There’s No Place Like America Today

Wer wissen will, warum die Pilzköpfe in ihrer Zeit so eingeschlagen haben, der sollte sich die seinerzeitigen Alternativen - wie diese - hierzu anhören. Soullastiger Leierkästen mit garantierter Einschlafoption. Das Album war vermutlich schon bei der Erstveröffentlichung ein Oldie.

I needed this. I needed this album generator to tell me, “You know you like Curtis Mayfield, yet you’ve never listened to a second album by him. Why is that?” Thank you, Daddy Album Generator.

My favorite of his albums to be sure....

Maybe a slightly disappointing listen given what I had previously heard of Mayfield, but overall pretty average for this list. 3/5

Very smooth, but the voice is a bit much after awhile.

Incredible.

I’ve heard of Curtis Mayfield before as an influential soul artist, having heard the title track to the Superfly soundtrack before. Not only is this album emblematic of that style, but it’s a slow burner as he kept the tempo slow and the space breathable for the instruments. Curtis carried a nice sultry delivery to complement his lyrics involving racial prejudice and economic disparity. The only exception is “So in Love” which was a nice funky jam.

What does hold me back from outright loving this album is the slower tempo does drag the momentum by the end, and there could have been a little more variance in the songwriting. It’s not bad but songs tend to blend together in places, even for a short runtime.

For what’s it worth, There’s No Place is a solid in-and-out adventure for the kind of conscious soul music Curtis was pushing at the time.

This is everything I need for '70s soul. Curtis Mayfield is a genius and the only problem I have with this album is it's not longer. It's phenomenal front to back.

Billy Jack is a helluva strong start to an album but things immediately fell off and don't quite reach that high level again. Overall okay album

It was alright I suppose - I prefer his more uptempo stuff and some of the stuff he produced for other artists

Funk is such an entertaining genre, prove me wrong.

What an album. Absolute everyone in the backing band are putting on a show, and then that voice on top.

It is another Curtis Mayfield record that is definitely worth listening to. For me, "Billy Jack" is THE song of America Today. Another true classic that Curtis produces here. All the ingredients are present again. It's wonderful how this man can put songs together. "Jack" is subtle, there is reggae in that beautiful drum/percussion work. And of course, marinated under a thick layer of soul and funk. And as usual, Curtis also knows how to write a text that is more than excellent. It is violent as hell but sung oh so relaxed.

Unfortunately, it's a shame that Curtis is unable to maintain this level throughout the album. the rest can't match the first song. Not that it's getting boring, because with "Hard Times" and "Love to the People" the album picks itself up again near the end.

Lyrically this is also a typical Mayfield album, so lots of social issues impressively explained on small scale.

A good album, but not great, unfortunately

So much of this album is really slow and laboured, and there's nowhere near enough oomph. I don't like his vocals or singing style at all. It's so high pitched and floaty. There's a few tracks with a bit more about them, including the likes of 'So in Love'. The last few tracks also pick up a bit. Mostly though, no thank you.

I love soul and funk, and Curtis is obviously one of the greats. In addition to being incredibly funky musically, the lyrics on this album are so powerful. The cover is incredible too. Definitely a classic worthy of this list.

I love soul and funk music, especially 60s/70s era. This was very good, but Mr. Mayfield’s falsetto didn’t hit my ear right at times, so it couldn’t get up to a five.

Darker than "Move on Up" (the only track of his I could previously name) but still get the sense that I would have had great success in removing the beige slacks of my neighbour's attractive wife if this had been given a spin at my 1975 dinner party

What a voice! Another very short album, which meant I was able to listen to it a bunch of times - which was good, as I liked it more after a few runs through.

The king of the wah-wah pedal and the master of the ultimate falsetto, Curtis Mayfield delivers a set of slow-burning funk soul. The bass makes this work - spare and efficient, hitting a few clustered notes to keep the deep groove going and creating a vast opening for the other instruments to gather in and build up the harmonies and rhythms. It's the classic CM combo of a a very laid back and gentle album musically with deep themes. The lyrics alternate between romance and sociology, delving into violence, inequality, and the endurance of hard times in post-Civil Rights America - drawing the two strands together in the end, uplifting loving brotherhood as the way of making it through. So in Love is the only really stand out track though. The entire album is WAY slowed down and relaxed without much variety, like turning on a tap for 35 minutes of pure Mayfield,

R&B pop met een ziel. Curtis zingt met een verhoogde stem en zet alles wat hees in. Het zou prima op de hedendaagse radio passen. Tijdloos. De begeleidende muziek heeft kwaliteit, maar hij weet het op de achtergrond te houden. Het is iemand die weet wat hij doet en levert een sterke plaat. Wel in een genre waar ik zelf minder mee heb. Soul mag van mij iets rauwer. Maar dat is smaak. Ik overwoog 3,5/4 sterren. Maar dat is te hoog voor een plaat die ik zelf geen tweede keer opzet. Het wordt een 3 met een flinke plus.