Curtis by Curtis Mayfield (1970), № 75 in The Lead-In’s 100 greatest albums. Curtis Mayfield leaves the Impressions and immediately releases the most musically ambitious solo soul album of the era. Falsetto over conga, conscience over groove.
Eight tracks in forty-five minutes. Recorded at RCA Studios Chicago, summer 1970. Curtis Mayfield's solo debut after twelve years with the Impressions. The album that consolidated socially-conscious soul as a sustained album-statement form.
Eight tracks in forty-five minutes. Recorded at RCA Studios Chicago, summer 1970. Curtis Mayfield's solo debut after twelve years with the Impressions. The album that consolidated socially-conscious soul as a sustained album-statement form.
Curtis Mayfield in spring 1970 was twenty-eight years old, having spent twelve years as a member of the Impressions. He had founded Curtom Records in 1968 as a vehicle for his solo work and Impressions productions.
Recording extended summer 1970 at RCA Studios Chicago. Mayfield produced, played guitar, and sang.
The album consolidated socially-conscious soul as a sustained album-statement form. Mayfield's deliberately-political register and deliberately-funk-influenced production established the founding template for political soul.
Curtom released the album in September 1970. The album peaked at US #19 and R&B #1; RIAA Gold by 1972.
Curtis belongs at number seventy-five because it consolidated socially-conscious soul as a sustained album-statement form.
Original 1970 US pressing on Curtom Records, catalog CRS-8005, a stereo LP in a gatefold sleeve, exclusively distributed by Buddah Records (1650 Broadway, NYC) as printed on the jacket. Two recognized first-press plant variants circulate, distinguished by their runout stamps. The gatefold and the Buddah-distribution credit are reliable markers of an original over later issues.
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