Northern Soul Of Philadelphia, The

Obscure Philly sounds recorded on never-had-a-hit labels are cropping up on various CD compilations at an alarming rate. While interesting at first, early, uncelebrated tracks from the City of Brotherly Love aren't as compelling as similar shoestring recordings on Chicago, Detroit, New York, New Jersey, Cleveland, or Los Angeles labels. Only occasionally does a tune jump out at you to the point you want to burn it on homemade CD or tape. The vocals are always top-notch, the songs OK, but the productions just aren't there. Someone tried to reinvent Mary Wells with Ann Byers, but her three selections -- "I'm Not Gonna Cry Baby," "Dead End," and "I'm Happy Without You" -- fall a few notches short of the Queen of Motown. Philly's other Honey & the Bees (they had two) do two tracks, as does Patty & the Emblems, whose biggest hit, "Mixed up Shook Up Girl," came later. The most interesting cut is "But You Belong yo Me," a dinosaur Intruders' song done way back when. These 28 tracks will be of interest to researchers, historians, writers, and relatives of the artists -- period. ~ Andrew Hamilton|