Exactly 40 Years Ago in 1967 Gamble and Huff Had Their First Chart Hit With ......

[Simon White]

Just re - reading this thread and I think it's all become a bit confused... the original point iseems to be to celebrate Gamble & Huff's first big hit and then it seems to move onto the fact that the Soul Survivors were White and not Black as most of the Philly International acts were. I still don't hear the clue to this in 'Expressway To Your Heart' but still, we all hear different things.

So, was your original point Remicks, that G & H didn't produce any White acts after the Soul Survivors or just that they didn't work with them ? Because re-reading your posts in this thread you seem to be implying that G & H didn't work with White acts at all apart from the Soul Survivors ?
I think it's pretty well known and obvious that Gamble & Huff favoured Black acts for their labels and music... you only have to look at the releases for that.....but why wouldn't they ? They were successfully making Black music and as such didn't compromise to achieve that sound.
Certainly there were releases on G & H's labels by White acts...theres a terrible Pop/Rock record on PIR by Lenny Paluka for instance, Disco Funks pointed out another and something tells me there was another mixed race group too.

In answer to Disco Funk's post about Archie Bell and The Drells being a self contained band, the instrumentation of the Atlantic sides was by the The TSU Tornado's, at least some of the time. Obviously later cuts were MFSB in its various forms.

[remicks]

Originally Posted by Simon White

Just re - reading this thread and I think it's all become a bit confused... the original point seems to be to celebrate Gamble & Huff's first big hit and then it seems to move onto the fact that the Soul Survivors were White and not Black as most of the Philly International acts were. I still don't hear the clue to this in 'Expressway To Your Heart' but still, we all hear different things.

So, was your original point Remicks, that G & H didn't produce any White acts after the Soul Survivors or just that they didn't work with them ? Because re-reading your posts in this thread you seem to be implying that G & H didn't work with White acts at all apart from the Soul Survivors

No , my original point Simon, was that it was forty years ago that Gamble and Huff had their first break-thru hit . As an aside, my secondary point was that this was the only white artist HIT of Gamble and Huff .

remicks: With this first release by Gamble and Huff.... this is the first and I'm fairly certain the last time this takes place ... ( and DF , I'm sure you can , should, and will correct me if I'm wrong )... this one time and then with all their many future hits .... never again

I chose to use the word "hits" on purpose. While I had my suspicions , I wasn't absolutely certain just how solidly black their total non-hit output was .

Simon: I think it's pretty well known and obvious that Gamble & Huff favoured Black acts for their labels and music... you only have to look at the releases for that.....but why wouldn't they ? They were successfully making Black music and as such didn't compromise to achieve that sound.

" Favoured " is putting it mildly . ( I didn't realize that whiteness compromised any sound? When did that get determined ? )
Isn't it a bit disappointing that in the more enlightened age of the seventies a successful label like PIR had still boxed themselves into an antiquated mold of just making race records .....

Simon: Certainly there were releases on G & H's labels by White acts...theres a terrible Pop/Rock record on PIR by Lenny Paluka for instance, Disco Funks pointed out another and something tells me there was another mixed race group too.

Lenny who ????????????? and who, who, and ..... who ???

Simon: ..... and then it (this thread) seems to move onto the fact that the Soul Survivors were White and not Black as most of the Philly International acts were. I still don't hear the clue to this in 'Expressway To Your Heart'

A review of the clue :

remicks: A wily clue could be to say that there's a strong reference to be found in the sound effects used on this record .....

OK Simon ... here goes:
.... The sound effects used in this record are of what ... gnarled congested traffic ... car horns blaring away ... all sounding a bit ........ ... .... "honky" ......... wouldn't you agree ...



*****
hey I said it was "wily" ......

*****

[Simon White]

Surely Remmy, wouldn't the car horns have been used because the song is called "Expressway to Your Heart" ??


Just like 'Leader of The Pack' uses a motorbike revving to signify a motorbike, or 'Remember Walking In The Sand' and 'Dock Of The Bay' use seagulls to signify (1) a beach, ( 2) a dock.

[Disco Funk]

I found a couple more white artists on Gamble & Huff labels: The Jaggerz released a rock album on Gamble a year before they put out The Rapper on Kama Sutra. And a guy name Dick Jensen had an LP on PIR in 1973.

Lenny Pakula was one of the members of MFSB. His name pops up on a the credits of many PIR albums. I haven't heard that single yet that he put out on PIR.

Disco Funk

[Ian Rose]

Nobody in MFSB was white?
SERIOUSLY???????lol

[Disco Funk]

I wish I had read the comment above about the Lenny Pakula record before ordering it. It sounds really crappy. Like really bad Fleetwood Mac. I can't even believe that Gamble & Huff let it get released on the main label with MFSB as the credited band. They should have credited to Lenny Pakula and his Bohemians or something along those lines, then I'd know NOT to buy it. :(

Disco Funk

[Simon White]

Originally Posted by Disco Funk

I wish I had read the comment above about the Lenny Pakula record before ordering it. It sounds really crappy. Like really bad Fleetwood Mac. I can't even believe that Gamble & Huff let it get released on the main label with MFSB as the credited band. They should have credited to Lenny Pakula and his Bohemians or something along those lines, then I'd know NOT to buy it. :(

Disco Funk

LOL.....it's not the best record in the world thats for sure..definitely an oddity on the label !

[ol'skinflint]

funny we're talking about Gamble and Huff. I was just in my local 99 cent store and their P.A. system was playing what I consider Gamble and Huff's finest composition EVER (if not their best known), "You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration", performed by Teddy Pendergrass. Words can't express how unbelievably sexy this song is.....Teddy must have agreed, as he even breaks into a falsetto at the end. It sounded so darn good I forgot a couple of the items I had gone to the store to buy....

[Disco Funk]

Originally Posted by Simon White

LOL.....it's not the best record in the world thats for sure..definitely an oddity on the label !

Oddity is an understatement. I'd call it a blight, almost false advertising if you ask me! Not even Tom Moulton could have saved that record!

Disco Funk

[Simon White]

This post went very quiet after the original, specious argument was easily proved to be so obviously untrue!