Curtis Mayfield - Superfly (1972)

OK Superfly... Don't let me down. I'm writing this as I'm halfway through the second song on this record and I'm grooving to the excellent blaxploitation-era funk. That's probably the wrong thing to call it, but I'm not sure how else to describe it. I say that because these songs could so easily fit into a blaxploitation movie like Shaft or Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (not to mention the movie version of this album) so seamlessly. It's that fantastic music that combined a rock band with a big band, took the chunky, funky licks of the former and the sweeping flourish and grandeur of the latter, and gave it to a singer with all the funk and soul, and I mean all of it. And all I want Superfly to do is keep it up for another 25 minutes. When people like me say modern music sucks and things used to be so much better in the 70s, it's stuff like Superfly that makes our point really well.

This is easily the best album I've heard in quite a while. If there's anyone out there who can listen to this album and not like it I'm not sure what happened to that person to make them so bitter. There's only one negative I can think of regarding Superfly. Everything on this album was well done, from the singing to the playing to the grooves. That leads me to believe that modern "artists" love to cut chunks of this album in order to sample it. I probably shouldn't get mad at something I only assume happens, but fuck those people. I need to start listening to what passes for "funky" music nowadays to see if there's anything stolen from Superfly.

So yeah, Superfly is a great album. If anyone is still making music that sounds like this I need to know. Music hasn't grooved like Superfly in a long time. I'll be adding it to my collection. 4 stars.

Addendum: Just remembered that recently I reviewed an album by Missy Elliot that was titled Supa Dupa Fly. As if I needed another reason to fucking hate that piece of shit album. Simply put there is exactly zero music on Missy Elliot's album that could be mistaken for anything close to Curtis Mayfield's Superfly, and certainly nothing worthy of "Supa Dupa".

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