Here's a Curtis Mayfield (of the Impressions) solo album; so far as I know, the first. Most of the eight cuts are distinctly Impressionistic, and one, "Miss Black America," includes Sam and Fred singing choruses. There are really no surprises in this album. It's just eight more Mayfield tunes, sweet music to Mayfield maybe, but not what I'd call the best demonstration of the man's talents.
For the past year or so, a lot of Mayfield's tunes have seemed die-cast and lacking in character. He appears to be unable to develop either a musical or lyrical theme to fullness these days, and many of his songs are fragmentary, garbled and frustrating to listen to. Lyrically, his songs are a whole
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lot more rhyme than reason; which isn't so uncommon, except that he tries to deal with some pretty serious and complex subjects by stringing together phrases that end with the same sound—whether they make sense together or not. Sure, it's all subjective, but I can't myself see that what we need is "Respect for the steeple/power to the people."
The arrangements are all pretty uninspired, a little bit halfhearted—maybe largely because there's so little melodic meat to most of the tunes. A few of the songs move well, mainly on the backs of the conga, bass and guitar men; but the long tracks (six to eight minutes) are a mighty long way for three men to try and carry all that weight.
Five of these cuts may get some airplay and popularity, for one or more of three reasons: because they were written by Curtis Mayfield of Impressions' fame; because they have a good dance beat; or because they deal with "social issues" in a nice, bland, inoffensive, inconclusive way. "(Don't Worry) If there's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go" is a pretty good example. It's jumpy, it's got words like "nigger" and "cracker," "hell" and "Nixon," and it says no more than the title. "The Other Side of Town" presents a grim view of a black man's life and feelings in the ghetto. "We the People Who Are Darker than Blue" is the only song on the album that does some gear-shifting, rhythm-wise; but it doesn't go anywhere, messagewise. "Move On Up" has some life to it, but not eight minutes and 50 seconds' worth. "Miss Black America" strikes me as a good musical commemorative stamp, complete with an authentic black girlchild saying she wants to be a sex-object when she grows up.
Mayfield has written good material in the past. I'm hoping that he's just in a slump, and that he'll soon be writing tunes with real life in them again. This album, though, is pretty much just disjointed skeletons. (RS 71)
WENDILL JOHN
On his solo debut, the former Impressions frontman combined his old streamlined compositional style with complex structural changes and swirling, cinematic orchestrations. A complete artistic triumph, like
What's Going On, this hasn't aged a day. Mayfield's sound, his lyrics (as critical as they are caring), and his inner and musical soul each shine.
Curtis Mayfield is confusing his strengths with his weaknesses these days. As the composer and lead singer of the Impressions he proved to be first and foremost, a beautiful melodist. After that, he often wrote extremely personal and sensitive lyrics, although for every good one he came up with, there was also an inept and pretentious counterpart. His own voice sounded brilliant when pitted against the fabulous harmonies that Sam Gooden and Fred Cash used to supply. And Johnny Pate's arrangements were the perfect vehicle for the instrumental side of his music.
Since leaving the Impressions, Mayfield has ignored his melodic gifts while turning out a series of Sly Stone-Norman Whitfield influenced tunes that have been singularly undistinguished. He concentrates more on the lyrics these days and those have become increasingly political and pretentious. May-field's high voice covers roughly the same territory as those of Eddie Kendricks and Smokey Robinson. Like those two fine singers, it sounds best as part of a blend. By itself it lacks punch and dynamic range. On Live!, the only vocal support comes from the band, which hardly compares with the original sound of the Impressions. The band itself, on this album, is an exceptionally fine quartet but simply cannot supply the coloration and breadth that Curtis' music requires.
So what are we left with on Live!? The songs are equally divided between solo material and Impressions' hits. The new things are just so much' eyewash. They require nothing of him melodically and seem to go on forever lyrically. There are frequent moments of embarrassment, such as when Curtis offers us this unthought-out piece of wisdom, in "I Plan to Stay A Believer":
We're over twenty million strong,
And it wouldn't take long to save the ghetto child
If we'd get off our ass,
$10 a man yearly think awhile
Twenty million times $10 yearly
Would surely then set our brothers free.
This from the man who wrote "People Get Ready" and (included here in a version grossly inferior to the original) "We're A Winner"?
The real embarrassment of Curtis Mayfield comes when he sings some of the Impressions' big hits. "Might, Mighty" had such a powerful chorus on the original, and it sounds so empty and ordinary here. "Gypsy Woman" is little more than a shadow of its original self. And "We're A Winner." even with its never-heard-before final verse, has none of that incredible drive and punch (the original drummer was beyond belief) of the hit single.
So we get back to the original proposition: that Mayfield is confusing his strengths with his weaknesses. Surely a man who has created so much of genuine beauty will find his artistic sell again. In the meantime, it's sad to report that on Live!, Curtis Mayfield, solo artist, just ain't happening. (RS 85)
JON LANDAU
