Philly Classics (1973-1977)

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 01:10:51
Reissue producers: Leo Sacks, Joe McEwen. All tracks have been digitally remastered. This is part of Legacy's "Philly Soul Classics" series. Unknown Contributor Roles: Harold Melvin; MFSB; The Blue Notes; The Intruders; The O'Jays; The Three Degrees. Arrangers: Bobby Martin ; Norman Harris; Thom Bell. Producers, writers, and musicians Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, with their Philly International label, were a cottage industry of mammoth proportions. From MFSB, with or without the Three Degrees, and the Intruders to Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes and on to the O'Jays, who had nine R&B hit singles on the label, Gamble & Huff were behind a veritable treasure-trove of enduring and endearing smooth soul masterpieces. Philadelphia Classics is a four-sided affair, showcasing the duo's near-permanent, long-term stable of artists across some monstrous arrangements -- so don't expect to find any material from brief one-off encounters here. Split evenly among the above five artists, the selections very nicely collect the string-heavy soul grooves and light beats that epitomized the Philly sound. The emphasis across this double album is on extended mixes. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes clock in with an 11-minute "Don't Leave Me This Way" and a not-quite-so-epic "Bad Luck" one side later. Included, of course, is the duo's self-defining "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)," performed by MFSB with the Three Degrees. Elsewhere, the weak inclusion of the Intruders' throwaway "I'll Always Love My Mama" does let the side down a little, but only to bounce back with two stellar cuts from the O'Jays, "Love Train" and "I Love Music." Time, sadly, perhaps takes away some of the glory of this material. The disco sounds dated, and jostled together in a compilation the songs, too, lose some of their punch. But still, this is a nifty little slice of the Gamble & Huff pie. ~ Amy Hanson
録音 : ステレオ (Studio)