Curtis Mayfield - The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield [2LP Blue]

The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield gathers the work of one of soul music's true visionaries onto a single LP, pressed here on blue vinyl.

After leaving The Impressions in 1970, Mayfield struck out on his own through his Curtom label and spent the following decade making records that married sweet falsetto melodies with clear-eyed social commentary and deep, rolling funk. He wrote, arranged and produced with a craftsman's care, and few artists have ever made protest music sound quite so seductive.

This compilation draws on that remarkable solo run, the same era that produced his landmark Super Fly soundtrack in 1972. Expect wah-wah guitar chattering against lush strings, congas rolling beneath tight horn charts, and that gentle, unmistakable voice gliding over grooves that hit far harder than they first appear. Mayfield could sing about addiction, inequality and hope in the same breath, and his words still feel uncomfortably relevant.

Hip-hop producers have mined his catalog for decades, which says plenty about how far ahead of his time he really was and how good those grooves still sound.

For anyone building a soul and funk section, this is an ideal place to begin, a compact introduction to an artist whose music still moves bodies and minds in equal measure.