Tuesday, August 21, 2007

348. Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today (1975)
















Track Listing

1. Billy Jack
2. When Seasons Change
3. So In Love
4. Jesus
5. Blue Monday People
6. Hard Times
7. Love To The People

Review

I was never that impressed with Curtis Mayfield, and comparisons with Marvin Gaye seem totally disproportionate. Still people do them, and there is something of the Gaye here, just not in any way near the same lever of quality as the Gayester. Again, however this is not to say that it is a bad album.

A thing about this list is that bad albums are actually pretty rare and that is why 90% of things here get 7 or up grades. So this is actually quite good but there is stuff in the same genre which is much more impressive. So Marvin Gaye it ain't, however if you have run out of good Gaye albums this is something to check out.

Mayfield isn't a particularly talented writer and although he has interesting things to say he is not the best at putting his points forward. Then there is also a very religious slant to the album which kind of irks me. when people start singing about Jesus I kind of turn off, unless it is particularly impress and this isn't.

Track Highlights

1. Billy Jack
2. When Seasons Change
3. So In Love
4. Hard Times

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Mayfield received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

In February, 1998, he had to have his right leg amputated due to diabetes. Mayfield was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 1999. Unfortunately, health reasons prevented him from attending the ceremony, which included fellow inductees Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Dusty Springfield, George Martin, and 1970s Curtom signee and labelmate The Staples Singers. Mayfield died on December 26, 1999 in Roswell, Georgia surrounded by his family. His last work came to be the song "Astounded", with the group Bran Van 3000, recorded just before his death and released in 2000. As a member of The Impressions, Mayfield was posthumously inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.

So In Love:

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