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This Is My Country/Young Mod's Forgotten Story

$12.99 ... CD List Price: 14.98

2 of our favorite Impressions albums ever – both righteous late 60s sessions, back to back on one CD! This Is My Country has The Impressions wearing their politics much more on their sleeve than before – with a cover that shows them standing in the rubble of the ghetto, and a title that is both a bold proclamation of ownership, and a sad comment on the state of affairs. Curtis Mayfield's pen is in perfect form here, and the group hits that perfect mix of sweet soul and politics that make these late 60s efforts some of their (and Curtis') strongest work, with harmonies that far surpass the earlier years, and which still kind of make us wish that Curtis hadn't gone solo, because we just love the sound of his sweet raspy voice next to the deeper style of Fred Cash. The set's filled with great cuts like "This Is My Country", "Loves Happening", "Fool For You", and "Stay Close To Me". Young Mod's Forgotten Story is a key transitional set – a record that has the group opening up the politics that were often hidden by spiritual metaphors on earlier ABC albums, into a righteous soul groove that hints a lot at the overblown direction Curtis Mayfield would take in the 70s, yet which still retains all the tightness of the group's earlier work. Nearly every single cut's a classic – and the group outdid themselves vocally, especially Curtis, who always makes our heart break on this one! Donny Hathaway and Johnny Pate handled the arrangements, and tracks include "Choice Of Colors", "The Girl I Find", "Mighty Mighty (Spade & Whitey)", "Soulful Love", and "Seven Years".  © 1996-2010, Dusty Groove America, Inc.