Superfly - Curtis Mayfield

Rating: 8.5/10
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Charly
Year Released: 2005 (Reissue) 1972 (Original)
Album Covers: Included
Pass: radiodada
Links: rapidshare
Post Number: #00020

About the Album (Original Soundtrack)
Superfly is an album by American soul/funk artist Curtis Mayfield, the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film of the same name. It was released in July of 1972 on Curtom Records. Widely considered a classic of 1970s soul/funk, Superfly was a nearly immediate hit. Its sales were bolstered by two million-selling singles, "Freddie's Dead" (#2 R&B, #4 Pop) and the title track (#5 R&B, #8 Pop). "Superfly" is one of the few soundtracks to out-gross the film it accompanied.

Superfly, along with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, was one of the pioneering soul concept albums, with its then-unique socially aware lyrics about poverty and drug abuse making the album stand out. The film and the soundtrack may be perceived as dissonant, since the Super Fly film holds rather ambiguous - some will say sympathetic - views on drug dealers, whereas Curtis Mayfield's position is far more critical.

Like What's Going On, the album was a surprise hit that record executives felt had little chance at significant sales. Due to its success, Mayfield was tapped for several film soundtracks over the course of the decade.

In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Superfly the 63rd greatest album of all time. Track number two, "Pusherman", has been selected among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2003, the album was ranked number 69 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

About the Film
Super Fly is a 1972 blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Parks, Jr., and stars Ron O'Neal as Youngblood Priest, a drug dealer who is trying to quit the underworld drug business.This film is known for its soundtrack, written and produced by soul singer Curtis Mayfield. Super Fly is one of the few films ever to have been outgrossed by its soundtrack.

The film's glorification of drug dealers serves to subtly critique the civil rights movement’s failure to provide better economic opportunities for black America. The portrayal of a black community controlled by drug dealers serves to highlight that the initiatives of the civil rights movement were far from fully accomplished.

About Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions and composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly. From these works and others, he was highly regarded as a pioneer of funk and of politically conscious African-American music. He was also a multi-instrumentalist who played the guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, and drums.