Philly flyers
In 1973, Gamble & Huff moved up a gear. By Geoff Brown.
Various
★★★★
Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Sound Of Philadelphia International Records Vol. 2
THIS SECOND box of eight PIR albums on CD revisits one five-star classic, two solid four-star works, a couple of repromotions of earlier productions by Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff, a superstar emerging from a cabaret act, and two ambitious projects, both concepts of varying success.
First, the essentials. Many discerning MOJO readers will own The O’Jays’ Ship Ahoy, the trio’s best album. Encompassing the US Top 10 pop hits Put Your Hands Together and For The Love Of Money alongside the title track’s grim voyage on a slave ship, the exuberant ecology commentary of This Air I Breathe and more standard love songs such as Now That We Found Love, this landmark record still sounds fresh.
It’s closely followed by the easy style and classy Gamble & Huff writing found on The Intruders’ Super Hits (from US Number 1 R&B hit Cowboys To Girls and Northern soul favourite Check Yourself to We’ll Be United).
The Intruders had been one of the producers’ first acts and this set collected their earlier pop-soul delights. The Three Degrees’ selfnamed PIR debut was a second solid release full of classy dance music delivered by the exceptional Sigma Sound house band – When Will I See You Again, Year Of Decision and Dirty Ol’ Man.
A second O’Jays CD, In Philadelphia, had been released in 1970 on Neptune, but the Gamble & Huff label stalled, though not before One Night Affair and Deeper (In Love With You) had been US R&B hits. It was reissued in ’73, as was Billy Paul’s jazzy Feelin’ Good At The Cadillac Club five years after its first release on Gamble in 1968. Paul’s other LP here, the weighty concept War Of The Gods, ‘has its fans’, as they say, but the venture’s ambition outstripped the end product. Elsewhere, with Teddy Pendergrass emerging from their ranks as a lead singer of power and physicality, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ Black And Blue opened with Cabaret, a tame reminder of their supper club days, improved through Satisfaction Guaranteed and The Love I Lost, but it’s not their greatest. Finally, the rarity. Spiritual Concept were a quartet formed around studio musicians/ songwriters Theodore Life (AKA T Life) and TG Conway, and their Spiritual Concept promised much. However, like Motown’s many attempts to diversify in the ’60s, it’s a misconceived concept. Spiritual Sky had an echo of Spirit In The Sky, a full arrangement with strings, psych guitar and a bolero section towards its fade. A similar kitchen-sink strategy stuffed Let’s Take It All full of styles. The rest – Remedy; Get It On; the awful California Women – is clunky uptempo rock.
Completing this strong package: a bonus single pairing the Blue Notes’ The Love I Lost and The O’Jays’ It’s Too Strong and a 48-page booklet by Philly authority Tony Cummings.