Mayfield hosted the show twice, once in 1973 and once in 1974, as well as appearing on it a few other times. I compiled his 1973 appearances into an album I've posted here already. This one mainly consists of the 1974 episode he hosted, but it has bits from three other episodes as well, one from 1974 and two from 1973.
In addition to Mayfield, the main guest here is the soul band the Impressions. From about 1960 until 1970, Mayfield was the main lead vocalist and songwriter for the Impressions. But after he left the band for a solo career, he continued to stay closely involved, producing many of their new songs, and even writing some of them. That continued collaboration can be seen here, by the fact that he was on the same episode of the Midnight Special with them twice, and performed one song with them in a 1973 episode.
The first eight tracks come from the 1974 episode mentioned in the title, broadcast on April 19, 1974. "If I Were a Child Again" comes from a February 1, 1974 episode. "Back to the World" is from a September 14, 1973 episode. (I included it here because he did another version of that song in the 1973 album I've posted from him.)
The last five tracks, 11 through 15, come from a February 2, 1973 episode. I put those songs here even though they're closer in time to the 1973 episode I've posted from him because those involved more collaboration with the Impressions, as well as a repeat of another song ("Superfly") I posted on the other episode from him. That episode was hosted by Helen Reddy, who would go on to host the show a surprising number of times. I didn't want to bring her into this too much, so I could keep the focus on Mayfield and/or the Impressions. But she did join in singing "Amen" with Mayfield and the Impressions, a traditional gospel song that the Impressions had a hit with in 1964, when Mayfield was the band's lead singer.
In case you're curious, the other guest stars on the 1974 episode that Mayfield hosted were Gladys Knight & the Pips, Status Quo, Phil Ochs, and Sugarloaf. I already have use the Gladys Knight songs on a different album I've posted from them.
The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. As I often do with these episodes, I did a lot of editing to smooth the transitions between songs, usually by adding in some extra audience cheering. A couple of tracks have "[Edit]" in their titles due to extra editing. For the first one, I used MVSEP to remove the theme song and replace it with more applause. For the second one, I merged some different talking bits together from different parts of the show.
This album is 45 minutes long.
01 talk by Wolfman Jack [Edit] (Curtis Mayfield)
02 If There's a Hell Below We're All Gonna Go (Curtis Mayfield)
03 talk [Edit] (Curtis Mayfield)
04 I'm a Changed Man (Impressions)
05 To Be Invisible (Curtis Mayfield)
06 People Get Ready (Impressions)
07 No Thing on Me (Curtis Mayfield)
08 talk (Curtis Mayfield)
09 If I Were a Child Again (Curtis Mayfield)
10 Back to the World (Curtis Mayfield)
11 talk (Helen Reddy & Curtis Mayfield)
12 Preacher Man (Impressions)
13 Amen (Curtis Mayfield, the Impressions & Helen Reddy)
14 Superfly (Curtis Mayfield)
15 talk (Curtis Mayfield & Wolfman Jack)
https://pixeldrain.com/u/qCSgCjKs
alternate:
https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/2Y6bw0WZFL1BUBz/edit
The cover image is a screenshot I took from this exact concert. It shows Mayfield (left), with Helen Reddy (center) and the Impressions (right).
I'll be gone for a short Christmas holiday, but I'll be back a posting a couple of days after Christmas, knock on wood. Have a happy holiday season everyone.
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