Soul Strut 100: #20 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis

RAJ

Tenacious Local
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May 5, 2025
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I will slowly be unveiling the Top 100 Soul Strut Related Records as Voted by the Strutters Themselves.

#20 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis

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The list so far:

# 100 - Jr. and His Soulettes - Psychodelic Sounds
# 99 - Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul
# 98 - Donny Hathaway - S/T (1971)
# 97 - Bernard Wright - ???Nard
# 96 - Tom Scott - Honeysuckle Breeze
# 95 - People Under the Stairs - Question in the Form of an Answer
# 94 - Harlem River Drive
# 93 - Black Moon - Enta Da Stage
# 92 - Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear
# 91 - Muddy Waters - Electric Mud
# 90 - Les McCann - Layers
# 89 - Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
# 88 - Leroy Hutson - Hutson (1975)
# 87 - ESG - S/T (1981)
# 86 - Can - Tago Mago
# 85 - Bohannon - Stop & Go
# 84 - WILLIAM DEVAUGHN - Be Thankful For What You Got
# 83 - Power of Zeus - The Gospel According to Zeus
# 82 - Gang Starr - Hard To Earn
# 81 - The J.B.???s - Doing It to Death
# 80 - Parliament - Osmium
# 79 - McNeal & Niles - Thrust
# 78 - The Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Malik
# 77 - Earth, Wind, and Fire (1971)
# 76 - Dr. Dre - The Chronic
# 75 - Black Sabbath (1970)
# 74 - Trap Door / An International Psychedelic Mystery Mix (2006)
# 73 - Bob James - One
# 72 - Matthew Larkin Cassell - Pieces
# 71 - The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
# 70 - Big Bear - Doin??? Thangs
# 69 - Steely Dan - Aja
# 68 - Quasimoto - The Unseen
# 67 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis/Live! (1971)
# 66 - Al Green - Im still in love with you
# 65 - The Beatnuts - Street Level
# 64 - Archie Whitewater - Archie Whitewater (1970)
# 63 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & the Soul Brother
# 62 - Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
# 61 - The J.B.???s - Food For Thought
# 60 - Don Blackman (1982)
# 59 - Niagara - (Tiddies)
# 58 - Can - Ege Bamyasi
# 57 - Whatnauts - On the Rocks
# 56 - The Mohawks - Champ
# 55 - McDonald and Giles (1971)
# 54 - Darondo - Let My People Go
# 53 - Dorothy Ashby - Afro Harping
# 52 - Beastie Boys - Paul???s Boutique
# 51 - Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu of Ethiopia
# 50 - Lyman Woodard Organization - Saturday Night Special
# 49 - Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
# 48 - Lyn Collins - Think (About It)
# 47 - James Brown - In The Jungle Groove
# 46 - Bill Withers - Still Bill
# 45 - Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
# 44 - Silver Apples - S/T
# 43 - Mobb Deep - The Infamous
# 42 - Lyn Christopher (1973)
# 41 - Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
# 40 - Gang Starr - Step in the Arena
# 39 - Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts, & Hip Hop
# 38 - Terry Callier - What Color is Love
# 37 - David Axelrod - Song of Innocence
# 36 - The Invaders - Spacing Out
# 35 - Leo Sayer - Endless Flight
# 34 - Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
# 33 - DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist - Brainfreeze (Mix)
# 32 - Michael Jackson - Thriller
# 31 - DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
# 30 - De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
# 29 - Ray Barretto - Acid
# 28 - The Sylvers - II
# 27 - Donald Byrd - Places and Spaces
# 26 - Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information
# 25 - Nas - Illmatic
# 24 - The Baby Huey Story - The Living Legend
#23 - Roy Ayers - He???s Coming
#22 - Kool and the Gang (album) (1969)
#21 - Demon Fuzz - Afreaka!

Please discuss your reactions to this record. The thread will be archived later here.

About


Curtis is the debut album by American soul/funk artist Curtis Mayfield, released in September 1970. Produced by Mayfield, it was released on his own label Curtom Records. The musical styles of Curtis moved further away from the pop-soul sounds of Mayfield's previous group The Impressions and featured more of a funk and psychedelia inspired sound. The album's subject matter incorporates political and social concerns of the time.

Curtis sold well at the time charting at number one on the Billboard Black albums (for five nonconsecutive weeks) and number nineteen on the Billboard Pop albums charts. Only the single "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" charted. Curtis receives very high praise from modern day critics with Bruce Eder of Allmusic commenting that the record is "...practically the "Sgt. Pepper's" album of '70s soul..." [1]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_(Curtis_Mayfield_album)

Related Threads

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TOP 5 CURTIS MAYFIELD (SOLO ONLY PLAESE)

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The best Curtis album IMO and Makings of You is my kind of love song.





Not to be confused with this Curtis:





R-1065278-1194842933.jpeg
 
Side A is unfukwitable. Side B - is shaky..IMO.





But I prefer Back To The World and Superfly for total albums.
 
batmon said:Side A is unfukwitable. Side B - is shaky..IMO.





But I prefer Back To The World and Sweet Excorcist for total albums.
 
batmon said:Side A is unfukwitable. Side B - is shaky..IMO.





But I prefer There's No Place Like America Today and Superfly for total albums.
 
batmon said:


But I prefer Back To The World and Superfly for total albums.




I heard you prefer Young-Holt Unlimited's Superfly.





is what I heard
 
dukeofdelridge said:batmon said:


But I prefer Back To The World and Superfly for total albums.




I heard you prefer Young-Holt Unlimited's Superfly.





is what I heard







Haha...now that's some classic shit.
 
stratasphere said:batmon said:Side A is unfukwitable. Side B - is shaky..IMO.





But I prefer Back To The World,supertfly,live and Sweet Excorcist for total albums.

yup
 
dukeofdelridge said:Given my short time here, I'm shocked--SHOCKED!--this isn't #1 on the Soulstrut100.




LIVE gets the most circle jerks ive seen.
 
other than superfly i don't think anything else in the solo catalogue comes close to live.
 
SIRUS said:other than superfly i don't think anything else in the solo catalogue comes close to live.




Historically on SS most cats have repped LIVE the hardest. IIRC.
 
LOOK PEOPLE: CURTIS / LIVE IS #67. DEAL WITH IT!





I will say that I do not have a clean OG of this Curtis. It's a great record, and I have no problem with it being #20.





Why is this thread gotta always be about having problems with the list, anyways? haha I know, it's the nature of lists...but still.





I'm cool with it!





Keep the SS100 rolling!





!!!
 
Great record, one of the best own.


My copie was ??1 from a music and video exchange, looked trashed but the pressing is do damn good it found great, just the odd click and pop. Yes I will upgrade if a real nice clean copie comes my way one day, but even though Curtis is a well known/loved artist I never see this album, his others yes, but this one never turns up for me.
 
Live> Roots> Superfly (would be # 1 if I hadn't played it to death when it was 1 of 20 lp' s I owned at one time) >Back to the World>Sweet Exorcist> Curtis cus 2nd side is a drag as Batmon pointed out> There's no place like A (I haven't been as blown away by this one as others have, should give it a try again)
 
One of the GOAT intros to an album, in any genre. Truly :face_melt:





Got to agree about Live!, the stripped down performances sans strings are what really do it. Count me among the surprised that it wasn't top 10 given the love it gets here.





Hard to rank his first few solo albums, but Got to Find A Way doesn't get the love it deserves, not a weak track on there.