Curtis Mayfield Never Say You can t Survive

Much as I love some of Mayfield's output, there are certain aspects of his sound that I can't always fully appreciate. E.g. his voice. There - I said it. The subject matter of this album - romance, love, seduction - should suit his restrained, almost whispery falsetto really well. Better than, say, critical social commentary (his other favoured theme, and one which would seem to require an empassioned, strong, perhaps even aggressive delivery). And yet, despite the seemingly apposite focus of Never Say You Can't Survive's material, his voice sounds too thin, too high - right at the edge of his range, scrabbling, struggling. I would love to hear him tackling these songs an octave lower. I bet he had a really sweet, resonant lower register. God knows why he felt so strongly that falsetto was his thing.

More explanation is probably required! Firstly, I think his singing can sound out of place in such slick, 'orchestrated' (mostly horns, i.e.) settings. You have to have either a ton of character in your delivery, or just a lot of conventional talent (great pitching, intuitive grasp of where to go next, etc.) to do justice to the surrounding glitz. Otherwise you're just going to get overshadowed, out-shone, dwarfed. Yes, his voice is distinctive enough. It's always easy to recognise - no one in their right mind would ever try and suggest otherwise. This doesn't equate with character, however. Nor is his singing sufficiently musical. I honestly can't hum you a single snatch of melody from this record - which wouldn't be so bad if the rhythm was doing all the work, or if the sound had some other cynosure. But sadly it doesn't.

Instead the entire LP is best thought of as recorded entirely in soft-focus. Like those light switches that have dimming controls on them - here they're turned most of the way down (whoops - mind that smoked glass chrome tubing coffee table). Basically what we're talking here is audible wallpaper. Or else the sonic equivalent of creme de menthe, maybe. In a nutshell, mood-music. Much as you may scoff, there are times when such music is precisely what the moment demands (or at least, I imagine there is). In any case, this Curtis Mayfield LP will gladly meet those demands. And for those of us who aren’t inundated by such moments, maybe playing this LP in the background will convince friends and associates otherwise.

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Even by Curtis Mayfield’s standards, Never Say You Can’t Survive is especially gentle in tone and sweet in disposition, but it nonetheless displays an undercurrent of forlornness — and with reason: this was the album with which he bid goodbye to his ‘70s heyday. Never Say You Can’t Survive is the last record to feature the band that had carried Mayfield through a sterling run of almost 15 albums: Craig McCullen (guitar), Tyrone McCullen (drums), Joseph “Lucky” Scott (bass), and “Master” Henry Gibson (percussion). To Curtis, this crew was more than a band, it was a family, and by 1977 their communication was effortless, but always nuanced. Never did they overplay. Much credit also goes to Richard Tufo, Mayfield’s longtime arranger. For proof of his acumen just check the horns on “Just Want to Be With You,” or the clarinet that is subtly woven into the title track. The effect here is not as cataclysmic as Superfly,” but as the last statement of a genuine musical family, Never Say You Can’t Survive represents Mayfield at a personal peak.

Curtis Mayfield

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