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Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler & The Impressions: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles

Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983

FEW THINGS in this amorphous and inchoate universe are so perfect as ‘I’m So Proud’ or ‘Woman’s Got Soul’ – or very nearly any of the songs Curtis Mayfield wrote with The Impressions between 1963 and 1970. As rival peaks, not even the greatest moments of Smokey Robinson – ’It’s Growing’, ‘Ooh Baby Baby’ – touch Mayfield’s flawless delicacy. ‘Keep On Pushin’, ‘Can’t Work No Longer’ ... secular devotionals that sculpt vibrations and sew pearls in air.

Total word count of piece: 860

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