Song:Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man)
Album:Ultimate Collection
Most music fans should be familiar with The Impressions from 60s classics like People Get Ready. But you may not be aware that The Impressions continued after Curtis Mayfield left to go solo in the early 70s. Finally Got Myself Together was their biggest hit of this period in 1974. Mayfield left The Impressions after the success of Superfly in 1970. Remaining members Fred Cash and Sam Gooden decided to continue The Impressions and the group continued to record for Mayfield's label Curtom. The first singer they hired was Leroy Hutson. He was a member of The Mayfield Singers when he attended Howard University. So Mayfield knew him. He was a member of The Impressions from 1971 to 1973. It just didn't work out and Hutson left to go solo with hits like Feel The Spirit in 1976. He was replaced by Ralph Johnson and Reggie Torian. The other key figure during this period was producer Ed Townsend. In 1958, Townsend scored a hit single with For Your Love. But he was mainly a writer and producer who wrote Let's Get It On for Marvin Gaye. Townsend wrote and produced four songs on the 1974 album Finally Got Myself Together including Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man). The single topped the R & B chart and reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Townsend also worked on the 1975 album First Impressions and the 1976 album Loving Power. The singles Sooner Or Later and Same Thing It Took were R & B hits. Then The Impressions left Curtom for Cotillion and then 20th Century. Johnson was replaced by Nate Evans and then Torian left in 1979. This budget comp mostly covers the Mayfield years but Finally Got Myself Together is also on the CD. The Impressions are still touring featuring original members Gooden, Cash along with Torian. They released the single Rhythm! in 2013 on Daptone Records. Here are The Impressions performing Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man) on Soul Train 1974.
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