Welcome to the 14th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond. And this time out, our subject is Curtis, the 1970 solo debut of the legendary American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer Curtis Mayfield.
Born in Chicago in 1942, the late, great Mayfield was the most important and influential figure to emerge from the Windy City’s vibrant soul and R&B scene of the 1960s. As the guitarist, songwriter and lead tenor vocalist of The Impressions, he penned and recorded 23 Top 20 R&B hits with the group, beginning with 1958’s “For Your Precious Love” (recorded as Jerry Butler & The Impressions) and including such pop crossover successes as 1961’s “Gypsy Woman,” 1963’s “It’s All Right” and 1964’s “I’m So Proud”.
A tremendously prolific songwriter, Mayfield also penned hits for a wide array of other artists, including Jerry Butler, Major Lance, Gene Chandler, Jan Bradley, The Five Stairsteps, Billy Butler, The Artistics, Baby Huey and the Babysitters, Aretha Franklin, The Staple Singers and Linda Clifford.
Inspired in part by the passing of the Civil Rights Act, Mayfield’s songwriting took a sharp turn towards social consciousness in the mid-sixties, with thought-provoking Impressions hits as 1964’s “Keep On Pushing,” 1965’s “People Get Ready,” 1967’s “We’re a Winner,” 1968’s “This Is My Country” and 1969’s “Choice of Colors,” all of which served as inspirational anthems for the Black Power movement. The influence of these songs was widespread and profound; you can still vividly hear their echoes in the recordings of The Wailers and many other Jamaican recording artists of the mid-to-late sixties, as well as Jimi Hendrix’s “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)”.
Mayfield cut his first solo album in 1970, an eight-song masterpiece that would serve as both a major turning point in his career and an important touchstone for Black music in the new decade. Released on his own label, Curtom Records, Curtis was funkier and more musically adventurous than anything he’d recorded with The Impressions, while the hard truths of its lyrics cut even deeper than “Choice of Colors” or “This Is My Country”.
Curtis produced two international hits — “(Don’t Worry) If There’s Hell Below We’re All Gonna Go” and “Move On Up” — and topped the US R&B Albums charts while reaching #19 on the Billboard 200, setting the stage for Mayfield to leave The Impressions and embark upon a successful solo career that would peak commercially in 1972 with his soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Super Fly.
This special Black History Month episode of CROSSED CHANNELS digs deeply into Curtis — we discuss why it was not only the perfect album for its time, but also why it’s the perfect record for the extremely dark times that we’re currently living through. We hope the episode will inspire you to revisit this amazing record (or check it out for the first time) and that its insightful lyrics and propulsive grooves will give you the strength and motivation to fight back against the encroaching forces of fascism and “move on up to a greater day.”
We would also like to dedicate this podcast episode to the memory of Rick Buckler, whose untimely and unexpected passing was announced shortly after we recorded this episode. As the drummer of The Jam, Rick helped to soundtrack our teenage lives with his precise and powerful beats, some of which can be heard to fine effect on the band’s 1982 cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” — a rendition which introduced a lot of folks to the song, Dan included. (Note from Tony: “I will have more to say about the lovely man on my weekend post.”)
As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one (or both!) of our Substacks.
We’d like to express our deepest thanks to those of you who continue to support our work — and we’re always happy to hear from you in the comments section, so please don’t be shy about chiming in with your thoughts. Our next episode (on a certain major British band of note) will be up in March! Cheers!
