Recorde live at Paul Colby's Bitter End, New York City.
Produced by Curtis Mayfield
Enginnered by Eddie Kramer - Fedco - Electric Lady Studios, New York City
Mixed by Tom Flye - Record Plant, New York City

Curtis Mayfield - Guitar & vocal
Henry Gibson - Bongos, congas & tumbas
Craig McMullen - Guitar
Tyrone McCullen - Drums
Joseph "Lucky" Scott - Bass

Side one: Mighty, Mighty (Spade And Whitey) (Mayfield) 1969 Camad Music
I Plan To Stay A Believer (Mayfield) 1971 Camad Music
We're A Winner (Mayfield) 1967 Camad Music

Side two: We've Only Just Begun (Williams/Nichols) Irving Music
People Get Ready (Mayfield) 1964 Chi Sound
Stare And Stare (Mayfield) 1971 Camad Music

Side three: Check Out Your Mind (Mayfield) 1970 Curtom Publishing
Gypsy Woman (Mayfield) 1961 Curtom Publishing
The Makings Of You (Mayfield) 1970 Curtom Publishing
We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue (Mayfield) 1970 Curtom Publishing

Side four: (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below
We're All Going To Go (Mayfield) 1970 Curtom Publishing
Stone Junkie (Mayfield) 1971 Curtom Publishing

Rating: TI ***** JI *****

TI: This is maybe my all time favourite Curtis record and absolutely one of the warmest live records that has ever been done, stunning! I guess it's a feeling like this that artists are trying to capture on MTV's Unplugged sessions but rarely (if ever) comes even close to. When listening to the record and closing my eye's it is almost as if I'm in the audience at the Bitter End that night in 1971. It is hard to pick out any favourite's on this album but I love the atmosphere in "The Makings Of You", "We've Only Just Begun" and "People Get Ready". The album is a mixture of songs from the Impressions
years, his first solo album "Curtis" and a few new songs plus a cover, "We've Only Just Begun" written by Williams/Nichols. The performance is striped down versions of the songs but thanks to the quality of the material it works at least as good as on the original versions with all the arrangements. What more can I say, buy it! It's re-released on Charly Records on both CD and vinyl.

JI: I agree with Tomas on this one. This is definitely THE Curtis album, and it really blows my mind! I loved it the first time I heard it and I'm discovering new things in this one that makes it hard to resist when I'm searching through my collection of music. It always makes me think of all things good and bright in this world and I guess this record changed some of my ideas regarding music,life and things in general. It makes me believe there's is hope for this world.
The way I feel about this album is just like in one of the songs The makings of you - "... These words I've tried to recite/ they're close but not quite/Almost impossible to do/Describing the makings of you". The instrumental setup is minimal, but that makes it even more direct and powerful. Sometimes less is more! What can i say. This is as good as it gets!