🎧 DiS Primers #1: Curtis Mayfield

@zanimos maybe worth checking some post '75 stuff instead. ‘honesty’ ('83) is a great late- period album.

@CharlieMortdecai yup, the Benji b show this week where he played that was themed around recent events. well worth a listen…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000jp0x

@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.

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ace. thanks.

actually realised one reason I haven’t explored further is Tidal only seems to have compilations, none of his studio albums.

I’ve got a free trial on Apple Music going at the moment and that doesn’t seem much better either.

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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’ :+1: thanks for the recommendations, always a treat to discover more great music from an artist you already love.

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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.

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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.

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love this. love curtis mayfield. great primer.

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his discography is rife with deep cuts

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I always assumed this was a Baby Huey original. Didn’t realise it was penned by Mayfield!

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both versions are great but i gotta give it up to the slow funk of the mayfield one. the guitar hooks me, and the hmmmmm. perfect arrangement.

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like theshipment implies, they’re very different. three Mayfield penned songs on the baby huey album! might have to dig it out, think I’ve got.

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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)

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super era, reminded me i want to see that billy paul movie

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.

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Could be my fav album of his yah. Billy Jack is so good.

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All I ever knew of him until this moment was that he was tragically paralysed by a lighting rig while playing live.

Dad told me this when I played XTRMNTR and he read the dedication. (I am not sure if the high vocal line in it is a Mayfield sample.)

Look forward to my daughter not being sick so I can actually listen to music again.

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i hope your daughter gets well soon and hope you’re holding up ok.

do you remember what song on xtrmntr has the high vocal line? went back to the title track and couldn’t id anything there.

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Kill All Hippies is the one they dedicated to him.

Line is something like “You got the money? I’ve got the soul!”

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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.

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thanks, i think that’s Gillespie reaching for the Mayfield range :grinning:

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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 :grinning: 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…

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