I’ve
always felt that Chicago soul music never got the credit it deserves. In terms
of soul music, you hear much more about Detroit for Motown, Philly for the
Gamble and Huff days, Muscle Shoals, and Memphis. Even when it comes to
Chicago, people think much more about Chicago blues than about soul. Yet
Chicago produced some of the greatest R&B music of the 1960s and 1970s. In
addition to the Impressions, you had former Impression Jerry Butler, Gene
Chandler, Major Lance, Alvin Cash, Billy Butler, the Dells, the Chi-Lites, the
Marvelows, and I’m sure some folks that I’m forgetting.
Curtis Mayfield,
of course, was the driving force behind much of this success. In addition to
writing nearly all of the Impressions’ material, he wrote hits for fellow
Chicagoans Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, and Major Lance, as well as for Aretha
Franklin and the Staple Singers. He also was a producer, started his own
successful record label (Curtom), and had a notable solo career in the 1970s.
Picking
just one song by the Impressions was even harder than picking just one Steely
Dan tune. Most of the album cuts that Mayfield wrote for the Impressions are
just as strong as the tracks that got released as singles, in sharp contrast to
the filler that mars so many 1960 albums. If you like this one, be sure to
check out their other stuff – you’ll be glad you did.
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