Curtis Mayfield: Curtis [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

Matthew Lutthans cut the lacquers for this gatefold reissue from the original analog master tapes at The Mastering Lab. The album spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's soul albums chart, and Rolling Stone ranks it among the 500 greatest albums of all time.

This edition

• Lacquers cut from the original analog master tapes
• Cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab
• Gatefold jacket
• Stereo mix

About the album

Curtis Mayfield had already given the civil rights era some of its finest songs with the Impressions, including "People Get Ready." In 1970 he struck out on his own, recording at RCA's studio in Chicago between May and July and producing it himself and putting the album out on his own label, Curtom.

It opens with a wail of reverb and the deep funk groove of "(Don't Worry) If There Is a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go," a top five R&B hit, and moves through the lush, heartfelt "The Makings of You," the proud "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue" and "Miss Black America." Then there's "Move On Up," all horns, congas and pure uplift, which went to No. 12 in the UK and has been lifting dance floors ever since.

AllMusic's Bruce Eder called it practically the Sgt. Pepper's of '70s soul, and it won the Académie du Jazz's Prix Otis Redding in 1972. On the album, "Move On Up" runs close to nine minutes; the single was, as we say in the trade, a sensible abbreviation.

Also at Kops: more Curtis Mayfield on vinyl · browse 70s Soul On Up

Tracklist

Listen

On Curtom / Rhino (cat# R1 728954), a reissue of the 1970 album.