Thursday, August 28, 2008

Soul Tracks

Words can not begin to describe the music of Curtis Mayfield, it immediately grabs and inspires you. In the early 1970's when Mayfield joined forces with Gladys Knight and the Pips he did just that. Curtis wrote songs that spoke to those in the ghetto just trying to hold on and Gladys sang with the conviction of a woman just trying to make it through another day. The beautifully written love ballad 'The Makings of You,' originally recorded by Curtis Mayfield on his Curtis LP, was included on the 1974 Claudine soundtrack album. Gladys Knight was the musical embodiment of Claudine, a single Harlem mother, living on welfare with six children who falls in love with a garbage man. 'The Makings of You' was their song. Even though Gladys had a difficult time describing the makings of her lover, you can feel the song in her heart. Gladys & The Pips let it be known, love does exist in the ghetto.

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