BEST LAST SOUL FUNK 1970S SERIES

вЂњIt was also the last of the soul music empires, laying the groundwork for the party-down disco era that followed. вЂњWith its dreamy sophistication, Philly soul was a next-level advance on what had gone before, another dimension to the contemporaneous work of Stevie, Marvin and Curtis ,вЂќ Gavin Martin, a soul aficionado and music writer, says. This sound was as smooth, lavish, ornate and expansive as the Motown style had been taut, crisp and succinct. A classically trained producer and arranger, Mr Bell would be key to the development of what became variously known as вЂњPhilly soulвЂќ, вЂњPhillysoundвЂќ or-as in the title of a hit from 1974 by The Three Degrees-вЂњTSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)вЂќ. Come the 1970s, Philadelphia International went the other way, employing a sprawling soul mini-orchestra (which would in due course release its own hits as MFSB), while Mr Gamble and Mr Huff provided the bulk of the songwriting between them.ДЄt their base at Sigma Sound Studios, they were initially assisted by Thom Bell. In the 1960s, Motown had a tight and relatively compact house band, known as The Funk Brothers, and several sets of songwriters. But their approach to the supporting talent differed. Mr Gamble and Mr Huff sought to emulate the Motown set-up with a roster of vocal artists for whom a team of writers and musicians would create records in one designated studio. This takes listeners only as far as 1973, at which point the label was just beginning to exert its influence. The labelвЂ™s 50th anniversary is being commemorated with a box set, вЂњGet On Board The Soul Train: The Sound of Philadelphia International Records Volume 1вЂќ, collecting the first eight albums released on the imprint. In a little over a decade, Messrs Gamble and Huff would be credited with releasing or producing more than 170 gold or platinum records. Philadelphia International would go on to rival and then surpass Motown, becoming the preeminent soul label of its era. They had been inspired by Berry GordyвЂ™s Motown company in Detroit: its business model, its mode of operation and its sense of civic identity. Simultaneously emphasising the enterpriseвЂ™s roots and its ambition, they called it Philadelphia International.

An experienced pair of jobbing songwriter-producers, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (pictured), founded a new record label in Philadelphia, Mr GambleвЂ™s hometown. Yet the event that year that would have the single greatest impact on soul music in the 1970s passed largely unnoticed. Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway and, in particular, Marvin Gaye were blowing open the perceived possibilities of the genre.

Nowhere were the changes more revolutionary than in soul music.

BEST LAST SOUL FUNK 1970S SERIES

IT WAS A pivotal year in popular music-a point underlined by вЂњ1971: Never A Dull MomentвЂќ, a book by David Hepworth, a veteran music writer, as well as вЂњ1971: The Year That Music Changed EverythingвЂќ, a new eight-part documentary series by an Oscar-winning director, Asif Kapadia.

Best last soul funk 1970s