After their four-year stay at ABC-Paramount, where they had created a number of outstanding hits, The Impressions came to Curtom in 1968, to continue to sing the socially-aware songs that Curtis Mayfield had developed. It was their main selling point.
Having started as a five-man vocal harmony group at Vee-Jay, The Impressions had become a trio in 1962 with the departure of the Brooks brothers. In 1968 the group members were Curtis Mayfield, Sam Gooden and Fred Cash.
The new label soon released the Impressions’ album “This Is My Country”, with eight songs written by Mayfield, one co-written by Mayfield and Donny Hathaway, and one co-written by Hathaway and Billy Griffin. Mayfield produced the album, which reached number five on the R&B albums chart. The title track was released as a single in November 1968. It is a typical Impressions track, catchy and simple-sounding but also sophisticated, with a firm message of Black pride. Johnny Pate’s arrangement adds punchy and beautifully-swinging horns, a classical touch, without overwhelming the stylish guitar playing of Mayfield, giving the recording an especially rich sound.
The follow-up album, “The Young Mods’ Forgotten story”, released in 1969, also charted, peaking at number twenty-one on the R&B chart. All the tracks were written and produced by Mayfield, with Johnny Pate sharing the arrangement duties with Donny Hathaway. A number of singles were drawn from the album, the best of which is “Choice Of Colors”, which gave the group their third R&B number one on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles Chart week-ending 16th August 1969 (1 week), becoming Curtom Records’ first number one. It also reached number twenty-one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is made by very good arrangements. The orchestration of the horns is more dramatic, and the swirling strings are especially memorable.
Adam White and Fred Bronson report Mayfield’s thoughts regarding this track in their Billboard Book of Rhythm & Blues Hits (1993): “Hathaway played keyboard on “Choice of Colors”, with Billy Griffin likely on drums. Billy was part of our caravan when we were on the road. We had gotten good enough to where we didn’t need Johnny Pate to bring in the rhythm section into the studio anymore, with the addition of Lenny Brown who was the main bass player at the time at the label and myself as part of rhythm section.” Mayfield went on to say: “The Impressions’ vocals were arranged by myself, Cash and Gooden. From my view it seemed to be a natural process, since all the men came from the church, based on their rich experiences performing with vocal harmony gospel groups in Chicago that gave a unique signature sound compared to say The Temptations”.
The song is a poetic insight into Mayfield’s spirituality and creative powers supported by Pate’s rich, sweet and polished horn and string arrangements. The song has a powerful and profound lyric that transcends generations and is just as relevant today, given recent events.
The last album that The Impressions recorded with Curtis Mayfield as lead vocalist was “Check Out Your Mind” in 1970. The songs were written and produced by Curtis Mayfield, as usual, but this time the arrangements were written by Gary Slabo and Riley Hampton. The smooth, funky title track was released as a single, reaching number three on the R&B chart. It seems like an announcement of future recordings that Mayfield was going to undertake as a solo artist, with its funky grooves and powerful percussion and horn runs. The vocals were performed in unison like a chorus. The album enabled the group to maintain their success rate, as it rose to number twenty-two on the R&B album chart.
In 1970, Curtis Mayfield decided that he wanted to concentrate on new solo projects and so left the group, to be replaced by Leroy Hutson. Mayfield did not cut ties with the group, however, and The Impressions remained on the Curtom roster.
Five albums were released between 1972 and 1976, all of which entered the R&B albums chart or the Billboard 200 (or both). The group’s singles were consistently successful too, with more than ten chart entries over this period. The stand-out album is “Finally Got Myself Together” from 1974, which brought the group another R&B number one single, the song “I’m a Changed Man”, which also reached number seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100. It was written and produced by Ed Townsend.
Leroy Hutson was no longer a member of the group, as he had left in 1973. His place had been taken by Ralph Johnson, and Reggie Torrian had also joined. The production team had also changed considerably from the early days at the label. Production for the album was shared between Ed Townsend (ex-Motown), Lowrell Simon and Rich Tufo. Arrangements were the work of David Van De Pitte, Rich Tufo and Rene Hall.
After eight years at Curtom, The Impressions moved to Cotillion Records in 1976 and later on to 20th Century.
The style developed by The Impressions with their three-part harmonies was born in the Gospel tradition, but in the hands of Curtis Mayfield and his colleagues it became more refined and sophisticated. The songs that Mayfield wrote for the group were stylish, with a Latin feel to the rhythms. There was a lightness of touch, very different to the songs that emerged from Motown or Memphis.
