Greater Hits: The Impressions

Curtis Mayfield is best remembered for his fly-collared Superfly sound: a funky mix of his fat lady falsetto, black power jive talk and chik-a-wah-wah electric guitar.



And The Impressions, the Chicago soul group he fronted from 1962-70, get identified with their gentle post-do wop hits like "People Get Ready," "Gypsy Woman" and "It's All Right." But to me the real hot sauce was the two-year streak from 1967-69 that produced The Fabulous Impressions, We're A Winner, This Is My Country and The Young Mod's Forgotten Story.



The Impressions were a vocal group and, beyond Mayfield's nimble guitar and the husky harmonies of Sam Gooden and Fred Cash, it would take a lot of digging to find out who laid down the glorious, soul-explosive session work (although Mayfield was a multi-instrumentalist and could be responsible for some or much of it). Mayfield is acknowledged as a guitar great, but he's still underrated. His sound is based on an open tuning he created when, as a boy, he mistakenly tuned his guitar to the black keys of his piano (a foreshadowing of black pride). It's a tangy, sparse tone that peaks through with honey-sunned joy in even his saddest songs.

Speaking of sad, "I Can't Stay Away From You" is crushing. Like Jeff Buckley sad. Whereas "Fool For You" and "We're Rolling On" have strut and a giddy cool. "My Deceiving Heart" and "Soulful Love" are somewhere in the middle, like Mayfield was starting to find that mixing the two was the way - that an optimistic melancholy was the true Mayfield reality.


The Impressions - Fool For You [From This Is My Country]

The Impressions - I Can't Stay Away From You [From The Fabulous Impressions]

The Impressions - We're Rolling On [From We're A Winner]

The Impressions - My Deceiving Heart [From The Young Mod's Forgotten Story]

The Impressions - Soulful Love [From The Young Mod's Forgotten Story]