Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, representing a varied cross-section of genres, styles and time periods. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album or view the full album index here.
CURTIS MAYFIELD | Curtis/Live!
Curtom (1971)
Selected by Brandon Ousley
By 1971, Curtis Mayfield already established himself as one of music’s towering visionaries. Throughout the 1960s, he was one-third of the revered soul trio The Impressions, penning some of the era’s most meaningful and transcendent sentiments. He left the group to pursue a solo career in 1970 and released his classic debut album Curtis, unfurling a progressive era of sociopolitical vision and musical possibility in black music.
So, when he set his sights on performing four dates at New York’s Bitter End nightclub in January 1971, he brought his funk arsenal, political rigor, and black pride to the center stage. Released in May 1971 as a two-LP set, Curtis/Live! is a singular achievement that sits honorably in the hall of essential live recordings. It captures a master recasting his past and current repertoire in the midst of a changing musical, social, and political landscape. There is a warm and introspective quality beneath the political keynotes of this recording, as Mayfield nakedly interacts with his audience, spilling his takes on the social despair and disillusionment of the day. This quality is intrinsically animated by the sparse, yet muscular grooves Mayfield and his dazzling quintet lay down.
With repeated listens, Curtis/Live! morphs from a full blown, in-concert document into a meditative performance of wisdom and unfettered righteousness.
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