To Philly or Not To Philly

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by ashley

.. don't forget the Chess label .. back in 1974 they had a few philly club hits .. "Tell me what you want" by Jimmy Ruffin ( everyone's favourite ) .. Free Spirit "Love you as long as I can" .. and the T.N.J.'s "Don't forget about me" .. the T.N.J.'s 45 became popular on the British northern soul scene .. and is much prized today by British soul collectors, who will pay 200 dollars for a copy .. it's now one of the rarest & most expensive of all the early philly disco records .. let's hope it appears on CD soon

Thanks for mentioning the Chess label, I forgot that one. I didn't realize that about TNJ. I bought it a few months ago because I read in Tony Cummings' TSOP book that they were Bunny Sigler's proteges. I paid less than $15, I seem to recall, definitely not $200!

I'm going to go through the list of labels I wrote at the beginning and finish off this topic. If anyone else knows of other labels with philly productions I forgot to mention, feel free to add them to this thread:

Mercury - They Said It Couldn't Be Done and Love Connection by The Dells (Norman Harris productions, I think)
Polydor - I can only think of All My Life by Arthur Prysock. I have it on Polydor, even though I know it was also on Old Town.
Casablanca (Chocolate City, Millenium, etc...) - I Keep Coming Back - Brenda & The Tabulations (half the LP produced by John Davis, the other half Norman Harris)
Warner - So Let Us Entertain You by The First Choice; various singles by The Quickest Way Out (around '75, Stan Watson took a few of his Philly Groove acts to Warner Bros)
TK (Glade, Alston, etc...) - Eli's Second Coming LP; At The Top Of The Stairs by Wild Honey, the first 12" release by TK (on Drive?).
West End - Can You Feel It by Michelle (not the entire LP); I Was Born This Way by Carl Bean (Norman Harris prod)
Westbound - no philly productions I can think of.
Motown - the aforementioned Eddie Kendricks productions. Carl Beans record was also distributed through Motown.
Atlantic (Atco, etc...) - tonnes of artists from The Spinners to The Trammps
Hugo&Luigi - I haven't found any, unless you count the Hustle by Van McCoy (with Earl on drums)
Prelude - nothing that I can think of.
Chelsea - Be Thankful For What You Got by William DeVaughan (a John Davis production)
A&M - I can't think of anything.
Curtom - Bunny Sigler did an album with Mystique using his Instant Funk backing band.
ABC - all of those early to mid 70s Dave Crawford productions like BB King, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Charles Mann...
Pyramid - none that I can think of
Sam - John Davis Monster Orchestra's LPs.
United Artists - none that I've come across
Fantasy - Phil Hurtt's Giving It Back and PH Factor LPs
Stax - none that I can think of
Buddah - lots of stuff by artists like Barbara Mason's Transition LP, The Futures singles with Mason and on their own, Monday After (various John Davis produced records), and David Morris Jr (Midnight Lady, Jack In The Box).
RSO - Revelation's self titled 1975 LP (the one with We've Gotta Survive)
Red Coach - none that I can think of
Red Greg - The Invitations - We Don't Allow (this sounds like a Philly production, although I could be wrong)
Babylon - various singles by Executive Suite, including When The Fuel Runs Out

Disco Funk

[remicks]

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Most interesting topic DF ..... I was intrigued if you'd come up with something on STAX !!!



You have this one under Chelsea---- ?





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[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by remicks

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Most interesting topic DF ..... I was intrigued if you'd come up with something on STAX !!!



You have this one under Chelsea---- ?





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At first I thought I had lost my mind, so I pulled out my LP by DeVaughn (I spelt his name wrong), and it says Roxbury, distributed by Chelsea. So Chelsea is the parent company. So, I should have written Chelsea (Roxbury, etc...). Thanks for the clarification, though!

I don't think I'll find anything Philly on Stax. I think the closest that you could find to a Philly Stax combination was Dave Crawford's projects, which are a mixture of southern blues and northern philly jazz disco. Stax didn't really put out anything disco. Probably the closest to that was the session guys (Willie Hall, etc...) playing on the Disco Duck LP, which happened a year after Stax folded. Even after Fantasy resurrected it in '78, I don't think any disco came out through them, unless you count Holy Ghost as disco, or Sir Mack Rice's 'Dark Skin Woman' from '75 as disco.

Disco Funk

[Simon White]

Put Gloria Gaynor's 'This Love Affair' down for Polydor
H&L ...The Softones 'Thats What Love Can Do' is very Philly sounding....

NEW YORK CITY

Quick Fast In A Hurry

RCA APBO-0150 (CHELSEA)


NEW YORK CITY

I'm Doin' Fine Now

CHELSEA 78-0113

73

JOHN GARY WILLIAMS

Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy

STAX 0205

74

[Mixmachine]

here are a couple I had handy..

Check out Ebb Tide's "It takes love to make love" (1975) on the Sound Gems label, recorded at Intermedia Sound Studio in Boston Mass.

This is Philly all the way, the intro sounds like "The love I lost", and vocals are in the mold of the soul groups of the day, here they also employ that Disco Hi hat drum beat that became the staple of Disco.

Part II on the B side has the famous congas of many Philly productions, strings galore and even marimbas a la Vince Montana. (maybe He was the player??)

I learned recently this was also released on 12".

"Love Shortage" by T.U.M.E. on MGM records, (1975) Arranged and produced by Bobby Eli. Great tune.

And since like me you like Trammps' "Zing.." check out the Earls doing "This could be the night" (1977) on Woodburry label, I just recently re-discovered this record I hadn't heard in ages.

This is I believe a remake of a Doo Wop classic, (need to check) done in early Trammps way, with Disco drums and congas break, really a fun recording.

The Earls also did "Get up and Dance (The continental)" (1976) on the same label that had "Love epidemic " on the flip side.

The Dupress' "delicious" is a wonderful song I used to spin my old 7" over and over . I never saw the International Label remix before..

[Disco Funk]

Thanks for those mentions, guys. For that Stax record, I took a listen to it. It sounds philly-esque, but it's not Philly. Actually, it sounds closer to those early Don Downing records, which I think were part of the Memphis or deep south disco scene.

I forgot about TUME. Yeah, that was a Bobby Eli group. I remember listening to it and not really being blown away by it. It was like how I felt when I heard those albums by Stuff, which featured the same guys who played on the Van McCoy albums (Steve Gadd, Gordon Edwards, etc...). I thought they sounded better on McCoy's albums than as Stuff. I haven't listened to my TUME record for quite a few years, so I don't know if my opinion will have changed after buying so many philly records since then.

New York City was a Thom Bell group. I forgot they were on Chelsea. I have a couple of the Earls records. They didn't really blow me away. They sound philly-esque, but I'm not sure if they ever visited philadelphia. The musicians definitely aren't the philly regulars.

Sound Gems was another philly label. According to the record label, the Ebb Tide record you mention was recorded in Boston, so I'm not sure if that counts (for example, even though Moon Boots was released through Salsoul, a label that featured mainly philly musicians, I wouldn't consider it philly).

There were other Sound Gems records, though, that were produced by guys like Jack Faith and John Davis, if I'm not mistaken.

Disco Funk

[remicks]

*****

lets do

ROULETTE :




Label: Roulette Records

Released: 1974

Backing Vocals - Barbara Ingram , Carla Benson , Evette Benton
Bass - Joseph Williams, Jr. , Ronnie Baker*
Drums - Earl "Bad" Young*
Drums, Vocals - Althea Smith
Engineer - Ken Present*
Engineer [Assistant] - Jim Gallagher , Mike Hutchinson* , Peter Travis
Executive Producer - Fred Bailin
Guitar - Bobby Eli , Norman Harris , Roland Chambers
Guitar, Vocals - Barbara Roy , Jimmy Clark
Keyboards - Len Pakula* , Ron Kersey
Keyboards, Vocals - Ronald Foster
Percussion - Carl Jordan , Larry Washington
Photography - Joel Brodsky
Producer, Arranged By, Conductor - Bobby Martin
Strings, Horns - Don Renaldo's Strings & Horns*
Vibraphone - Vince Montana*
Notes: Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mastering by Frankford/Wayne Phila.

they's all there !



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[Disco Funk]

Yup, Ecstasy Passion & Pain was a philly disco group. I think they were a self-contained band, but on the records, it was Baker Harris Young, etc...

There was another Roulette record by a group called the Ghetto Children. I don't own it, though. It's expensive. I think it was a Bobby Eli production.

Disco Funk

[ashley]

the extended 12" mix of the Duprees "Delicious" is on a new CD from Million Dollar Disco called "Northern Disco part 1"

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by ashley

the extended 12" mix of the Duprees "Delicious" is on a new CD from Million Dollar Disco called "Northern Disco part 1"

I looked around on the net and saw that this CD was only sold through the website. I guess it's a bootleg? I hope the sound quality is good. A nice track listing.

Disco Funk

[Nano]

This morning I was listening to Blue Magic's very good first album, released on Atlantic and with Norman Harris and Vince Montana as producers. I guess that counts as Philly-esque, but so do lots of other artists on the label.

Maybe it would be easier to make a list of the ubiquitous Philly producers and musicians (Thom Bell, G&H, Harris, Dexter Wansel, etc.) and check their credits list on AllMusic. They list hundred of records, but then it would be just a job of filtering out all the PIR releases.

This was my Ken Brockman column of the day

[Disco Funk]

I've mined allmusic for its data to death! I not only searched by producers, but also by specific musicians who were philly-based. The problem with allmusic is that it doesn't refer to single-only releases from the 70s. Those can be tricky to catalogue based on musicians, because you don't know who is on those singles. You can only guess by looking at the producer's name and listening to the records to tell if they're philly or not.

Thanks for adding to the list. Blue Magic definitely were philly disco/soul. They did a number of albums on Atlantic, and later I think they did a philly album on Capitol in 1881 or so.

Another Capitol philly disco single was by Tapestry, the same group that did Big Stone Wall on Philly Groove. The track was 'Life Is What You Make It', I believe.

CBS/Columbia had a great philly dancer by Sons Of Robin Stone called 'Lets Do It Now'.

From what I've read in various CD compilations, a lot of these songs bombed on purpose. They didn't get promotion like bigger name stars because they could be used by a tax write-off by the record companies. That may be why some companies put out a philly single or two with very little promotion, even though they featured the exact same quality productions and writing as more established philly acts.

Disco Funk

[remicks]

*****


Does this one count ??



Well not this one exactly ..... the other side of it .... (couldn't find a picture !! )

Patti Brooks
THIS IS THE HOUSE WHERE LOVE DIED

A very happy disco song written by:
R. Baker - A. Felder - N. Harris



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[Simon White]

The song certainly has great Philly credentials...it was First Choice's first recording...1972 I think.

Mr S. Soussan would certainly have known it !

Originally Posted by remicks

*****


Does this one count ??



Well not this one exactly ..... the other side of it .... (couldn't find a picture !! )

Patti Brooks
THIS IS THE HOUSE WHERE LOVE DIED

A very happy disco song written by:
R. Baker - A. Felder - N. Harris



*****

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by remicks

*****


Does this one count ??



Well not this one exactly ..... the other side of it .... (couldn't find a picture !! )

Patti Brooks
THIS IS THE HOUSE WHERE LOVE DIED

A very happy disco song written by:
R. Baker - A. Felder - N. Harris



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Sorry, Remicks, even though the song was written by Philly guys, the record was Simon Soussan. Now if you had included Go Tu Go Disco or Party Girl, then you would have been on the right track! :)

Disco Funk