Why It Matters

Talk about sweet — voices don’t come much sweeter than the great Curtis Mayfield.

You probably know the basics of the Mayfield story, from his sixties beginnings with the Impressions on through the indispensable Super Fly soundtrack.  Outside of the worlds of music geeks and soul aficionados he doesn’t get the respect he deserves for laying down the funk blueprint, but Curtis is right up there with James Brown and George Clinton as a funky founding father.

A freak accident with some stage lighting left Mayfield paralyzed for the last ten years of his life, but he kept recording.  Tell me music doesn’t matter.

Ten bucks is a reasonable price for a copy of Sweet Exorcist, but whatever.  Buy it however you can.  You won’t be disappointed.  Happy hunting.