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| Movin' on Up - The Music and Message of Curtis Mayfield an The Impressions [ ÉLŐ ] |
| Curtis Mayfield |
első megjelenés éve: 2008
60 perc |
| R&B |
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DVD video |
Kérjen
árajánlatot! |
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| 1. | It's All Right
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| 2. | Woman's Got Soul
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| 3. | I Need You
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| 4. | People Get Ready
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| 5. | Meeting Over Yonder
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| 6. | We're a Winner/Amen
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| 7. | This Is My Country
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| 8. | Choice of Colors
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| 9. | Check out Your Mind
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| 10. | (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go
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| 11. | Keep on Keeping On
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| 12. | We Got to Have Peace
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| 13. | We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue/Give Me Your Love
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| 14. | Superfly
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| 15. | Freddie's Dead
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| 16. | Pusherman
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| 17. | Eddie You Should Know Better
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| 18. | Future Shock
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| 19. | The Makings of You
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| 20. | Move on Up [*]
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| 21. | Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey) [*]
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| 22. | We're a Winner [*]
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| 23. | We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue [*]
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| 24. | Freddie's Dead [*]
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| 25. | [Bonus Material] [*]
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Soul legend Curtis Mayfield's career began in the late 1950s with his work with the Impressions. This documentary takes an in-depth look at Mayfield's politically charged songwriting and his amazing career, which peaked with his 1972 soundtrack for the film SUPERFLY. Among the guests talking about Mayfield's influence are Carlos Santana and Chuck D from Public Enemy.
* Carlos Santana - Interviewee
* Chris Walter - Photography
* Chuck D - Interviewee
* David Peck - Producer
* David Reed - Photography
* Fred Cash - Interviewee
* Jimmy McDonnell - Research
* Johnny Pate - Interviewee
* Mark DeCerbo - Associate Producer
* Phillip Galloway - Liner Notes, Producer
* Rob Bowman - Interviewer, Liner Notes, Producer
* Sam Gooden - Interviewee
* Tom Gulotta - Art Direction, Design, Liner Notes, Producer
This two-plus hour documentary centers on the immortal music of Curtis Mayfield, both as a solo artist and member of the Impressions. In between the 22 full-length vintage clips are first-person tales assembling an all-star cast of folks who knew Mayfield best, as well as those who were directly influenced by his music. Among the key contributors who help to place Mayfield's far-reaching influence in proper perspective are Johnny Pate (producer/arranger), who had helped craft the majority of the Impressions' hits as well as those on the Superfly (1972) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and fellow Impressions Fred Cash (vocals) and Sam Gooden (vocals). Decidedly more intimate portrayals and memories of the cultural icon at home as a father and husband are portrayed via the artist's wife Altheida Mayfield. In terms of his lasting effect on the community at large, Carlos Santana, Chuck D, and civil rights Ambassador Andrew Young all eagerly pay homage to their mentor and musical and spiritual advisor. Plus, there are several insightful segments from interviews with the man himself from 1972, 1987, and 1988. As is true with any compendium of a legend, his canon of work should be the primary focus of attention. And it is with that mandate that Reelin' in the Years have outdone even themselves. As the masterminds behind projects such as Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding (2007) and the Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway 1967 (2007), this might seem practically unfathomable. More than anything else, Movin' on Up (2008) is an audio-visual repository of classic Curtis Mayfield. Bandmates Cash and Gooden comment on the "People Get Ready" clip showing the trio lip-syncing in a boat for the September 1965 episode of the Dick Clark-produced Where the Action Is. Refreshingly, the vast majority of the tunes are done live, either in front of a studio audience or in a concert hall type setting. As for those cuts that are shown of the Impressions faking their own lead vocals as a tape or record spins in the background, "It's All Right," "I Need You," the aforementioned "People Get Ready," and "Meeting Over Yonder" have all been remastered and given a pristine audio track of the original recordings. Otherwise, the contents are spontaneous in front of the unblinking eyes of the camera. Transcendent are the unique versions of "We're a Winner" coupled with "Amen" from 1968. Clifton Davis joins up for a very special spoken recitation written especially to accompany the Impressions singing "This Is My Country." Equally inspired is "Choice of Colors" from a 1969 guest spot on the Joey Bishop Show. Cash and Gooden confirm the infamous story that the Impressions were told that they were not going to be allowed to sing the tune on network television because of its racial implications. Literally minutes before going on the air, Bishop himself intervened and told the combo to play "Choice of Colors" as planned. There is an abundance of '70s footage. Top of the list are the extended concert renditions of "We Are the People Who Are Darker Than Blue" which is linked up with "Give Me Your Love," as well as the essential Superfly entries "Freddie's Dead," "Pusherman," "Eddie You Should Know Better," and, of course, the main theme itself, "Superfly." Additionally, among the extras are complete performances of "We're a Winner," "Might Mighty (Spade and Whitey)," "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue," "Movin' on Up," and "Freddie's Dead." Accompanying the DVD is a 28-page fact-filled booklet. The informative essay by Rob Bowman is surrounded by formerly unpublished photos from the Mayfield family's archives.
---Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
Curtis Mayfield
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s
Born: Jun 03, 1942 in Chicago, IL
Died: Dec 26, 1999
Genre: R&B
Styles: Blaxploitation, Chicago Soul, Funk, Psychedelic Soul, R&B, Smooth Soul, Soul, Uptown Soul
Perhaps because he didn't cross over to the pop audience as heavily as Motown's stars, it may be that the scope of Curtis Mayfield's talents and contributions have yet to be fully recognized. Judged merely by his records alone, the man's legacy is enormous. As the leader of the Impressions, he recorded some of the finest soul vocal group music of the 1960s. As a solo artist in the 1970s, he helped pioneer funk and helped introduce hard-hitting urban commentary into soul music. "Gypsy Woman," "It's All Right," "People Get Ready," "Freddie's Dead," and "Superfly" are merely the most famous of his many hit records.
But Curtis Mayfield wasn't just a singer. He wrote most of his material at a time when that was not the norm for soul performers. He was among the first -- if not the very first -- to speak openly about African-American pride and community struggle in his compositions. As a songwriter and a producer, he was a key architect of Chicago soul, penning material and working on sessions by notable Windy City soulsters like Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler, Major Lance, and Billy Butler. In this sense, he can be compared to Smokey Robinson, who also managed to find time to write and produce many classics for other soul stars. Mayfield was also an excellent guitarist, and his rolling, Latin-influenced lines were highlights of the Impressions' recordings in the '60s. During the next decade, he would toughen up his guitar work and production, incorporating some of the best features of psychedelic rock and funk.
Mayfield began his career as an associate of Jerry Butler, with whom he formed the Impressions in the late '50s. After the Impressions had a big hit in 1958 with "For Your Precious Love," Butler, who had sung lead on the record, split to start a solo career. Mayfield, while keeping the Impressions together, continued to write for and tour with Butler before the Impressions got their first Top 20 hit in 1961, "Gypsy Woman."
Mayfield was heavily steeped in gospel music before he entered the pop arena, and gospel, as well as doo wop, influences would figure prominently in most of his '60s work. Mayfield wasn't a staunch traditionalist, however. He and the Impressions may have often worked the call-and-response gospel style, but his songs (romantic and otherwise) were often veiled or unveiled messages of black pride, reflecting the increased confidence and self-determination of the African-American community. Musically he was an innovator as well, using arrangements that employed the punchy, blaring horns and Latin-influenced rhythms that came to be trademark flourishes of Chicago soul. As the staff producer for the OKeh label, Mayfield was also instrumental in lending his talents to the work of other Chi-town soul singers who went on to national success. With Mayfield singing lead and playing guitar, the Impressions had 14 Top 40 hits in the 1960s (five made the Top 20 in 1964 alone), and released some above-average albums during that period as well.
Given Mayfield's prodigious talents, it was perhaps inevitable that he would eventually leave the Impressions to begin a solo career, as he did in 1970. His first few singles boasted a harder, more funk-driven sound; singles like "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go" found him confronting ghetto life with a realism that had rarely been heard on record. He really didn't hit his artistic or commercial stride as a solo artist, though, until Superfly, his soundtrack to a 1972 blaxploitation film. Drug deals, ghetto shootings, the death of young black men before their time: all were described in penetrating detail. Yet Mayfield's irrepressible falsetto vocals, uplifting melodies, and fabulous funk pop arrangements gave the oft-moralizing material a graceful strength that few others could have achieved. For all the glory of his past work, Superfly stands as his crowning achievement, not to mention a much-needed counterpoint to the sensationalistic portrayals of the film itself.
At this point Mayfield, along with Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, was the foremost exponent of a new level of compelling auteurism in soul. His failure to maintain the standards of Superfly qualifies as one of the great disappointments in the history of black popular music. Perhaps he'd simply reached his peak after a long climb, but the rest of his '70s work didn't match the musical brilliance and lyrical subtleties of Superfly, although he had a few large R&B hits in a much more conventional vein, such as "Kung Fu," "So in Love," and "Only You Babe."
Mayfield had a couple of hits in the early '80s, but the decade generally found his commercial fortunes in a steady downward spiral, despite some intermittent albums. On August 14, 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck down when a lighting rig fell on top of him at a concert in Brooklyn, NY. In the mid-'90s, a couple of tribute albums consisting of Mayfield covers appeared, with contributions by such superstars as Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and Gladys Knight. Though no substitute for the man himself, these tributes served as an indication of the enormous regard in which Mayfield was still held by his peers. He died December 26, 1999 at the age of 57.
---Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide |
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