Superfly

“Super Fly” by Curtis Mayfield (1972) Now this is how urban ‘social justice’ music is done. A concept album with a coherent, humanistic concept. Soulful poetry painting vivid scenes of the heartbreaking reality of the pain and hopelessness of black ghetto life. No pontificating on ‘root cause’; no rage directed at dubious agents of evil; no thinly disguised Marxist political posing; no plea to do wrong in order to set things right. Mayfield touches the individual heart with moral guidance that is edifying and redemptive. “Freddie’s Dead” is so much more than funeral dirge or eulogy. From the abyss of urban lament, It announces salvation. And check out the rap in the intro to “No Thing on Me”. Beats anything I’ve heard from the 90s. And the music soars. Mayfield’s vocals push and pull real tears. Very well controlled falsetto transcends gendered chains. Instrumentals are arranged with symphonic expansiveness, and (even if somewhat dated) are richly varied—and exquisitely performed. The well executed mix draws the listener with relentless mystery. I wish “Junkie Chase” (at only 1:41) would go on for another ten minutes. But alas, real junkie chases probably don’t last that long. For those into folk rock, the acoustic guitar work (Mayfield?) on the intro to “Think” is very well done, setting up a pleasantly surprising stylistic transition. There is so much good music on this album. And this is not the voice of nostalgia speaking. This may shock you, but . . . 5/5

Thursday morning. Nearly the end of the week. Lounging on my velour recliner for a moment of contemplation, it's a sunny day and the light is streaming through the window highlighting the dust in the air. Rising out the seat, I glance in the mirror and my oversize collar is on point with the brown and yellow earth tones in the tie I picked out earlier. Aviators on and quickly check the moustache - nice. I leave for work, climb into the car and Curtis plays in the background on the 8-track. Sunlight glints on my glasses and I'm feeling the beats, one arm out the window as I drive. It's going to be a good day.

This was a great album. Smooth as butter, with surprising depth.

I'm glad this was our weekend album. There's just... so much. So many layers. Organ, hand drums, regular drums, distorted bass (and surely that's a whammy bar on the bass), spitting fuzz guitar, clean guitar with a wah (of course), any number of horns and strings, and... is that a fucking harp? Yes, yes it's a harp. And that's just the first minute of the first song. And it feels like they're all played by individual humans. All playing little bits and pieces, but also coming together in unison often enough that the songs feel like songs, not just jams. Somehow, even with all that instrumentation, it has a real live feel. There are mistakes here and there, and the vocals aren't the strongest, but I don't find they distract from the experience. They give it an energy. It feels alive. You're not listening to a product that has been painstakingly constructed and polished over months in a studio, you're in a room full of great musicians having a good time. The off the cuff feeling of the album comes with downsides. No Thing On Me feels cheesy, both lyrically and melodically. The wah in Give Me Your Love sounds like someone is strangling a duck. Both songs could have used more time in the oven, but I think more overall production time would have dulled some of the rawness that gives the rest of the album it's energy. So I'll take two (relative) duds if it gives me 7 songs that are brilliant, rich without being busy, dirty without being muddy, somehow simultaneously groovy and contemplative. I'll be listening to this for years to come.

Where do you start to peel back the layers of this album?! The percussion, the guitar, the horns, the strings, the lyrical content, this is 36 minutes of absolute pure glory!

Beautiful soul and funk sounds, and as a Chance fan it was cool to hear the origin of Pusha Man.

Interesting to learn that this album earned more than the corresponding movie. The sounds good, but I only got hooked by a couple of tracks, and eventually the falsetto got kind of old.

A plush pillow for the weary head of the ghetto's victims.

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this but I was really bored.

Feel like a Little Child Runnin’ Wild listening to this. Felt, Superfly!

No começo pensei em dar 4 estrelas mas depois percebi sua grandeza , ótimo disco

Incredible. The production and instrumentals along with Curtis Mayfield's voice and lyrics just takes you to this really blissful place that's vulnerable and embraces it. It's by no means a downer either, because it can set the mood for a really great party.

I'm a big fan of this album. Think Mayfield is a genius, great concept album soundtrack and love the use of strings.

Funky, groovy fun. Loved it.

I was thinking to myself “I’ll bet there won’t be a soundtrack album on this list” but I had forgotten about this album. So bleeding good.

With this soundtrack in tow, anyone can be superfly!

Funky and fun. This album was consistent with its delivery of a catchy beat and some sweet falsetto. Many of the songs sounded very similar, so I am only feeling three stars.

Not my favorite genre

70's porno music mixed with a low budget heist film 3 ⭐️

A couple good songs and a bunch of ok songs. It is a fun listen, but I don't think it is good enough for a 4. Fun Fact: the intro to Superfly was sampled for the Beastie Boy's song Egg Man.

Just not my cup of tea. I understand it is a reflection of lifelong decisions to make good decisions in the worst of situations, but it is a subject that just don’t find myself attuned to. It’s weird that this album soundtrack is supposed to imbue soul, but I find it utterly soulless with how repetitive it is.

maybe the haziest, most impressionist effect that has ever been achieved by a record where thats not an obviously accurate description of the sound itself...everything is in clear space and precisely chosen and presented in perfect clarity, but it still feels like a dream somehow...maybe one u are currently having rather then one u are remembering in daylight. idek what else to say other then its cool im on a lil streak of records i havent heard in a long time but were overdue for a revisit :))) curtis has to be one of the goats

did not expect that I would ever give a movie soundtrack a 5 star rating but there it is

Nice progression, the penultimate song being instrumental felt like it came at the right time and really gave a chance to digest the rest of the album

Wow oh wow. Silky damn smooth. What a find. Every damn song is an absolute hit. Little Child Runnin' Wild Freddie's Dead Give Me Your Love (Love Song) Eddie You Should Know Better No Thing On Me (Cocaine Song) as absolute favourites, the entire thing is fucking awesome. Will be keeping this for occasional playing for the rest of my life!

Pusherman - better be pushing this album What a fun album. It’s funky, it’s orchestral, it’s got some dark themes about drugs; what more can you ask for. It also stands on its own without the movie which definitely counts for something. Favorite - Freddie’s Dead

Excellent

lot of fun vibes, classic representation of this style of music. Favorite track: Little child runnin' wild other picks: pusher man, Freddie's dead, superfly

Another wonderful record.

Favourite song - Freddies dead

This was stellar. After listening to a string of okay-but-not-my-thing albums, this was a breath of fresh air. Funky, groovy, excellent jazzy instruments - I loved this from start to finish.

Nice mini diversion into Blaxploitation by Curtis. Used to play Pusherman on repeat back in the day. Crisp, clear production throughout. May be my favorite original soundtrack album, but will ponder this one further...

Fire.

I have not had very many soundtracks pop up for me. I could probably count on one hand the number I’ve had. The best are the ones that don’t need to be approached as a soundtrack to be enjoyed. Ones that can stand on their own as its own entity are really great. There aren’t a lot of those. But one you will always see mentioned is the Superfly album. Done by the Gentle Genius, Curtis Mayfield, himself. The film this records title is based on is a classic 70s film, and one that Curtis is featured in himself. This record wasn’t predicted to do any sort of numbers when it released alongside the film, and I think the fact that it outperformed the movie is hilarious, but also very telling. During the 70s, “fly” was used to describe someone confident and fashionable. It acts in the same way as “ill” did in the 90s. And I personally can’t think of a better adjective to describe the sound of the record other than fly. It’s fly as fuck. Maybe the single flyest set of songs I’ve ever heard. I guess I should have expected something this good from the same guy who made Move On Up, but I couldn’t have ever anticipated how amazing this is. This album is so overconfident in how cool it sounds, but it absolutely has the chops to back itself up. I was not aware of the kind of compositions Mayfield was capable of. But the string and horn sections are all top of the line. From an instrumental perspective, this album is flawless. Not one lackluster moment. Mayfield also has a delightful voice. Many would say the lyrical content here is more ideal than the movie. In terms of theme, this almost directly parallels the movie, which is probably a genius move on his part. It gives a much more direct take on drug dealers and poverty, which the movie more so embraces. I think my least favorite song is probably the second of two instrumentals, called Think. And it is not by any means a bad song. Even the shorter tracks still fit so much into such a brief amount of time. This doesn’t even reach the 40 minute mark, but I wish it were an hour. Some of the most suave and badass sounding music I’ve ever heard, and it completely makes up for most of the forgettable garbage I hear on a regular basis. Rating: 9/10

Excellent

Every song written with such empathy and the arrangements are so cinematic and perfect

Great album. And its a soundtrack!

Already loving everything a couple songs in. Def had heard Pusherman before. Percussion on it is incredible. It's probably because I already saw it was a soundtrack, but I can picture this being in an old 70s/80s cop movie ala Starsky & Hutch. Album absolutely flew by for me. That was smooth af I think I'll go listen to more Curtis Mayfield now.

Certified funky fresh. This album fucks.

little child runnin wild seeehr geil mit percussion und so i lieb. jo. sehr sehr geil sehr warm super geil gspielt. pusherman isch jo huuuuuere geil FICK. freddie's dead au seeeehr geil. d strings sind suuuper schön igsetzt. no thing to me isch au sooo gueti luune. ich liebs gad. biah think isch au gad crazy schön, mega david T walker style gitti. und sopraaaansax!! UND DENN ALTOSAX UND AAH ISCH DAS SCHÖN. es stüret gad mit vollgas (aber mega cozy) uf es cleans füfi zue. superfly hani auscho ghört. boah er singt SO COOL. und d blöser sind hammer. perkussion (master henry gibson) isch insane. boah han ich freud.

To mi radi, Kurtise! Jako dobar album. Tako cosy, chill zvuk s malo tog njegovog šmekerstva i malo peglice on top. Izuzetno fino. Sve jedna stvar bolja od druge. Jedan od rijetkih specifičnih vokala koji mi ne postaje iritantan. Dosta je mračan tematski album zapravo, ali nespojivo mi je to sa samom glazbom. Ma joj ej, teško mi je uopće izdvojiit stvari s ovog albuma, ali mislim da su mi Little Child Running Wild i Give Me Your Love favoriti. O maj gad, tek sad sam povezala da je jedna od mojih dražih modernih dance stvari Profite od Kazy Lambista zapravo obrada Eddie You Should Know Better 🤯 eto, dodajem tu u top tri s albuma. Ovaj Kurtis baš dosta razmišlja o drogama, što je oke pošto sam i ja trenutno nagljivirana, pa se vjerojatno zato kužimo. Tko sam ja da ti sudim. I Think mi je odlična. Ma ne znam evo, ovaj album apsolutno razvaljuje. Baš ono, takva raznolikost i bogatstvo zvuka. Ovo mi je u top 3 albuma s liste, bar zasad. Petica kao kuća, ma šta kuća, hotel! 5/5, 10/10.

Krenuo pisat review dok slušam, ali sam malo spejsautan pa sam odlutao Nego, ma čista petica za ovo, odmah u startu. Fino vozi od početka do kraja, jako puno referenci ima na droge i narkomane, imam osjećaj kao da prikazuje obje strane medalje ovdje. Kao super ti je od toga, ali ono, možeš od toga i završiti na ulici ili mrtav kao Fredie. Trebao bih proći kroz ovaj album još jednom pa pratiti tekst uz glazbu Muzikalno je super, iako mi je ovo kao funk, zapravo nije, samo je funky. Think pjesma je više nekako na jazz, ali i dalje je fino. Mislim da fino baš dobro opisuje ovaj album Iako sam pjesmu pusherman čuo stotinu puta, to je jedan on onih hitova koji mi ne smetaju. Nekad na probi se znamo zajebavati s tim pa ju ubacimo u jam Evo nas na Superfly i tu mi prolazi kroz glavu zašto su mi 70e puno draže od 80ih u većini slučajeva. I to pretežno zbog ovih "živih" bubnjeva i perkusija. I nema jebenog kanta snera 😁 Trebao sam počet pisat od prve pjesme, baš sam uživao u ovom albumu. Ali ovo mi je samo još jedan u nizu albuma koji su mi bili fantastični na ovoj listi, a da sam ih već znao. Još čekam da mi dođe nešto nepoznato, da me izuje iz cipela.

Oh yeah, this is good. I found myself grooving in my kitchen as I was making Sunday dinner. I'll admit that Pusherman makes me want to time travel and do all the drugs mentioned in the song - times must've been wild. I need to listen again since I know I missed some poignant lyrics, but what a great listen on the first go round. I'm giving this an enthusiastic 5 stars.

Soulful Funky 70’s music

It's a funky classic, no more needs to be said.

So so so so so so good. The sound and feel of this album is both of its time and timeless. 5 stars.

I can't believe my luck. Another absolutely fantastic album! Loved this album. Heard quite a bit of it before. Love the funky soul stuff.

Great album

Hey, so there are soundtracks on here! Although this album easily stands on its own. The songs are wonderfully crafted, and the lyrics are fervent and moving. Mayfield's concerns are just as relevant as ever. I look forward to listening again.

9/10 Beautiful. The vocals and the big band feel give this album such a pleasant atmosphere even though some of the the themes are dark Favourite Song=Freddies Dead Least Favourite Song=Give Me Your Love(Love Song)

I know I've written against having movie soundtracks on this list several times by now, but hot dang, you just can't stop that funk.

Iconic soul album.

Good album lots of drug references

Incredible and soulful record. Impossible to not boogie to.

Sophisticated and badass — two words rarely used together, but fitting for this amazing album!

Listened a lot when younger

This album is brilliant. Passionate, soulful, and sweet 5/5

A very enthusiastic five stars!! This was such a satisfying, complete-sounding album. Everything about it hit just right. Such detail, thoughtful storytelling, amazing vibes and very skilled singer, arrangement and musicians. I even had the 'hey, I know this... I think' with Freddie's Dead. I am so glad this album was what I started my day with. Made me feel like a person on the hardly-light first morning of October.

Nice

Essential funk.

Funk, soul, rhythm and blues Bläser, sexy and coole Stimme Jede Zelle in deinem Körper wippt im Rhythmus, die Beine halten mit, der ganze Körper ist inzwischen dabei Zu schön um wahr zu sein

Magnificent, sharp, soulful commentary on inner city life

Very good!!!

Curtis Mayfield is amazing.

very groovy very lovely but just not my style

EVERYTHING and more.

just brilliant

Spectacular funk album from the man Mr. Mayfield. This dude embodies cool, calm and collected. He has ghetto swagger combined with high fidelity tastes and standards. All of which is encompassed in the words and music on this here album. I can't even tell you how long I've been a fan of this album. Probably since I was single digits in age, it just always spoke to. He was also ahead of his time in speaking to the masses about the disenfranchised populations of black accross America. Far and wide this album should be hailed. Similar to last weeks Stevie Wonder album, should be understood that Curtis was a funk monster, could out funk anyone in a fight. But, he stays reserved here in crafting soul simple and short melodic backgrounds to his evangelical epitaph.

I love soul funk and could listen to this album anytime. Think - Instrumental is gorgeous and Pusherman is a classic.

A movie soundtrack masterpiece. Has certainly aged better than the movie itself. Curtis Mayfield forever!

Brilliant album - a timeless classic.

My general distaste for soundtracks is displaced by my love for good Chicago soul, and there's little better than Curtis Mayfield and this soundtrack for Super Fly. Short and sweet and oh so funky.

this is the kind of album that makes you cooler for having listened to it and ultimately what else is a white boy looking for in music

Bro blaxploitation music goes crazy hard god DAMN. Let a man HUSTLE on these hard streets, fuckin Nixon behind all this. "But Curtis Mayfield I sell drugs to the community!" OK all that aside I loved this fucking album, every song on this album was amazing, whatever you got going on this album will cure it. Funky as hell and full of colour. Curtis Mayfield is the a GOAT and this album is easily is best work to use as an example of him. 5/5

This is just funky as hell. Very raw message and a unique sound too. Just a masterpiece.

Love

Groovy as hell. Incredible percussion. Cool falsetto. A soul funk master class.

gonna save this gem, jazzy and very good

A spectacular, impossibly cool soundtrack album. One of the best original soundtracks ever I think. Oozes cool.

Absolutely beautiful. Would play this on repeat if I wasn't only a tenth of the way through this list.

What a fantastic album for a lazy Sunday. The music is soulful and funky with so much going on. Amazing lyrics. What's not to love. I want to see the movie now.

Smooth.

Funky and cool. Vibes. Yeah this is good. Early 70s soundtracks are unbeatable. Rip Freddie. “Think - Instrumental” is nice.

Very good, one of his best. One of my favorites as well.

So many awesome songs on this album. Great reminder of how music can capture a moment, an experience, a culture.

Damn near perfect album. A concept album at heart, written by probably the most viable artist of the time to speak out on the nuances of life in the ghetto in the early seventies without seeming like he was either exploiting are pandering to the issues at hand. And the music! I just love the arrangements and orchestration. I played it on background during dinner just to see how the girls reacted to the music, and it didn’t take them long to start moving to the grooves; two enthusiastic thumbs up from both. They have good taste 🥰.

Such a cool album. Every time I listen to it it makes me feel like I’m some sort of crime drama. It’s like I’m a cocaine dealer in Harlem. I’ve decided I want to quit the criminal underworld and go straight but I’m gonna have to commit one more crime. Then I’m out. Anyway, things don’t go as easily as I wanted them to or as I thought they would. Incredible the way music can transport you so far into your imagination. 4.5

Liked it!

Awesome

Already listened to this beautiful album!

A really good album, I liked Pusherman, Junkie Chase and Superfly the most.

Brilliant. Personal favourites are Superfly, Freddy's Dead and Pusherman 5/5

Along with Isaac Hayes's work on Shaft and Bobby Womack's on Across 110th Street, Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for Super Fly was a defining work of the Blaxploitation genre. Unlike those other artists though, Mayfield's album eclipsed the film for which is was written and became a funk and soul classic on its own merits. Singles Freddie's Dead and the title track as well as Pusherman ooze cool while also serving as social commentary, highlighting the problems that hard drugs were causing amongst poor black communities. Mayfield used his personal experience alongside the events in the script to create songs that had their own life. No wonder that the album has been sampled so often.

Groovy ass mother fucking album. The sweet soul vocals and swinging instrumentals. This is a certified classic

An old favorite!!

Certified classic. Have loved this album for years.

Music for the mind, body, and third eye

++ Little Child Runnin' Wild, Pusherman, Freddie's Dead, Junkie Chase (instrumental), Give Me Your Love (Love Song), No Thing on Me (Cocaine Song), Think (instrumental), Superfly + Eddie You Should Know Better 9,7/10

Dit is de eerste keer dat een album 3x achter elkaar aanzet. Even wisselen van digitaal schijfje is ook minder handig tijdens het schilderen. Maar toch, 3 maal met plezier geluisterd. Fijn dat er afwisseling is tussen zang en instrumentaal. Al is dit wel heel sterke zang. Pusherman is mijn favoriet van de schijf. Het wekt mijn interesse in de film. Wordt daarin ook de serieuze boodschap zo fraai verpakt?

Klassieke Curtis Mayfield met Superfly. Heerlijke funky muziek, waarbij het hoge stemgeluid prima past. Het brengt je gelijk in een bepaalde sfeer. Ik zou de film wel eens willen zien, waar de muziek voor is gemaakt. Wie weet, dat het dan gelijk een compleet andere sfeer is. Freddie is namelijk dood, dus de relaxte sfeer van de muziek slaat dan misschien om in een wat meer gewelddadige sfeer. Maar dit is geen imdb. Dus we beoordelen alleen de muziek. En dat vind ik heerlijk om te luisteren. Ik zie al dat ik morgen waarschijnlijk geen bonuspunten zal uitdelen en gisteren heb ik dat ook niet gedaan, dus weet je wat. Pak aan, 5 sterren!