The Young Mods' Forgotten Story

Released

The production on the penultimate Impressions album from 1969 was expansive with lush orchestration and Mayfield’s falsetto is more-than-ably backed by his band members. They generally stick to an innocent, mid-sixties soul sound while all around them funk and psychedelia were taking over the soul world. However, the wonderfully buoyant brass arrangements of Johnny Pate and Donny Hathaway and Mayfield’s warming, uplifting songs make for a classy soul outing nonetheless, and the funky wah wah of final track ‘Mighty Mighty (Spade & Whitey)’ pointed toward the tougher direction Mayfield was about to take as a solo artist.

Harold Heath

The last Impressions LP featuring Curtis Mayfield as lead singer is also one of the group’s best. Mayfield’s songwriting shines on such love/heartbreak tunes as “The Girl I Find” and “My Deceiving Heart” while staying engaged on the civil rights front with “Mighty Mighty (Spade & Whitey)” and “Choice of Colours.” The music is no less extraordinary — one of the best late ‘60s soul LPs out there — thanks to sophisticated arrangements by a young Donny Hathaway and veteran Johnny Pate.

Oliver Wang

Suggestions
Playboy cover

Playboy

The Marvelettes
Feel the Spirit cover

Feel the Spirit

Leroy Hutson, The Free Spirit Symphony
A Lonely Man cover

A Lonely Man

The Chi-Lites
Love’s Happening cover

Love’s Happening

Cubie Burke, The Five Stairsteps
Puzzle People cover

Puzzle People

The Temptations
Only a Woman cover

Only a Woman

Judy Mowatt