The Permanent Collection: 008 & 009

Soul2Soul

The Permanent Collection is a weekly log of my favourite tracks in the entire world. This isn’t a ranking, but a space where I can share my deepest music loves with you in a more intimate setting.

This week I have two seventies soul tracks for you. Paid subscribers can access song 009 as well as a playlist that combines all submissions so far.

008: Curtis Mayfield - The Makings of You (Live at The Bitter End, NYC Version, 1971)

I AM a sucker for male-falsetto-soul. Read enough of these entries and that will become very clear. This week’s entry is Curtis Mayfield’s The Makings of You, played live at the Bitter End in Manhattan in 1971. It HAS to be the live version OK - there is no better version.

This song originally came out on Curtis’ 1970 album, Curtis - you know the one where he dons a fabulous yellow suit? But that version is far more florid, which colours it in a way that makes it sound too soundtrack-y for my ears.

But the live version! Where do I start. There’s this roomy ambience. There’s a laziness to the band. They’re there to express rather than impress. Nothing is where it shouldn’t be.

The lyrics…oh the lyrics. “These are the makings of you” Curtis coos. It’s an ode to a loved one - it sounds like the feeling you get when you are in love - dramatic, emphatic, passionate, convinced. Flawless.

And last but not least - the melody and its delivery! The figurative bow on top. There might be twelve notes to choose from, but Curtis figured out the secret combination to make you levitate.

(I don’t want to ruin the post, but it was sampled in a brilliant song by Kanye and Pete Rock - not the version on Watch The Throne, but the one that was released in a run of free singles called G.O.O.D Fridays. As a counterweight to the bad Ye juju, here’s a version done by Hiatus Kaiyote’s Nai Palm, with bassist Bender on acoustic guitar, recorded at sunset when she was in hospital, the day after her surgery to remove her right breast to save her life from breast cancer. Magical.)

Thanks for reading this week’s edition! 009 is below for paid subbies.