roots album, Mayfield was tasked with creating the atmosphere for one of the most-successful Blaxploitation films. What we got was an amazingly-crafted concept album.
That’s not a bad thing. Oh, hells no. That’s a great thing. Fresh off the heels of the criminally-underrated Roots album, Mayfield was tasked with creating the atmosphere for one of the most-successful Blaxploitation films. What we got was an amazingly-crafted concept album.
While the project is a bit different from the film (for instance, the
soundtrack has a staunch anti-drug message while the film has a bit more
leniency towards the life of hustlers), it’s nonetheless a stellar outing from
Mayfield. Is it his best project? Eh…I’ve got to go with Curtis as his best because of what it represents to me. However, Superfly is no slouch. While I feel that
Curtis was sonically a better album
and his best, Superfly wins me over with
its messages and drama attached to each track.
From the opening moments of “Little
Child Runnin’ Wild,” you know that ish is about to get real. “Freddie’s Dead,”
the Superfly theme, may have some
memories jogged as A Pimp Named Slickback’s theme music from season one of The Boondocks. But, before that life,
the song was a cautionary tale of the dangers of the ghetto. The lush pianos on
“No Thing On Me (Cocaine Song)” just scream to be sampled, but also carry a heavy
“just say no” message from Mayfield, as the drugs are referenced as making profit
for “The Man,” both THE Man and the “Pusherman.”
Speaking of “Pusherman,” if you’ve never heard it, stop reading this and go do
so. Now. I still remember the first time I heard “Pusherman.” I was a kid in
Baltimore during the drug renaissance the city went through during the ‘80s and
‘90s, so hearing this track was legit one of the reasons why I tried my damnedest
to stay away from the stuff. Didn’t want Curtis Mayfield looking down on me.
So, there you have it, folks. Two of Curtis Mayfield’s greatest albums
reviewed by me. Hopefully, you’ll sit down, read this, and then go listen to
some Curtis. That’s what I plan to do.
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