#567 The Impressions - The Young Mod's Forgotten Story

A soul album full of shuffled beats, full-bodied horn pulses, and a dollop of strings, pianos, chimes and other orchestral flourishes.

Three real problems here:
1) the orchestral flourishes are cloying, undermining the sentiments.
2) the songs are too slow, and too predictable. By the first 8 bars of a song you've more or less heard what its going to be up to, and by the first few songs you're more or less heard what the album is up to, the only exceptions being the surging My Deceiving Heart, the swaying Seven Years, and the funky Mighty Mighty.
3) I've never much liked Curtis Mayfield's voice, and this seals it. I don't know why this guy is considered a good singer: he sounds like a man trying to sing beyond what he's capable of, and not in a way that lends immediacy or otherwise makes that a good thing.

The whole thing is unexciting most of the time and grating more often than it's soothing. Just don't get it. The three aforementioned tracks and a decent title track provide some good moments, but it's borderline unlistenable as an album 2.5/5