Curtis Mayfield - Superfly [Remastered] (1972/2018) [SACD]

Limited hybrid SACD pressing. Mastered on Mobile Fidelity's world-renowned mastering system, the label's hybrid SACD presents Mayfield's vision with widescreen sonics worthy of it's cinematic reach. Curtis Mayfield's border-transcending Superfly is much more than a soundtrack to a cutting-edge blaxploitation film. Recorded in 1972 to coincide with Gordon Parks Jr.'s movie about a dealer attempting to divorce himself from the urban underworld, Mayfield's brilliantly orchestrated set ignited an entire genre, expanded the scope of R&B, and spurred dialogues surrounding significant social issues ranging from the unvarnished consequences of hustling to the realities of African-American lives in America. This SACD bursts with colors and details-with the mind-boggling array of individual threads forming a seamless tapestry involving guitars, woodwinds, horns, singing, and melodies. Separation between the seemingly countless instruments, the myriad timbres of Mayfield's voice, the breadth of the strings, and the probing reach of the lean albeit direction-leading bass hits massive proportions: You've never heard Superfly sound so vibrant, realistic, or immediate. No wonder the music now pulses with even more vitality than it did more than four decades ago.