Rokukai Curtis Mayfield's first two albums are available on one CD. A parade should be held in the album's honor. It's worth the price of admission and then some, as Mayfield's growth is exponential following his departure from seminal Chicago R and B masters The Impressions.

Sorely underexposed and underrated nationally, Mayfield is a true poet laureate, and if all you've ever heard is Superfly you should buy this album immediately. If you like artists ranging from BB King to Funkadelic to Stevie Wonder you should buy this record. The music is fantastic, and Live! is one of the best live albums of the seventies.

dreadpirateroberts The obvious highlight, anti-gun song ‘Billy Jack’ isn’t enough to salvage this album, which at first glance, has the potential to be one of Curtis’ most biting and hard-hitting releases since ‘Superfly,’ released just three years ago in 1972. The wonderful cover art and the title just beg for a protest album to rival works by Sly, Gaye or something from Curtis’ own back catalogue.

Of course, it’s unfair of me to expect an artist to look over their own shoulder or to judge ‘…America Today’ in terms of what it could have achieved. And while this is a step away from previous works, it’s not a large one nor a wholly exciting one. While the almost torpid tempos and lethargic funk that infuses the songs here can be effective, a few blasts of horns in ‘Billy Jack’ or ‘Love to the People’ don’t balance out the largely unmemorable melodies and arrangements seen elsewhere. Probably what’s most surprising (or not, based on his previous two releases) is that the vocal arrangements are not very strong – a case in point being ‘Jesus,’ a song which is a candidate for the most bland song he’s written.

‘When Seasons Change’ and ‘Hard Times’ are a little better and the minor hit ‘So in Love’ is classic Curtis, it’s nice to hear the organ and the horns playing full and bringing some extra soul to the album. However, I do miss the lush strings in some of these songs, and the grittier funk so satisfying in other albums. With regret I have to remind myself that ultimately two or three great songs, even two or three great Mayfield songs, certainly don’t make a masterpiece, or even a career highlight.

I’d urge people new to Curtis’ work to start elsewhere, perhaps ‘Curtis’ or ‘Superfly.’

Warthur Adding a tense, nervous energy to his string and brass sections compared with the preceding Curtis, with Superfly Curtis Mayfield might have in theory been cutting the soundtrack for a sleazy and rather forgettable blaxploitation movie, but it stands perfectly well on its own as a sort of concept album telling its own story about corruption, vice, and the harm inflicted on communities from within and from without. It's like a soundtrack for The Wire several decades early, and has plenty to offer to the jazz listener, particularly with some of the horn solos. Standing at the corner between soul and funk, you could do a lot worse than sample what Curtis is pushing here.

Warthur Curtis Mayfield's debut album sets you up for a dark and troubling journey through the racial minefield of American society with its terrifying opening track, (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going to Go, but the following tracks tend towards syrupy string section-heavy soul numbers, interesting mainly because of Mayfield's incredible voice and his knack for getting right to the heart of an issue with his lyrics. On the whole, if you came to his music via Superfly you might find it a little tame aside from the opener, though in its own way the album achieves an interesting effect with its juxtaposition of beautiful and mildly melancholic orchestrations on the one hand and socially conscious and mildly angry lyrics on the other.

dreadpirateroberts Rushed out a few months after 'Sweet Exorcist' this album features all of Curtis' hallmarks, his falsetto, his strings, the funky wah-wah lead lines and rhythm section, and of course, even at a reduced capacity, his socially aware lyrics.

Musically it's not as memorable for me. While the sound is clean and clear, the vocals are mixed more fittingly, and performed well - especially his backing tracks (and that's not the same as writing memorable melodies) the songs simply don't catch hold. It's a fairly laid back album tempo-wise, and Curtis' often are, but these songs don't have enough surprises, quickly becoming repetitive (something not limited to the opener or 'So You Don't Love Me'.)

In fact, when 'Mother's Son' punches it's way into the running order halfway through, it's a shock. Suddenly the funk is back, with rhythm instruments are backed by only by clavinet as the strings get a rest. As with some of Curtis' material the song probably could have been shorter, but there are a couple of spicy solos that I wouldn't want to trade in for the sake of succinctness. And half the point of funk is getting a groove and riding it, but what I love most about Curtis in his earlier releases, is his ability to surprise me.

Once again, Mayfield draws on previous material for inspiration, expanding some of the feel from the song 'Sweet Exorcist' on the more complex 'Cannot Find a Way' which echoes some of his earliest material, funky, with horns, prominent bass and drums backed by strings that often make plaintive sweeps. It doesn't ever change gears however, and falls prey to my chief complaint with the album - that being its repetitiveness.

Collectors will want this one, but less dedicated (or obsessive, whichever you prefer) will want to stick with his first three studio albums, the 'Superfly' OST and 'Curtis/Live!' - or at least, start there.