THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,544) The Impressions — “Ridin’ High”
The title track from the Impressions’ (see #118, 285, 1,347) ‘66 LP Ridin’ High tells truth to power — a man who has everything but not love has nothing. I’d add that the man who has everything but doesn’t have this album has nothing!
Ah, the Impressions. Steve Huey puts it well:
The quintessential Chicago soul group . . . . the Impressions recorded some of the most distinctive vocal-group R&B of the ’60s under [Curtis] Mayfield’s guidance. . . . If their sound was sweet and lilting, it remained richly soulful thanks to the group’s firm grounding in gospel tradition; they popularized the three-part vocal trade-offs common in gospel but rare in R&B at the time, and recorded their fair share of songs with spiritual themes . . . . Mayfield’s interest in the Civil Rights movement led to some of the first socially conscious R&B songs ever recorded . . . culminating in the streak of brilliance that was his early-’70s solo work.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-impressions-mn0000082013#biography
Huey gives some history:
The Impressions were formed in Chicago in 1957 as a doo wop group called the Roosters. . . . Lead singer Jerry Butler joined up and soon brought in his friend Curtis Mayfield as guitarist; the two had previously sung together in a church choir and a couple of local gospel groups as youths. Renamed the Impressions by their manager, the group scored a major hit in 1958 with the classic ballad “For Your Precious Love[.]” . . . [Following Butler’s] quick exit for a solo career . . . . Mayfield took over the lead tenor role, eventually becoming the group’s chief composer as well. . . . [He] brought them to New York to record for ABC-Paramount in 1961. Their first single, the Latin-inflected “Gypsy Woman,” was a number two R&B smash . . . . Several follow-ups failed to duplicate its chart success, and the Brooks brothers left the group in 1962; . . . the Impressions . . . . struck gold in 1963 with “It’s All Right,” whose gospel-style lead-swapping helped make it not only their first R&B number one, but their biggest pop hit as well, with a peak of number four.. . . . 1964 brought the hit single “Keep on Pushing,” the first of Mayfield’s numerous Black pride anthems . . . . [T]he best-known Impressions hit, 1965’s “People Get Ready” . . . . became an anthem of transcendence for the civil rights movement . . . . The group recorded prolifically in 1965, but their commercial fortunes dropped off over the next couple of years. When the Impressions returned to the upper reaches of the R&B charts, it was with 1968’s “We’re a Winner,” the most straightforward celebration of Black pride Mayfield had yet composed.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-impressions-mn0000082013#biography
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