Curtis (Curtis Mayfield album)

Curtis is the debut album by American soul/funk artist Curtis Mayfield, released in September 1970. Produced by Mayfield, it was released on his own label Curtom Records. The musical styles of Curtis moved further away from the pop-soul sounds of Mayfield's previous group The Impressions and featured more of a funk and psychedelia inspired sound. The album's subject matter incorporates political and social concerns of the time.

Curtis sold well at the time charting at number one on the Billboard Black albums (for five nonconsecutive weeks) and number nineteen on the Billboard Pop albums charts. Only the single " If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" charted. Curtis receives very high praise from modern day critics with Bruce Eder of Allmusic commenting that the record is "...practically the "Sgt. Pepper's" album of '70s soul..."

Background

In 1970, Curtis began work on his own self-titled debut album. Although he never intended to leave the Impressions permanently, under recommendation from his business manager Marv Stuart, and the trend for both R&B and rock artists in the seventies was to go solo.

Recording and production

Like with some of his later Impressions...
Read More