Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield's album Live at Ronnie Scott's, dating from 1988, was one of a large handful of concert recordings left behind by the soul legend from the last two decades of his performing career. It's comparable to the live album from the Bottom Line, despite the passage of more than 15 years between them -- shifting effortlessly across decades of repertory and between genres, from soul to straight gospel and back, he's a spellbinding presence. The video version of this performance is one of the best of its kind, but even as an audio document, the performance is worth a lot more than Castle Records is asking for it -- midway through "Pusherman," which is only the fourth song out of ten, this reviewer was on overload between the beat, the vocal, and vibe coming off the speakers. This show has been available in several CD editions, but in 2002 Castle released an upgrade, audiophile quality CD (at midprice) that renders earlier versions irrelevant; the congas and bongos sound like they're in the room with you, and the stereo separation is so vivid that one gets the sense of space in the recording from playback on a laptop -- on a proper sound system, it's even better. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide