Professor Eddy Gets Down With The Philly Sound (Tribute To Teddy And Philly)

- January 17, 2010

This mix is a tribute to the sound of Philadelphia and is created in memory of Teddy Pendergrass, the singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, who passed away last Wednesday. I was devastated by the news. During the mix you can hear session drummer Earl Young, Kenny Gamble, Tom Moulton, Daryl Hall and Patti Labelle talking about Philly soul. It was the most popular form of soul music in the early and mid ‘70s.

Building on the steady groove of Hi Records and Stax singles, Philly soul added sweeping strings, seductive horns and lush arrangements to the deep rhythms. As a result, it was much smoother and slicker than the deep soul of the late '60s, but the vocals remained as soulful as any previous form of R&B. Philly soul was primary a producer's medium, as Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and arranger Thom Bell (who was inspired by the innovative arrangements of Burt Bacharach) created the instrumental layers that came to distinguish the genre. The songs were mostly played by MFSB and published on Philadelphia Sound Records (PIR) that was owned by Gamble & Huff. Their success started to decrease by the end of the ‘70s when disco exploded, but the highly produced sound of Philly soul paved the way for the studio constructions of dance music and urban contemporary R&B.

Philadelphian singer Patti Labelle acts the mother of singer Kelly Rowland (Destiny's Child) in the rework of her hit ‘Love need and want you’, called ‘Dilemma’, with hiphop artist Nelly. Nelly used ‘Come go with me’ from Teddy Pendergrass for his hit ‘My Place’. Both originals are in this mix, just as 'Brand new me', a wonderful Kenny Gamble, Thom Bell and Jerry Butler composition, sung by the great Dusty Springfield.

Full tracklist:

MFSB - Get Down With The Philly Sound (1975)
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes – The Love I Lost (1973)
The Delfonics – I Told You So (1974)
Billy Paul – Let’s Fall In Love All Over (1970)
The Spinners – Mighty Love (1974)
O’Jays – Time To Get Down (1972)
The Trammps – Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart (1972)
Sister Sledge - Mama Never Told Me [A Tom Moulton mix] (1975)
South Shore Commission – Free Man [A Tom Moulton mix] (1975)
Philadelphia International All Stars - Let's Clean Up The Ghetto (1977)
Moving Violation - Spinnin’ Top (1974)
The Stylistics – Driving Me Wild (1980)
The Jones Girls – You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else (1979)
Three Degrees – Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me (1973)
Frankie And The Spindles – Makin' Up Time [part 1] (1973)
Dusty Springfield – Brand New Me (1969)
Patti Labelle – Love Need And Want You (1983)
Teddy Pendergrass – Come Go With Me (1979)

Enjoy!

Tribute To Teddy And Philly by Professor Eddy on Mixcloud