Mar 21, 2015

Rhodeo 1511 Grooves

Hello, ah that solar somewhat eclipse, another big media hype, well the children should now understand how it is that the sun hides behind the moon for a few minutes. As to why this moon fits perfectly our scientists have no idea better then pure chance... Well i saw a complete one in 1999, it was ok but i'm afraid those that chase these events have a screw or two loose..


Today.an American music group from Chicago, originally formed in 1958. Their repertoire includes doo-wop, gospel, soul, and R&B.
The group was founded as The Roosters by Chattanooga, Tennessee natives Sam Gooden, Richard Brooks and Arthur Brooks, who moved to Chicago and added Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield to their line-up to become Jerry Butler & the Impressions. By 1962, Butler and the Brookses had departed, and after switching to ABC-Paramount Records, Mayfield, Gooden, and new Impression Fred Cash collectively became a top-selling soul act. ........N'joy

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The quintessential Chicago soul group, the Impressions' place in R&B history would be secure if they'd done nothing but launch the careers of soul legends Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. But far more than that, the Impressions recorded some of the most distinctive vocal-group R&B of the '60s under Mayfield's guidance. Their style was marked by airy, feather-light harmonies and Mayfield's influentially sparse guitar work, plus, at times, understated Latin rhythms. If their sound was sweet and lilting, it remained richly soulful thanks to the group's firm grounding in gospel tradition; they popularized the three-part vocal trade-offs common in gospel but rare in R&B at the time, and recorded their fair share of songs with spiritual themes, both subtle and overt. Furthermore, Mayfield's interest in the civil rights movement led to some of the first socially conscious R&B songs ever recorded, and his messages grew more explicit as the '60s wore on, culminating in the streak of brilliance that was his early-'70s solo work. the Impressions carried on without Mayfield, but only matched their earlier achievements in isolated instances, and finally disbanded in the early '80s.

the Impressions were formed in Chicago in 1957 as a doo wop group called the Roosters, a group of Chattanooga, TN, transplants that included vocalists Sam Gooden and brothers Richard and Arthur Brooks. Lead singer Jerry Butler joined up and soon brought in his friend Curtis Mayfield as guitarist; the two had previously sung together in a church choir and a couple of local gospel groups as youths. Renamed the Impressions by their manager, the group scored a major hit in 1958 with the classic ballad "For Your Precious Love," which hit the pop Top 20 and the R&B Top Five. Butler's gospel-inflected lead vocal was a departure from the norm, and the fact that the single billed him in front of the rest of the group foreshadowed his quick exit for a solo career, after just one more single ("Come Back My Love"). With new vocalist Fred Cash in tow, Mayfield took over the lead tenor role, eventually becoming the group's chief composer as well. First, though, he hit the road as guitarist and musical director for Butler's backing band, and also co-wrote some of Butler's earliest singles, including the R&B number one "He Will Break Your Heart" in late 1960.

Mayfield's success as a songwriter encouraged him to form his own publishing company. With the money he earned by working with Butler, he reconvened the Impressions and brought them to New York to record for ABC-Paramount in 1961. Their first single, the Latin-inflected "Gypsy Woman," was a number two R&B smash, also reaching the pop Top 20. Several follow-ups failed to duplicate its chart success, and the Brooks brothers left the group in 1962; now down to a trio, the Impressions returned to Chicago and began recording with arranger Johnny Pate, whose horn and string embellishments added a bit more heft to their sound. They struck gold in 1963 with "It's All Right," whose gospel-style lead-swapping helped make it not only their first R&B number one, but their biggest pop hit as well, with a peak of number four. The same year, they issued their eponymous first LP, which many critics still consider one of their finest. 1964 brought the hit single "Keep on Pushing," the first of Mayfield's numerous black pride anthems (though at this stage, his sentiments were much less explicit than they would later become). The album of the same name also featured a marching-beat cover of the gospel standard "Amen," inspired by the song's inclusion in the Sidney Poitier film Lilies of the Field. Gospel also informed what became perhaps the best-known Impressions hit, 1965's "People Get Ready"; if its lyrics weren't overtly political, Mayfield's intent was clear, as the song became an anthem of transcendence for the civil rights movement and an oft-covered soul standard.

The mid-'60s saw Mayfield trying to keep pace with the Motown hit factory by incorporating elements of its style into his own writing. The group recorded prolifically in 1965, but their commercial fortunes dropped off over the next couple of years. When the Impressions returned to the upper reaches of the R&B charts, it was with 1968's "We're a Winner," the most straightforward celebration of black pride Mayfield had yet composed. That summer, the group left ABC to record for Mayfield's newly formed Curtom imprint, which allowed them greater freedom in terms of the lyrical content Mayfield wanted to pursue. More aggressive message tracks like "This Is My Country," "Choice of Colors," and "Check Out Your Mind" followed over the next couple of years, as did some of the group's most consistent albums, particularly The Young Mods' Forgotten Story (1969). 1970's Check Out Your Mind was Mayfield's final album with the Impressions, but the group remained on Curtom after his departure, and he continued to write and produce some of their material.

Mayfield was replaced on lead vocals by Leroy Hutson, who debuted on LP with 1972's Times Have Changed. At this point, the Impressions were still overshadowed by their ex-leader, who was riding high with brilliant works like Superfly. But Mayfield's solo momentum cooled down a bit, and after Hutson departed in 1973, new singers Ralph Johnson and Reggie Torian joined Cash and Gooden for the R&B chart-topper "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm a Changed Man)," cut with ex-Motown producer Ed Townsend in 1974. Townsend continued to work with the group for the next couple of years with some success, but in 1976 Johnson left to join the unsuccessful Mystique. Around that point, the Impressions parted ways with Curtom; Nate Evans replaced Johnson, and the group recorded for Cotillion and 20th Century/Chi-Sound with little chart success. Evans eventually departed, leaving the group a trio again. They recorded their final album, Fan the Fire, in 1981; Gooden and Cash occasionally reunited with Mayfield and sometimes Butler for touring commitments. Mayfield was paralyzed in a heartbreaking stage accident in 1990, when a lighting scaffold toppled over on him; he passed away in 1999.

In July 2013, The Impressions released "Rhythm!," their first single in over thirty years, on Daptone Records. The 7" record featured original members Fred Cash, Sam Gooden, and Reggie Torrian and was produced by Binky Griptite, guitarist for The Dap Kings. "Rhythm!" was originally penned by Curtis Mayfield in the mid-sixties. The B-Side, "Star Bright," was written by Binky Griptite.


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The Impressions/The Never Ending Impressions is a kind of odd pairing of two LPs on one CD, covering four years of releases by the group in completely different idioms and with partly different lineups -- it's also a good overview of their early history on ABC Records. The contents of The Impressions mostly consisted of their 1961-1963 singles, by the five-man lineup of Curtis Mayfield, Arthur Brooks, Richard Brooks, Sam Gooden, and Fred Cash -- these tend toward the elegant side of soul music (especially on "You've Come Home," "Minstrel and Queen," and "Sad, Sad Girl and Boy"), an attribute that is only enhanced by Ace Records' superb remastering of this material, which brings out all of the subtleties in the singing and playing. The Never Ending Impressions, made by Mayfield, Gooden, and Cash, was the group's first attempt at doing an actual LP, rather than just assembling previously issued singles and it alternates between some superb single-style tracks, such as "Sister Love," "Girl You Don't Know Me," and "I Gotta Keep On Moving," and more sophisticated standards such as "Satin Doll" and "You Always Hurt the One You Love." The latter are a somewhat mixed bag, at their weakest recalling the Mills Brothers to know special purpose but occasionally throwing out an interesting angle, in the beat or chorus. It's not quite as uniformly strong as the albums that preceded it, but the best songs -- half of what's here -- are as good as anything the group recorded in their previous three years, and the repertory experiment has its good moments.



The Impressions - I / Never Ending Impressions  (flac  326mb)

The Impressions

01 It's All Right 2:49
02 Gypsy Woman 2:19
03 Grow Closer Together 2:12
04 Little Young Lover 2:13
05 You've Come Home 2:45
06 Never Let Me Go 2:30
07 Minstrel And Queen 2:21
08 I Need Your Love 2:22
09 I'm The One Who Loves You 2:27
10 Sad, Sad Girl And Boy 2:41
11 As Long As You Love Me 2:27
12 Twist And Limbo 2:30

Never Ending Impressions

13 Sister Love 2:18
14 Little Boy Blue 2:17
15 Satin Doll 2:19
16 Girl You Don't Know Me 2:15
17 I Gotta Keep On Moving 3:43
18 You Always Hurt The One You Love 2:05
19 That's What Love Will Do 1:57
20 I'm So Proud 2:47
21 September Song 2:13
22 Lemon Tree 4:11
23 Ten To One 2:17
24 A Woman Who Loves Me 2:20

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Already a celebrated songwriter by the time of the third Impressions album, Curtis Mayfield introduced a political element to his material with the Top Ten hit "Keep on Pushing." An anthem of the burgeoning civil-rights movement (the 1964 Civil Rights Act was signed several weeks after its release), "Keep on Pushing" cemented his blend of gospel optimism with a relentless spirit of self-improvement. Though it was the only message song present, the album featured all the hallmarks of an Impressions set: impeccably smooth harmonies, the dynamic horn charts of Johnny Pate, and many more of Mayfield's irresistible songs (each with a clever spin on the usual love lyric as well as a strong sense of melody). "Talking About My Baby," the album's other big hit, was an adoring love song driven by a simple chorus and delivered by soul music's greatest harmonists. The simple ballad "I've Been Trying" was one of the most delicate and powerful the group had ever delivered, and the gospel march "Amen" became a Top Ten pop hit in early 1965 after its use in the Sidney Poitier film Lilies of the Field (for which Poitier became the first African-American to receive an Academy award). Keep on Pushing was the Impressions' first Top Ten album hit, and an excellent introduction for pop audiences just waking up to the inspirational power of soul music's finest group.

As with the previous year's Keep on Pushing, People Get Ready featured another big Curtis Mayfield hit, one that made as strong an impact on the civil-rights movement as on the charts. One of the most beautiful songs of the '60s, "People Get Ready" set the oft-used "gospel train" as its theme, with Mayfield speaking of faith for the present and deliverance in the future, while Sam Gooden and Fred Cash contributed beautiful harmony vocals (and a few lines of their own). That career touchstone aside, the rest of the material on the LP wasn't as strong as Keep on Pushing or the Impressions' marvelous debut. The two winners were "Woman's Got Soul" and "You Must Believe Me," both in a similar brassy, uptown mode as expected from the Chicago soul kingpins. A few of the songs were hauled out from as long as three years ago, like Mayfield's own version of "Can't Work No Longer," a Billy Butler hit he'd produced (also in 1965). The exceptional harmonies and arrangements were still in place, but for a few songs it was clear that Mayfield had tired of concocting novelties that looked back to the age of doo wop.

Two good Impressions albums from the mid-'60s, combined onto one CD, making them handier to collect in this fashion than hunting down good-quality copies of the rare original vinyl editions. As usual, the singles ("Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready," "Amen," "I've Been Trying," "Woman's Got Soul," "You Must Believe Me") overshadow the LP-only cuts. But the Impressions made a higher standard of albums than most '60s soul groups, investing a lot of care in the songwriting and production, making this a decent pickup for those who want to go beyond the greatest-hits anthologies.



The Impressions - Keep On Pushing / People Get Ready (flac 390mb)

Keep On Pushing

01 Keep On Pushing 2:30
02 I've Been Trying 2:45
03 I Ain't Supposed To 2:28
04 Dedicate My Song To You 1:52
05 Long, Long Winter 2:48
06 Somebody Help Me 3:15
07 Amen 3:25
08 I Thank Heaven 2:30
09 Talking About My Baby 2:33
10 Don't Let It Hide 2:20
11 I Love You (Yeah) 2:07
12 I Made A Mistake 2:31

People Get Ready 

13 Woman's Got Soul 2:23
14 Emotions 2:47
15 Sometimes I Wonder 2:59
16 We're In Love 2:30
17 Just Another Dance 2:49
18 Can't Work No Longer 2:21
19 People Get Ready 2:37
20 I've Found That I've Lost 2:50
21 Hard To Believe 2:26
22 See The Real Me 2:25
23 Get Up And Move 2:14
24 You Must Believe Me 2:30

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3 comments:

Saudi Mike said...

Hey buddy!
Many thanks once again for running this site and offering up these platters!
You educate me and help me fill in my music collection / replace the vinyl I have stored away for sentimental value in my dusty recesses!
Also thanks on behalf of everyone one for being so helpful to re-up some of the older offerings!
All the best,
Saudi Mike

Anders said...

Thanks for the good work! Are you able to re-upload that CD with the two albums "The impressions" and "Never ending Impressions"? I can't find it anywhere, and your links have expired (I tried them all) :-(

Megan D said...

Would you mind re-upping these awesome Impression 2fers? Thanks in advance.