The Second Disc

Philadelphia International Records has turned 40, and you’re invited to the party!

Sony’s Legacy Recordings thrilled fans earlier this year with the archival release of Golden Gate Groove, a Don Cornelius-hosted concert that brought together many of the label’s biggest and brightest stars, from the O’Jays to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass.  The folks across the pond at the Harmless label have already dropped Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits, with 21 tracks on 2 CDs from DJs like Todd Terje (Dee Dee Sharp Gamble’s “Easy Money”) and Tim McAllister (Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes’ “Be For Real”), and next week sees the 4-CD box Philadelphia International Classics: The Tom Moulton Remixes.  This treasure trove from the father of the 12-inch mix offers the original seven Moulton tracks from the Philadelphia Classics LP, plus seven rare remixes and sixteen brand-new tracks created by Moulton especially for this set.  But these projects are just the tip of the iceberg where the celebration of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s storied label is concerned.

April 9 May 21 is the current date for the Philadelphia International 40^th Anniversary Box Set.  The title may be simple, but the music certainly isn’t.  For this 10-CD box set, compilation producer Ralph Tee has created a non-chronological cross-section of the label’s releases between 1971 and 1995 placing emphasis on both hits and rarities.  Tee, the man behind 1986’s 14-LP Philadelphia International box set, has brought under one package over 13-1/2 hours of music from familiar names like Lou Rawls, The O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, The Three Degrees and The Jacksons, as well as cuts from Dick Jensen, Bobby Bennett, Robert Upchurch, Derek & Cyndi, Elliot Hoffman and other names not nearly as recognizable.  Also included within the package will be a 60-page full-size booklet containing sleeve notes and track details from Tee, the author of Who’s Who In Soul Music) while David Grimes offers the first-ever comprehensive discography of all U.S. releases from Philadelphia International and its related labels like Gamble and Golden Fleece.

Hit the jump for more details on this tremendous project including a full track listing (as sourced from SpinCDs and numerous other sites) with exhaustive discography and a pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »

The music business has always had a funny way of turning artists into overnight sensations.  But although The O’Jays achieved widespread fame on the Philadelphia International label with 1972’s one-two punch of “Back Stabbers” and “Love Train,” the group hardly broke through overnight.  As the Mascots, the Ohio natives recorded their first single in 1960.  As the O’Jays (named after their manager, Cleveland DJ Eddie O’Jay), they recorded for the Daco, Apollo and Little Star labels.  It was Little Star’s H.B. Barnum, an ace arranger and producer in his own right, who secured The O’Jays a deal with Imperial Records.  The group remained on Imperial until 1966, which brings us to Shout Records’ new anthology We’ll Never Forget You: The Imperial Years 1963-1966.  This compilation marks the very first time that the group’s entire Imperial output as issued during those years has been released on one CD.  It boasts a number of tracks new to CD.

Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, Bill Isles, Bobby Massey and William Powell were all struck by the sheer power and magnetism of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers after witnessing the doo-wop legends on American Bandstand in 1957, and set out to create their own unique vocal blend.  Isles would depart the group during their Imperial stay, and Massey would also exit before the Philadelphia International days. We’ll Never Forget You includes both sides of all 13 singles recorded by the O’Jays for the label, plus two album-only tracks from 1965’s Comin’ Through.  These 28 songs collectively represent their complete Imperial recordings issued between 1963 and 1966.  Some tracks, unreleased at the time, were introduced on the 2002 EMI compilation Working on Your Case, and those are not duplicated here.

Expectedly, the earliest tracks show off doo-wop stylings, but the group didn’t hit its stride until 1963’s “Lonely Drifter,” produced and arranged by Barnum.  Its title notwithstanding, the song is, indeed, Drifters-esque in the sense that it combines dramatic orchestration with soulful vocals and a New York Latin beat.  “Lonely Drifter” placed the group in the U.S. Hot 100 for the first, but not the last, time.  Equally sophisticated is “The Storm is Over,” penned by Levert, Williams and Powell, which shared a single with an early song penned by Jack Nitzsche, “That’s Enough.”  Despite the success of “Lonely Drifter,” the group still searched for a consistent sound, returning to romantic doo-wop balladry with “You’re on Top” and adopting a rock-and-roll beat on “Lovely Dee.”  Both of those songs were written by Brice Coefield and Chester Pipkin of the group The Untouchables.  Yet whichever musical direction The O’Jays pursued, their harmonies were faultless.  These are on full display on another group-written original, “Oh, How You Hurt Me.”  Powell’s falsetto anticipates the smooth Philly soul to come.

Hit the jump for much more, including the full track listing with discography and a pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »

Aretha Franklin, Knew You Were Waiting: The Best of 1980-1998 (Arista/Legacy)

The Queen of Soul’s comeback years, in a new anthology. Check back soon for a review from Joe as well as a Greater Hits from me stacking this set up to other compilations from this part of Aretha’s discography.

Various Artists, Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia Live in San Francisco 1973 (Philadelphia International/Legacy)

A sublime showcase of some of the best Philly soul in concert.

Various Artists, Giant Single: The Profile Records Rap Anthology (Arista/Legacy)

One of the most underrated hip-hop labels out there – home to Run-D.M.C. and DJ Rob Base and E-Z Rock – anthologized over two great discs.

The Tymes, So Much in Love (Real Gone)

The first-ever CD release for a ’60s classic, with four bonus tracks, no less!

Bonnie Pointer, Bonnie Pointer: Expanded Edition / Isaac Hayes, Don’t Let Go: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

The U.K. soul label’s latest expanded reissues.

Metallica, Beyond Magnetic (Warner Bros.)

A physical release for this EP of outtakes from Metallica’s last album, Death Magnetic.

Various Playlist releases (Legacy)

You know the drill on this one.

No love, no peace, no shoes on my feet…no home, just a shack where I sleep…

In the fall of 1971, Philadelphia International Records launched its long-playing series with Billy Paul’s Going East, and the title opus in which the velvet-voiced crooner spins a slow-burning yarn of slavery.  It was hardly Top 40 fare (Paul would have to wait till producers/songwriters/label entrepreneurs Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff gifted him “Me and Mrs. Jones” the following year) but signaled the dramatic experimentation with which the label would define TSOP, or “The Sound of Philadelphia.”  Socially conscious, even spiritual lyrics would rest comfortably on a jazz-influenced bed of orchestral splendor, as smooth as it was funky.  With the very next PIR album, the label would start a nearly-unbroken string of music that’s as classic today as it was relevant, then: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ self-titled debut (“If You Don’t Know Me By Now”), The O’Jays’ Back Stabbers (“Back Stabbers,” “Love Train”), 360 Degrees of Billy Paul (“Me and Mrs. Jones”).

Each one of those artists and songs can be heard on a remarkable time capsule that’s newly arrived from Legacy Recordings and Philadelphia International.  Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia, Live in San Francisco 1973 (88691906232, 2012) is somewhat paradoxical, capturing a 1973 night in the City by the Bay introducing the brightest stars from the City of Brotherly Love.  But in any setting, boy, can these Mothers (and Fathers, Sisters, and Brothers) play!  It’s the first (but hopefully not the last) volley from Legacy in the 40^th anniversary celebration of Philadelphia International Records.

Recorded on July 27, 1973, the concert was held at CBS Records’ company convention inside the plush environs of the Fairmont Hotel.  Previous performers at the convention included Bruce Springsteen and Engelbert Humperdinck.  Joe Tarsia, the owner of Philly’s hallowed Sigma Sound Studios and the concert’s engineer, recalls in the liner notes that the event was attended by everyone on the CBS roster from Perry Como to Edgar Winter.  (What a sight that must have been!)  And nearly everyone associated with the success of Philadelphia International was up there, on that stage.  Vocalists included Melvin and the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, The Three Degrees, Billy Paul, and the O’Jays. The MFSB Orchestra that evening counted among its 35 members two-thirds of the city’s “Mighty Three,” Leon Huff and Thom Bell on piano and organ, respectively. Huff and Bell were joined by a duo of Philly’s finest arrangers, Norman Harris and Bobby Eli (guitars), plus Earl Young (drums), Ronnie Baker (bass), Lenny Pakula (piano/keyboards), Jack Faith (saxophone), Vince Montana (vibes) and other notables. Bobby Martin and Richard Rome, two more arrangers with key contributions to the Philadelphia sound, took turns conducting.

Gamble and Huff considered the evening a crucial one to secure ongoing promotion at CBS Records for their fledgling label despite its already-proven hitmaking ability.  That urgency is evident in the performances.  (Thom Bell was the third partner in Gamble and Huff’s publishing company, and a frequent face at the label despite his outside productions for The Stylistics, The Spinners, Ronnie Dyson, New York City, Johnny Mathis and so many others.)  Hit the jump to meet the evening’s emcee, the one and only Mr. Don Cornelius! Read the rest of this entry »

Now’s as good a time as any to get into the sweet sounds and lush arrangements of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of legendary writer/producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s creation of a label that set the groundwork for some of the best soul and R&B sounds of the decade, and this year’s seeing a lot of excellent catalogue projects honoring that legacy.

We’ve already told you about Legacy’s Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia Live in San Francisco 1973 (keep an eye out for a review from Joe!), and there are more great titles in store in the coming months as well. One of them is a stellar four-disc box set that combines the great arrangements of Philly soul with the ace mixing techniques of Tom Moulton.

Moulton, the father of the modern-day remix, is about as far from a stranger to Philadelphia International as you can get. In 1977, he mixed classic sides by The O’Jays, The Three Degrees, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and MFSB for the double album Philadelphia Classics. Over time, he was commissioned for a variety of other projects for the label, some of which never saw the light of day past a few rarer promo records or obscure compilations.

With the release of Philadelphia International Classics: The Tom Moulton Remixes, Harmless Records – a subsidiary of the U.K.’s Demon Music Group – has compiled all eight cuts from Philadelphia Classics and combined them with not only seven rare or unreleased vintage mixes, but another 15 extended versions commissioned just for this set. The Intruders, The Trammps, Billy Paul, Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass – those are just a few of the artists ripe for rediscovery on this set. In addition to the four separately packaged discs, the box will also feature 16 pages of newly-written liner notes by acclaimed British music journalist Lloyd Bradley and rare photos of Moulton at work in Sigma Sound Studios, birthplace for countless classics of the label.

The box will be out February 27 in the U.K., and it can be yours to pre-order (for a rather stellar price, given the worth of the music) at Amazon after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

England, Russia, China, Africa, Egypt, Israel…all of the above are stops on the O’Jays’ perennial “Love Train.”  We all know that the train started in Philadelphia, home to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the song’s writer-producers, and Thom Bell, its co-arranger (with Bobby Martin).  But a new release from Philadelphia International Records and Legacy Recordings reveals another pivotal stop: San Francisco.  For one remarkable night, brotherly love washed over the city by the bay.  Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia 1973 is a 14-track live set due in stores on January 31, revisiting a crucial night for a label basking in the glow of its biggest successes yet.

Recorded on July 27, 1973, the concert was held at CBS Records’ company convention, and featured performances from the T.S.O.P. all-stars including Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, The Three Degrees, Billy Paul, and the O’Jays.  But the vocalists weren’t the only stars onstage, as the MFSB (that’s “Mother, Father, Sister, Brother,” unless you prefer your acronyms of the blue variety, in which case you can use your imagination…) Orchestra that evening counted among its 35 members two architects of the Philadelphia sound: Leon Huff and Thom Bell on piano and organ, respectively.  Huff and Bell were joined by a couple of Philly’s finest arrangers, Norman Harris and Bobby Eli (guitars), plus Earl Young (drums), Ronnie Baker (bass), Lenny Pakula (piano/keyboards), Jack Faith (saxophone), Vince Montana (vibes) and other notables.  The group was conducted by another great duo, Bobby Martin and Richard Rome.  In addition to supplying the orchestral bed for the vocalists, MFSB commanded the stage for two instrumental showcases: “Freddie’s Dead” and the familiar “T.S.O.P.” theme adopted by Soul Train.

What did this illustrious group have to prove?  Hit the jump to find out! Read the rest of this entry »

Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz / Diary of a Madman: Legacy Edition (Epic/Legacy)

The Prince of Darkness’ first two LPs, finally put back into print with the original drum and bass tracks and expanded with bonus material (including a previously unreleased live disc for Diary). A box set packs all the CDs in with vinyl, a commemorative book and the new documentary Thirty Years After the Blizzard. (Official site)

Twisted Sister, Under the Blade: Deluxe Edition (Eagle)

Another welcome hard-rock reissue that restores the original mix of Twisted Sister’s debut LP to CD and adds some bonus EP tracks and a DVD of the band’s gig at the Reading Festival in 1982. (Official site)

Kate Bush, Director’s Cut (Fish People/EMI)

The magnificent singer/songwriter’s latest album project – her first in six years, and already released in the U.K., where it hit No. 2 – features remixed and re-recorded versions of tracks from The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). A deluxe set features those original albums remastered as well. (Official site)

James Taylor, JT (Mobile Fidelity)

One of Taylor’s most satisfying albums gets the hybrid SACD treatment. (Mobile Fidelity)

The Guess Who, Flavours: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

The Guess Who reissue series continues with the band’s penultimate LP for RCA. (Iconoclassic)

The O’Jays, Back Stabbers: Expanded Edition / Jon Lucien, Song for My Lady: Expanded Edition / Linda Lewis, Woman Overboard: Expanded Edition / Linx, Intuition: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records)

The latest crop of BBR reissues makes its way to U.S. shores. Back Stabbers looks like it’s gonna be a good one, what with one of the best Philly soul songs ever in “Love Train.” (Big Break Records)

Not long after the Cherry Red labels update their calendars for April, their ever-busy Big Break Records imprint preps a set of R&B reissues for May. And there are quite a few hits contained therein.

No less than six new expansions are on the label’s schedule in the next month, most of them from the Sony catalogue. The biggest hits by far would be Back Stabbers, the sophomore release by The O’Jays and the album that spun off the immortal chart-topping hit “Love Train,” and Deniece Williams’ Let’s Hear It for the Boy, the title track of which featured as one of many hits in the 1984 film Footloose. Each of those albums will be expanded with single edits and remixes. There are two other dance-heavy titles on the roster, too. The Gap Band’s Gap Band VI had the Top 10 R&B hits “Beep a Freak” and “I Found My Baby,” while the relatively obscure Linx had a raft of U.K. hits with debut album Intuition, newly expanded with six bonus remixes.

If full-on dance/funk isn’t your thing, there are the chilled-out sounds of Jon Lucien, the singer from the Virgin Islands whose Song for My Lady album is due for expansion from the label (his second, after an expansion of hit album Rashida for the label last year), or Linda Lewis, the British singer-songwriter whose Woman Overboard, featuring production by Allen Toussaint and Cat Stevens, will be expanded with non-LP material (again, following an expansion of her first album for Arista from Big Break last year).

The O’Jays, Lucien, Lewis and Linx all drop in the U.K. on May 23, with Williams and The Gap Band following a week later on May 30. And of course, each of them come to the U.S. through Amazon a week after their British release dates (May 31 and June 7, respectively). Order them from the label here and hit the jump for the track lists!

The O’Jays, Back Stabbers: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records CDBBR0051, 2011)

1. When the World’s at Peace
2. Back Stabbers
3. Who Am I
4. (They Call Me) Mr. Lucky
5. Time to Get Down
6. 992 Arguments
7. Listen to the Clock on the Wall
8. Shiftless, Shady, Jealous Kind of People
9. Sunshine
10. Love Train
11. 992 Arguments (Single Version)
12. Who Am I (Single Version)
13. Love Train (A Tom Moulton Mix)

Tracks 1-10 from Philadelphia International Records LP KZ-31712 (U.S.)/PIR-65932 (U.K.), 1972
Track 11 from Philadelphia International Records 7″ single ZS7-3522, 1972
Track 12 from Philadelphia International Records 7″ single S PIR-2213 (U.K.), 1972
Track 13 from Philadelphia Classics promo compilation – Philadelphia International Records PZG-34940, 1977

Jon Lucien, Song for My Lady: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records CDBBR0052, 2011)

1. Soul Mate
2. Dindi
3. You Are My Love
4. Creole Lady
5. Song for My Lady
6. Mother Land
7. Maiden Voyage
8. Follow Your Heart
9. Creole Lady (Single Version)
10. Follow Your Heart (Alternative Version)

Tracks 1-8 from Columbia LP PC-33544, 1975
Track 9 from Columbia single 3-10232, 1975
Track 10 possibly from Love Everlasting: The Very Best of Jon Lucien (BMG 74321 66043-2 (U.K.), 1999)

Linda Lewis, Woman Overboard: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records CDBBR0053, 2011)

1. You Came
2. Shining
3. Bonfire
4. Come Back and Finish What You Started
5. No. 1 Heartbreaker
6. Dreamer of Dreams
7. Moon and I
8. Light Years Away
9. My Love is Here to Stay
10. My Friend the Sun
11. So Many Mysteries to Find
12. Flipped Over Your Love
13. Never Been Done Before
14. Can’t We Just Sit Down and Talk It Over

Tracks 1-11 from Arista LP SPARTY 1003 (U.K.), 1977
Track 12 from Arista single 100 (U.K.), 1977
Track 13 from Arista single 125 (U.K.), 1977
Track 14 from Arista single 170 (U.K.), 1977

Linx, Intuition: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records CDBBR0054, 2011)

1. Wonder What You’re Doing Now
2. I Won’t Forget
3. Intuition
4. There’s Love
5. Rise and Shine
6. Throw Away the Key
7. Together We Can Shine
8. Count on Me
9. You’re Lying
10. Don’t Get in My Way
11. You’re Lying (U.K. 12″ Mix)
12. Throw Away the Key (U.K. 12″ Mix)
13. Together We Can Shine (U.S. Recording)
14. Wonder What You’re Doing Now (U.S. Remix)
15. You’re Lying (U.S. Remix)
16. Throw Away the Key (U.S. Remix)

Tracks 1-10 from Chrysalis LP CHR 1332 (U.K.), 1981
Track 11 from Chrysalis 12″ A-side CHS 12 2461 (U.K.), 1980
Track 12 from Chrysalis 12″ A-side CHS 12 2519 (U.K.), 1981
Tracks 13-16 from The Last Linx – Chrysalis CHR 1409 (U.K.), 1983

Deniece Williams, Let’s Hear It for the Boy: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records CDBBR0055, 2011)

1. Let’s Hear It for the Boy
2. I Want You
3. Picking Up the Pieces
4. Black Butterfly
5. Next Love
6. Haunting Me
7. Don’t Tell Me We Have Nothing
8. Blind Dating
9. Wrapped Up
10. Whiter Than Snow
11. Let’s Hear It for the Boy (12″ Dance Mix)
12. Next Love (12″ Dance Mix)
13. Black Butterfly (Single Version)
14. Let’s Hear It for the Boy (Instrumental)
15. Next Love (Instrumental)

Tracks 1-10 released as Columbia LP FC 39366 (U.S.)/CBS LP 26010 (U.K.), 1984
Tracks 11 and 14 from Columbia 12″ single 44-04988 (U.S.), 1984
Tracks 12 and 15 from Columbia 12″ single 44-05043 (U.S.), 1984
Track 13 from Columbia 7″ single 38-04641 (U.S.), 1984

The Gap Band, Gap Band VI: Expanded Edition (Big Break Records CDBBR0056, 2011)

1. Interlude – The Sun Don’t Shine Everyday
2. Video Junkie
3. Weak Spot
4. The Sun Don’t Shine Everyday
5. I Believe
6. I Found My Baby
7. Beep a Freak
8. Don’t You Leave Me
9. Disrespect
10. The Sun Don’t Shine Everyday (Vocal)
11. Beep a Freak (12″ Dance Mix)
12. I Found My Baby (12″ Dance Mix)
13. Disrespect (12″ Dance Mix)

Tracks 1-10 from Total Experience Records LP FL-89426, 1984
Track 11 from Total Experience Records 12″ A-side TED1-2606, 1984
Track 12 from Total Experience Records 12″ A-side TED1-2613, 1985
Track 13 from Total Experience Records 12″ A-side TED1-2615, 1985

When Sony Music Entertainment reacquired the rights to the full Philadelphia International Records (PIR) catalog in 2007 (after losing control of the post-1976 output in 1984 to EMI), hopes were high that much of that storied hit factory’s catalogue would finally be reissued on CD. Arguably the 1970s’ answer to Berry Gordy’s Motown empire, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s label boasted a top-notch roster: Lou Rawls, The O’Jays, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, The Three Degrees and the smokin’ hot house band MFSB, just to name a few. But after a promising start (rarities compilation Conquer the World, the outstanding box set Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia, which also took in non-PIR artists sharing the Philly sound, and a few album reissues under the Total Soul Classics banner), the releases dried up, and to date, the only other exploitation of the catalogue has come via scattered entries in series like The Essential and Playlist.

Thankfully, Britain’s Edsel Records has picked up the slack. Edsel had previously released a number of PIR titles on CD in the early part of the decade, but they have reactivated their already-impressive reissue program in 2010 with a number of new releases designed for both the deep Philly fan and the novice listener. All seven titles released to date boast liner notes by soul authority Tony Rounce and some are making their first-ever CD debuts. Hit the jump to find out which albums are in the series, along with full discographical info and track listings, Second Disc-style! Read the rest of this entry »