Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Bob Dylan, The 1974 Tour Recordings (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) In 1974, Bob Dylan embarked on an extensive tour with his old backing band. Now, they, too, were universally known - as The Band - and the double bill hit indoor arenas across North America for 40 concerts over 30 dates and 21
For SoulMusic Records and The Second Disc, this is the Year of Salsoul. The release of The Salsoul Orchestra's 8CD box set It's Good for the Soul: The Vince Montana Years (1975-1978) and the imminent arrival of sets from Loleatta Holloway and First Choice will be followed on September 20 by our latest co-branded title celebrating Philadelphia disco quartet Double Exposure. My Love Is Free: The Salsoul Recordings (1976-1979) brings together expanded editions of all three of the group's Salsoul
Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell might have been The Mighty Three, but dozens of musicians joined them in shaping The Sound of Philadelphia. That triumvirate's lush, lithe productions were brought to life by the loose aggregation of players known as MFSB, or the house band at Sigma Sound Studios. These are the same musicians who went on to form The Salsoul Orchestra under the baton of Vincent Montana, Jr., including Norman Harris, Ronnie Baker, Bobby Eli, Ron Kersey, Lenny Pakula,
By 1975, Philadelphia soul had become too big even for the City of Brotherly Love. In the first half of the decade, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff had, along with the third member of their Mighty Three, Thom Bell, reinvented the sound of soul music. The Pennsylvania city had become synonymous with sweeping strings, punchy horns and the hi-hat cymbal of drummer Earl Young, offering up music that could be dramatic, sweet and funky, sometimes all within the same three-minute song! Bell had long