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3.0 out of 5 stars
A Bit Frustrating For The Completist Collector, May 14 2003
When I purchased this compilation, my "want list" included six Top 40 hits by The Impressions and, according to the list of contents on the reverse, all six were included.Only when I got home, opened it, and read the liner notes did I realize that I STILL have to obtain three of those hits: Amen [Disc 1 -track 14 - "is the extended version from ABC-Paramount LP 493 Keep On Pushing"; Woman's Got Soul - Disc 1 - track 18 "is remix for ABC-Paramount LP 505"; I Loved And I Lost - Disc 1 - track 25 is an "extended version from ABC LP 654 "The Best Of The Impressions." The same applies to Curtis Mayfield's solo hits. Track 6 on Disc 2 is an "extended version from Curtom LP 8005"; and Track 12 is "an extended version from Curtom LP 5001 "There's No Place Like America Today [I already had the single version thankfully]. It would have been nice had they indicated this on the reverse package in some fashion. To fail to do so amounts to misleading advertising. Hence my deduction of 2 stars. However, if you are not as picky as me when it comes to such things, this is indeed a fine set covering the highlights of one of the most identifiable group sounds of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as some of the best solo efforts of one of the most prolific writer of hits in the history of pop/soul music [Gene Chandler, Major Lance were two who benefited from his genius]. Details of their careers are contained in eight pages of liner notes by Robert Pruter, R&B Editor of Goldmine and the author of Chicago Soul, and the contents in the liner notes show label information but not chart performances. There are also several nice shots of the group and Curtis alone, including a spread in the centre showing them on-stage in the late 1960s with Patti LaBell & The Blue Belles. After their first two hits for the Abner label way back in 1958 when Jerry Butler was part of the group [For Your Precious Love (# 3 R&B/# 11 pop) and Come Back My Love (# 29 R&B), they went on to post 43 more hits for ABC-Paramount and Curtom to 1976, had three more for Cotillion in 1976/77, one for Chi-Sound in 1981 [a remake of For Your Precious Love] and, in 1987, their last charter, Can't Wait 'Til Tomorrow for MCA. Curtis, meanwhile, chalked up 32 on his own from 1970 to 1997, including a couple of duets with Linda Clifford, for Curtom [19], RSO/Curtom [6], Boardwalk [3], CRC [1] and Warner [3]. There were, of course, personnel changes over the years where The Impressions were concerned, but only some of these are explained in the liner notes. For example, they don't mention that when Curtis left, original members Sam Gooden and Fred Cash brought in Leroy Hutson as their new lead, and when HE left to go solo [turning out 12 hits of his own for Curtom], they latched onto Reggie Torian and Ralph Johnson. It was as a quartette that they recorded the Three The Hard Way soundtrack and, by 1974, hit the # 1 R&B spot for the first time since 1969 with Finally Got Myself Together, written and produced by Ed Townsend. A marvelous group and one of the leading lights in popular music from that era all rolled up into a nice 40-selection package. Just be aware if you are looking for the singles versions of those mentioned above.
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