Curtis Mayfield – Super Fly [1972; Buddah Records, Curtom]

With the soundtrack to Super Fly, Curtis Mayfield and his band direct their soul music with uncommon focus, telling a story that diverges at points from that of the film (e.g., the amount of care given to Freddie, of “Freddie’s Dead”). Riding along with unhurried pacing, the music hits a persistently impressive balance between busy action and cool relaxation, both in the energy of the songs and the work from the performers. Mayfield’s vocals are at once sorrowful and teasing, and the few instrumental pieces step up to fill the absence of his singing with fervency, keeping the album’s flow going steady. Despite the generally calm presentation, there’s a lot to dig into over the course of the nine songs, with the most chorus-driven ones seeded carefully through the run to maximize memorability.

Here’s the alternate cover art.

And the cover art from a German reissue.

1910 Fruitgum Company – Simon Says / 1, 2, 3, Red Light [1973; Buddah Records]

Pulling together two of this ‘60s bubblegum pop group’s early hits, this single opens with a rendering of the children’s game “Simon Says” as a song, with spritely electric keyboards bopping along to a simple bass hook while the lyrics alternate between instructions with and without the “Simon says” prefix. The B-side brings in some hand-claps, down-mixes the keyboards, and lightly slows the pace for something with a bit more crooning to it, leading it to be both less annoying and less memorable than the A-side.

The Rock and Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 – Bubble Gum Music / On a Summer Night [1968; Buddah Records]

On the A-side of their only single (and only release at all, apart from a split that threw this single’s two tracks together with a pair from Chris Bartley), the lengthily-named bubblegum pop band sings about the appeal of their chosen genre to them, with a solid backing beat holding up the reedy vocal harmonies. References to other bubblegum songs are dropped, and followed with examples of bands (e.g., The Grateful Dead and Herb Alpert) whose music doesn’t turn on the Dubble Bubble boys.

The B-side slows things down to a ballad pacing, with the back vocals ornamenting the simple lyrics of a mid-summer romance, and the percussion again comes off as the best part, this time with an odd beat involving a woodblock. Not quite good enough to justify hunting it down, but for a one-hit wonder all about how much the band loves their own style of music, it’s surprisingly decent.

Here’s the cover art used in Italy.

And Japan.