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“Superfly” is also the only moment on the soundtrack in which Mayfield allows himself, however briefly, to be caught up in the fantasy of the film’s plot. Both Hayes’ and Mayfield’s songs are epic in nature, boasting massive shifts in dynamics, huge brass and orchestral parts and intense pacing. “Superfly” is to the Superfly soundtrack as “Theme From Shaft” is to the Shaft soundtrack and, by that, I mean it is perfection on record. The best thing to be said for “Think” is that it lowers expectations in such a way that the killer closing track, “Superfly”, only benefits in the comparison. The album’s only throwaway track, “Think”, is an instrumental featuring what sounds like an oboe solo that goes absolutely nowhere. “Give Me Your Love” stands out as yet another, in a seemingly endless catalog, of Mayfield’s masterful love songs. The rest of the album continues with Mayfield’s brilliant music overlaid with more insightful criticism of drug dealing, ghetto injustice, legalized corruption and the myriad ways inescapable criminal lifestyle is the opposite of glorious. “Everybody's misused him/ Ripped him up and abused him/ Another junkie plan/ Pushing dope for the man/ A terrible blow/ But that's how it goes” Mayfield offers a more nuanced view of a man who never had a chance: In the film, Freddie’s death is seen as cosmic comeuppance for snitching. “Freddie’s Dead”, the first single from the soundtrack, centers on the death of Fat Freddie-a character from the film who fails to pay Priest on time and eventually informs on Priest’s illegal activities to law enforcement. “I'm your mama, I'm your daddy/ I'm that nigga in the alley/ I'm your doctor, when in need/ Want some coke, have some weed/ You know me, I'm your friend/ Your main boy, thick and thin/ I'm your pusherman…” It’s absolutely haunting, especially in light of the way the film valorizes its central character, Priest, a remorseless cocaine dealer: The song’s lyrics seem to access the unexamined thoughts of a hustler on the make the things a drug dealer must tell him or herself in order to get through a day of selling poison to their neighbors. Impossibly smooth and densely layered, “Pusherman”, paints the unflattering self-portrait of a drug dealer in surgically sharp detail. Next up, “Pusherman”, is one of Superfly’s most celebrated tracks and for good reason. Pate’s work on the Shaft in Africa soundtrack is worth a listen, or three, as well. Johnny Pate, who arranged all of Superfly’s string parts, doesn’t get enough credit for his work in turning Mayfield’s songs into epic compositions. Though it’s a little sleepier than the rest of Superfly, “Little Child Runnin’ Wild” hints at what’s to come: an epic tragedy told over some of the most gorgeous pop music ever recorded. All the while Mayfield’s voice is pure honey, poured out slow, mourning the song’s eponymous child led astray. The story of youth corrupted may be told over a smooth groove but Mayfield collaborator, Johnny Pate, peppers the track with orchestral stings that feel a bit like a sonic stabbing. The album’s opener, “Little Child Runnin’ Wild”, rides in on a laidback funk beat that belies the song’s subject matter. In this way Mayfield had his cake, ate it too and somehow had enough left over to feed the masses a slice of soul so tasty that it can still be heard, 45 years after its release, in countless hip hop samples. Not only that, but the album also actively questioned the politics and values at the heart of the exploitation film on which it was based. But, Superfly is more than just good, it’s a great soundtrack that changed an entire musical genre for the better. It would all be so completely unjust… if Superfly wasn’t so, damn, good.
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Pepper’s, so too are the first two Curtis Mayfield albums frequently passed over for the famous soundtrack. In much the same way Rubber Soul and Revolver were overlooked for years because they had the misfortune of preceding Sgt. Now that you’re back, ask yourself, why would anyone ignore something so sonically sumptuous? The answer is simple: Superfly. Play it twice-three times if necessary! Because it’s just that good. As proof I’d suggest you briefly click away from this review and search YouTube for Mayfield’s "Now You're Gone.” Prepare for layers-upon-layers of instruments churning out a distinctly Mayfieldian brand of slow groove funk and soul.
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Both Curtis and Roots are stellar records- Roots, in particular, has been critically ignored for no apparent reason. Critics who talk shit about Curtis Mayfield’s first two, post-Impressions, solo albums can suck it.