Mayfield Package Makes an Unforgettable Impression

CURTIS MAYFIELD “People Get Ready!” Rhino (****)

As the leader of the Impressions vocal group and as a solo artist, Curtis Mayfield is an unforgettable voice in modern pop--a singer-guitarist-writer whose most enduring music spoke in the ‘60s and ‘70s about the civil rights struggle with unbending eloquence and strength.

“For as long as there is romance in love, the joy of pride, the power of words, the teaching of right, and songs with haunting melodies, there will . . . be a need for the music of Mayfield,” writes Stevie Wonder in the liner notes to this excellent set.

The remarks are seconded by Public Enemy rapper Chuck D.: “Mayfield has definitely influenced legions of rap artists, including myself, with his sound, inspirational lyrics and commitment.”

There’s not a fiber of exaggeration in either comment about the influence of a man whose career was interrupted in 1990 by a freak stage accident in Brooklyn that left him paralyzed.

The Chicago native was in his teens in the late ‘50s when he was invited by Jerry Butler to join the Impressions. Mayfield took over the group’s artistic reins soon after when Butler left for a solo career following the success of the R&B;/pop hit “For Your Precious Love.”

This set opens with 1961’s “Gypsy Woman,” the first hit by the Mayfield-led Impressions, whose core lineup also included Sam Gooden and Fred Cash.

But it’s the next few records--including “Keep On Pushing,” “People Get Ready” and “This Is My Country”--that began defining the socially uplifting theme of African American pride that characterized much of Mayfield’s most important work.

They are galvanizing records in which Mayfield’s sweet, high-pitched voice--often set against biting guitar and edgy percussion--conveyed marvelously the wisdom and counsel of the lyrics, which seemed at times drawn from the message of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In “This Is My Country,” he sings:

Some people think we don’t have the right to say

This is my country . . .

I paid 300 years or more

Of slave driving sweat and welts on my back

This is my country.

In 1970, Mayfield embarked on a solo career, continuing to emphasize his brotherhood message in such tracks as the landmark, nearly eight-minute “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Going to Go.”

Mayfield’s most acclaimed album was 1972’s “Superfly,” a soundtrack album that spent four weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts. Unfortunately, the set only includes four tracks from the album.

Though Mayfield didn’t exhibit the commercial or creative punch of “Superfly” in his subsequent work, the set offers some inviting highlights from the post-”Super-fly” years, including 1974’s “To Be Invisible,” a spiritual-tinged brotherhood selection as lovely as anything he ever did.

Mayfield, who lives with his family in Atlanta and is able to move around by wheelchair, is working on a new Warner Bros. album that he hopes will be in the stores this summer. Until then, this three-disc package is a splendid testimony to his legacy.

* Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).