Deep Dive: The Impressions, CHECK OUT YOUR MIND!

47 years ago this month, The Impressions released their 12th studio album, but it’s an LP that’s remembered predominantly because it’s the last one that featured Curtis Mayfield fronting the group.

Recorded at the Record Plant in New York City, CHECK OUT YOUR MIND! kicked off with the album’s seriously funky title track, which went on to hit #3 on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart and had such an undeniable groove that it gave the group another top-40 hit as well, hitting #28 on the Hot 100. The album’s second single, “Turn On to Me,” also proved to be a substantial hit, climbing to #56 on the Hot 100 and to #6 on the R&B Singles chart.

In the wake of the CHECK OUT YOUR MIND! album, Mayfield departed the ranks of The Impressions and moved forward with what would turn out to be a highly successful solo career, but his presence was still felt within the group. In fact, their next album, 1972’s TIMES HAVE CHANGED, found very little changing in the songwriting department at all: he wrote seven of its eight songs!