Philly soul
Related: MFSB - disco - Gamble & Huff - Love Is The Message (1973) - Salsoul Records - Philadelphia - soul music
Definition
Philadelphia (or Philly) soul, sometimes called the Philadelphia Sound, is a style of soul music characterized by lush instrumental arrangements often featuring sweeping strings and horns. The result is a much smoother sound compared to the more funky and gritty Southern and deep soul styles.
Due to the emphasis on sound and arrangement and the relative anonymity of many of the style's players, Philly soul is often considered a producers' genre. Philly soul songwriters and producers, including Thom Bell, Linda Creed, and teams of Gene McFadden and John Whitehead, and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (the latter pair of Philadelphia International Records) worked with a stable of studio musicians to develop the unique Philly sound used as backing for many different singing acts. Many of these musicians would record as the instrumental group MFSB which had a hit with the seminal Philly soul song "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" in 1974.
Philly soul was popular throughout the 1970s and it set the stage for the studio constructions of disco and urban contemporary music that emerged later in the decade.
Notable Philly soul artists include:
- The O'Jays
- The Spinners
- The Stylistics
- The Delfonics
- Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
- MFSB
- Teddy Pendergrass
Philly Soul
Philly soul was one of the most popular forms of soul music in the early '70s. Building on the steady groove of Hi Records and Stax/Volt singles, Philly soul added sweeping strings, seductive horns and lush arrangements to the deep rhythms. As a result, it was much smoother -- even slicker -- than the deep soul of the late '60s, but the vocals remained as soulful as any previous form of R&B. Philly soul was primary a producer's medium, as Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and Thom Bell (not to forget Vince Montana Jr.) created the instrumental textures that came to distinguish the genre. That isn't to short change the vocalists, since the Spinners, the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and the Stylistics were among fine soul singers with distinctive voices, but the sonic elements that made Philly Soul distinctive were the creation of the producers. Gamble & Huff worked with the Delfonics, Archie Bell, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and the O'Jays; Bell produced the Spinners and the Stylistics, among others. The highly-produced sound of Philly Soul paved the way for the studio constructions of disco and urban contemporary R&B.- Brian Chin in liner notes of '70s Disco Queens':
- Philly soul classics like "Love Train" provided a blueprint for disco, and that style evolved from the dancers' tastes -- for example, the way Don Cornelius kept asking Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff to make the tempo faster and faster when they recorded the Soul Train television theme song that eventually became "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)." Appropriately, The Ritchie Family's "The Best Disco In Town" medley was recorded at Philadelphia Sigma Sound Studios with many of the musicians who'd inspired the songs excerpted in the piece. (How busy was MFSB ? Several of the same players in the same studio played on the original track of "Bad Luck" by Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, the bit of it included in "Best Disco," and the full-length instrumental cover by the Atlanta Disco Band [ha!] on Ariola.)
- In French Canadian teen beauty France Joli's "Come To Me," there's a bit of small-world irony too: Even after disco dated the Philadelphia sound, producers continued to look for the Philly magic, and it's the Sweethearts of Sigma, Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson, and Evette Benton, who are singing backup. "Come To Me," in turn, with a vocal cameo by producer/writer Tony Green, represents the generational turning point between traditional Fire Island disco and the more progressive "dance music" of the '80s.
Powerful club systems
The sound was helped by the new equipment available to clubs. If '60s soul was mono, Philly was most definitely stereo. Those who only heard the music on a transistor radio could not imagine the effect of those orchestral sweeps, elaborate bass lines and hi-hat rhythms coming at your (probably amphetamine enhanced) senses from all directions on newly-installed and newly-powerful club systems. Chart success followed and unlike Motown, which remained underground (gay and Mod) for longer than the historians recognize, the label's distinctive ingredients quickly became the most recognizable aspect of the new black music. --Maurice Bottomley, http://www.popmatters.com/music/columns/bottomley/021002.shtml [2004]A producer's medium
Philly soul was primary a producer's medium, and Vince Montana Jr. took it to its logical conclusion with the Salsoul sound, driven by Earl Young's four on the floor, deep house drum style ["Bad Luck"]
Philly Soul early seventies
Philly soul was one of the most popular forms of soul music in the early '70s. Building on the steady groove of Hi Records and Stax/Volt singles, Philly soul added sweeping strings, seductive horns and lush arrangements to the deep rhythms. As a result, it was much smoother -- even slicker -- than the deep soul of the late '60s, but the vocals remained as soulful as any previous form of R&B. Philly soul was primary a producer's medium, as Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and Thom Bell [not to forget Vince Montana Jr.] created the instrumental textures that came to distinguish the genre. That isn't to short change the vocalists, since the Spinners, the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and the Stylistics were among fine soul singers with distinctive voices, but the sonic elements that made Philly Soul distinctive were the creation of the producers. Gamble & Huff worked with the Delfonics, Archie Bell, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and the O'Jays; Bell produced the Spinners and the Stylistics, among others. The highly-produced sound of Philly Soul paved the way for the studio constructions of disco and urban contemporary R&B.Blueprint for house
Earl Young's hi-hatsBlueprint for disco
Philly soul classics like "Love Train" provided a blueprint for disco, and that style evolved from the dancers'tastes -- for example, the way Don Cornelius kept asking Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff to make the tempo faster and faster when they recorded the Soul Train television theme song that eventually became "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)." Appropriately, The Ritchie Family's "The Best Disco In Town" medley was recorded at Philadelphia Sigma Sound Studios with many of the musicians who'd inspired the songs excerpted in the piece. (How busy was MFSB ?) Several of the same players in the same studio played on the original track of "Bad Luck" by Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, the bit of it included in "Best Disco," and the full-length instrumental cover by the Atlanta Disco Band [ha!] on Ariola.)Brian Chin in liner notes of '70s Disco Queens'on Rhino records:
CDs
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Philadelphia Classics () - Various artists
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
1. Love Is the Message - MFSB 2. T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia) - MFSB 3. Dirty Ol' Man - The Three Degrees 4. I Love Music - The O'Jays 5. Don't Leave Me This Way - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes 6. Love Train - The O'Jays 7. I'll Always Love My Mama - The Intruders 8. Bad Luck - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - The Philadelphia Experiment[Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
In the '40s, a time-travel experiment allegedly occurred in a Philadelphia naval yard. This fantastic combo of Philly musicians--pianist/keyboardist Uri Caine, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the rap combo the Roots--takes its name from that fictional event, and combines fusion, mainstream jazz, and R&B styles from the '70s to today. Augmented by guitar-legend Pat Martino and trumpeter John Swana, Thompson lays down some tricky jungle beats on the title track, while the threesome venture into the avant-garde on "(Re)moved" and into Latin on "IIe Ife." The group reincarnates Sun Ra's "Call for All Demons" as a funky instrumental, and they brilliantly revisit Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man," while Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" is redone as a classical-style McBride/Caine duet. The late saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. was Philly's patron jazz saint, as evidenced by Caine's reverent solo piano rendition of Washington's hit "Mr. Magic" and McBride's funky, overdubbed one-man electric bass version of "Just the Two of Us." This threesome reminds us that the City of Brotherly Love still swings. --Eugene Holley Jr. , amazon.com - Philadelphia Roots (Soul Jazz) (2001) - Various Artists [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
1. I likes to do it - People's Choice 2. Horse - Nobles, Cliff 3. Waiting in the rain - Fantastic Johnny C 4. I'm gonna make you love me - Brothers Of Hope 5. California soul - Brenda & Tabulations 6. Great big liar - Siegler, Bunny 7. Let me do my thing - People's Choice 8. Take it easy soul brother - Corner Boys 9. Hey boy - Brenda & Tabulations 10. Your love has got me chained and bound - Brockington, Alfreda 11. O wow - Panic Buttons 12. Lost the will to live - Ellison, Willie 13. Waiting for the rain - Philly Sound 14. Nickol Nickol - Brothers Of Hope 15. Cause that's the way I know - People's Choice 16. You gotta come a little closer - Soul Brothers Six 17. United - Music Makers (2)After the peerless "Studio One Rockers" and "New Orleans Funk" collections, the Soul Jazz team have mined yet another seam of lost classics (and samplers' gold) in "Philadelphia Roots". This album digs beneath the slick, string-drenched sound of the better known Philly Soul hits to unearth the real sound of Philadelphia as it progressed through dirty Stax-style funk and Northern Soul to the flyaway strings and four to the floor pulse of early Disco.
There are a huge variety of styles here, but in such a natural mix (perhaps because the same small circle of musicians played on all these tracks) that you'll be too busy dancing to notice. We're treated to the funkier dancefloor numbers from house bands such as Cliff Nobles & Co ("The Horse") and rareties from little known groups such as Panic Buttons' choppy funk up, "Oh Wow". Other highlights include Soul Brothers Six's smooth soul undercut with raw JBs funk, Alfreda Brockington belting out an uplifting "Chained & Bound", and two versions of the proto-Disco "Waiting For The Rain". --amazon.co.uk