Move On Up, served 3 ways

Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up is a firecracker in every iteration, but you need to hear the album version — volume up, please — to get the full effect.

Decades on, it still gets me. It’s almost nine minutes, and worth every moment.

What drives this song? Maybe it’s simply the pitch of Mayfield’s voice, or the rousingly optimistic lyrics. Maybe it’s the seven-piece horn section, which is relentless. Then there’s the rhythm, powered by guitars played by Mayfield and two others.

Listening again just now to the full version, an argument is there for the congas, played with intensity by Henry Gibson

To get a sense of what he brings to the song, look at this live version of Move On Up, from 1972, queued up at when Gibson really lets loose:

Move On Up has been covered many times.

Paul Weller, for instance, has been including it in playlists for more than four decades. Here’s a performance from The Jam, when Weller introduced a horn section to the trio:

One of my favourite versions — indeed the one I’ve played the most at home in the last few years — is by the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio.

I like this version so much I special-ordered their record Live in Loveland! from Fred’s here in St. John’s, and play it pretty regularly. It’s a corker.