@Shoebox1976uk reckon William devaugn ‘be thankful for what you’ve got’ might be the most successful Mayfield cover, not sure it’s classed as a cover, but sounds like it should be to me, even though the title’s changed. just had a look and there’s loads of Mayfield covers listed on whosampledwho.
listened to dirty ‘laundry’ earlier, beautiful tune. love Curtis voice in that stripped down setting and yes, those keys sound great. I’ll be giving ‘honesty’ a spin when I get time. I already know (and love!) lambchop’s version of ‘give me your love’ thanks for the recommendations, always a treat to discover more great music from an artist you already love.
the musical team behind ‘here but i’m gone’ from new world order, organized noize also did en vogue’s ‘don’t let go’, we play that in our gazebo every greenman. the guitarwork at the start of ‘here but i’m gone’ is very similar, but more subdued. as much as possible, you can tell it’s the same guitarist. came out a month before ‘don’t let go’. those two songs are an interesting contrast, one looking backwards in time, mournfully and the other looking to the future in excitement.
since this, two weeks ago, heard Mayfield songs on Benji b, gilles Peterson, caribou and I think Charlie bones radio shows and on da 5 bloods. seems like a lot more than usual, maybe because i’m noticing more, but reckon it’s blm effect.
I love that Baby Huey album. Went through a phase of that, Darondo’s “Let My People Go” and “360 Degrees of Billy Paul” on repeat. In fact, might have to make that my afternoon listening (with some Curtis thrown in for good measure)
I think that albums full of them. ‘Billy Jack’ and ‘Jesus’ are my favourites from ‘TNPLAT’. I really like that he just talks about Jesus in the latter as being a good man, and not this big religious figure. The storytelling in ‘Billy Jack’ is brilliantly economical, stunning arrangement too but it always is with Curtis.
he put out both of our favourite albums of his within 6 months of each other. eesh.
i used to be a bit cold on ‘when seasons change’ and ‘love to the people’, they sounded very earnest for my taste, but enjoying more now. like the stevie wonder feel of wsc.
those string arrangements on his songs that i’m so taken with, something that might’ve been associated with traditionally white space of classical music. great to hear him excelling.
heard beyonce ‘black parade’ on the radio the other day with her “curtis mayfield on the speaker” lyrics. i like it that she put that out just after this thread don’t know of his name being sung in any other song.
on that other thing i was saying about southern hip hop especially having a thing for mayfield, did more digging and he’s also been sampled on songs by…
ludacris
goodie mob
jay electronica
geto boys
juicy j
t.i.
little brother
not used so much on new school stuff, but travis scott ‘don’t play’ apparently has ‘if there’a hell below…’ in there…