100 Greatest Songs of the 70’s #5 Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up

Released: 1971

As it staggered into the 1970’s amongst the anger and disillusionment felt by urban communities across America there was still a space – although a swiftly radicalising one – in which to platform understanding and reconciliation. Curtis Mayfield was born in Chicago during a previous war the country fought, but his early years were spent in gospel choirs and by 1956 he was a member of The Impressions, the band he would front for over a decade.

In the pop world then artists were seen as the weakest link of a chain where managers, producers and label bosses often ruthlessly practiced control. Mayfield’s approach however was anomalous and empowering, as the bespectacled singer master minded the entire process from writing to production. This meant that he had levels of control and creative autonomy that became the envy of his peers, and that equally his later pivot to more socially conscious material – marked by the release of the black pride anthem Keep On Pushing in 1964 – was both authentic and self-determined.

Mayfield left The Impressions in 1970 for an inevitable solo career that began with a debut exploring the socio-cultural mindfields of an uncertain new decade. The centrepiece, Move On Up clocked in at almost nine minutes, a soul jam that got brilliantly out of hand with pealing sax and rampaging brass and a vibe that refused to disappear until the message was delivered. An olive branch that needed an open mind to grasp, Curtis Mayfield’s mood and message was once again all his own work.