Ace Records is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary with special releases as well as concerts and a pop-up shop in London. Over the course of those decades, the label has established a number of long-running series including their Songwriters and Producers lines. A recent release in the Songwriters series celebrates two of the all-time greats in both categories: Philadelphia’s Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Love Train: The Gamble and Huff Songbook brings together 24 songs from the Philadelphia International Records duo who also formed two thirds of Mighty Three Publishing along with…
I’m Doin’ Fine Now: “Groove Machine: The Earl Young Drum Sessions” Spotlights Philly Legend
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, Roland Chambers, Charles Collins, T.J. Tindall, Larry Washington, Zack Zachery,…
Vinyl Me, Please Releases Lavish “Story of Philadelphia International Records” Anthology
The legacy of Philadelphia International Records is as mighty as the famous three men most associated with the label: co-founders and songwriter-producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff and songwriter-producer-conductor-arranger Thom Bell. The three men didn’t do it alone, though; the PIR story involves the dozens of talented artists, musicians, songwriters, producers, and arrangers who passed through the doors of engineer Joe Tarsia’s Sigma Sound Studios on North 12th Street in Philadelphia, creating magic on a daily basis. That tale – one of symphonic soul and social conscience – is brought to vivid…
Here to Make Music: Vinyl Me, Please Announces Philadelphia International Records Anthology
Sony Music’s celebration of Philadelphia International Records’ 50th anniversary has so far encompassed a new, vinyl-only series of hits collections as well as the first two releases in the ongoing complete albums series of CD box sets from the U.K.’s Snapper/United Souls label. Now, a major component of the golden anniversary celebration for the house that Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff built has been announced by the Vinyl Me, Please record club. VMP Anthology: The Story of Philadelphia International Records is the latest in VMP’s deluxe series of box sets celebrating artists…
The Weekend Stream: July 2, 2021
While The Second Disc prides itself on connecting people to reissues and box sets they can keep on their shelves, it’s no secret that listening audiences are also digital – catalogue music lovers, too – and our passion is connecting people to music from the past that they might adore. So we’ve introduced a new feature: The Weekend Stream, which focuses on hidden gems that recently made it to digital channels that might make your playlists a little brighter! And today’s is a bit super-sized, bringing together releases from this week, last…
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If You Don’t Know Me By Now: Legacy Plans Philadelphia International “Best of” Series
The Philadelphia International Records 50th anniversary campaign kicks off this Friday, May 25, with the release of Get on Board the Soul Train: The Sound of Philadelphia International Records Vol. 1 from the U.K. Snapper Music label’s United Souls imprint. The 8-CD hardcover book-style box presents the first eight albums released on PIR, and the series will eventually encompass every one of PIR’s LPs on CD. On the domestic front, Legacy Recordings issues its first anniversary release this Friday with The Best of Philadelphia International Records, a 12-track overview of some of…
The Weekend Stream: March 20, 2021
While The Second Disc prides itself on connecting people to reissues and box sets they can keep on their shelves, it’s no secret that listening audiences are also digital – catalogue music lovers, too – and our passion is connecting people to music from the past that they might adore. So we’re introducing a new Saturday feature: The Weekend Stream, which focuses on hidden gems that recently made it to digital channels that might make your playlists a little brighter! Duran Duran, Medazzaland / Pop Trash / (Reach Up for the) Sunrise (Jason Nevins Remix) / Astronaut / Red Carpet Massacre / TV Mania, Bored with…
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Love Is The Message: Cherry Red Collects MFSB’s “Definitive Collection”
MFSB – a.k.a. Mother, Father, Sister, Brother (or a rather more off-color series of four words, depending on whom you ask) – remains one of the all-time great aggregations of studio musicians, right up there with The Funk Brothers, The Wrecking Crew, and The Nashville Cats. The legacy of the Philadelphia International group has just been celebrated by Cherry Red’s Robinsongs imprint on a new 2-CD, 32-track anthology entitled The Definitive Collection. The talented, versatile musicians at the core of the original MFSB, including guitarists Bobby Eli and Norman Harris, organist Lenny…
Ace Throws a Philly Soul “House Party” with The Delfonics, Len Barry, Jerry Butler, More
What is the sound of Philadelphia? As Kent Records’ exciting compilation Nothing But a House Party: The Birth of The Philly Sound 1967-1971 readily admits, there were many such sounds – the sound of teen idols Fabian and Frankie Avalon; of “South Street” and “The Mashed Potato” and Cameo-Parkway Records; of the doo-wop of The Dreamlovers, and before that, of Italian-American singers like Mario Lanza and Al Martino. But the sound of Philadelphia referenced here is the one with capital letters – TSOP, the style perfected by the Mighty Three of Kenny…
Time to Get Down: Real Gone Returns The O’Jays’ “Back Stabbers” To Vinyl
The O’Jays quietly began their association with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff on 1970’s Neptune album In Philadelphia, announcing the Ohio group’s shift to the City of Brotherly Love and its burgeoning soul scene. But there was nothing quiet about the opening track of Back Stabbers, the trio’s first album for Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International Records. “When the World’s at Peace,” by Gamble, Bunny Sigler and Phil Hurtt, imagined a time “when it’s safe to walk the streets/when we learn to care for those lost in poverty/there would be no need…
Review: Dick Jensen, “Dick Jensen” – A Lost Philadelphia Soul Classic
When Dick Jensen was signed to ABC’s Probe Records label in 1969, only one album title seemed appropriate: White Hot Soul. The Hawaiian-born entertainer’s stage moves earned him comparisons to James Brown and Jackie Wilson, while his voice recalled the booming sonorities of Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdinck. Tucked away on Side Two of that Don Costa-produced LP, Jensen included The Soul Survivors’ “Expressway to Your Heart” as part of a medley. That 1967 Top 5 hit, of course, was written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, later to found Philadelphia International…
