Premier Rock Forum

Frankie99 wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 9:29 pm I didn't seriously listen as much to Curtis Mayfield for whatever reason until the last few years, but man, I feel like his brilliance is sometimes overlooked even with the respect he gets. Someone upthread said effortless, and that's a good description. His music just seemed to appear fully realized from the moment it came out of him. I've come to really, really love him lately.

This is really well put.

It's hard to listen Curtis' music and hear all the nuts and bolts. I can't dissect it the way I do most other music. Sometimes It has this unusual "Abradabra! Instant canon!" quality to it.

He also doesn't have a loud voice in terms of personality -- attracting and demanding attention. As big as he is, he should be bigger and i think he does get overlooked.

Stevie is very obviously awesome but i never really got those records in the way i felt i should.

Introducing Sly Stone into any discussion like this is a dirty rat move. I also wonder if I'd take Curtis regardless now days.

Just ridiculous

Stevie is s one of the peak musical talents of the 20th century, without a doubt. But my personal preference is always Curtis, his music just resonates with me, a groove so deep and wide that just sucks me in. Totally timeless while the individual elements are very much of its time: The wah-wah guitar, the bongos, the electric clavichord, the bone-dry drums, the strings and horns, the specific politics, the occasional spoke word part. Doesn't matter, the songs are so amazing, the groove so good, the human-ness so clear, that it still sounds completely perfect .

For the purpose of this discussion, I would take this over Stevie on Sesame Street. I would take it over anything Stevie Wonder has ever done.

Yeah, nothing against Stevie (extremely talented, accomplished guy), but it's Curtis. Don't forget his stint in The Impressions either (haven't seen it mentioned here yet):