Search - Various Artists :: Storm Warning, Vol. 1: Philly Original Soul Classics

Formative Philly 60s soul

Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 01/19/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Some of the soul powerhouses of 70s Philadelphia soul grew out of the formative period of the 60s, represented here in this collection of soul sides from labels controlled by the Jamie/Guyden music family. This collection gathers up tunes by artists who had substantial success in the 60s as well as the early work of those who would later come to dominate the Philadelphia soul music of the 70s. Some of the more commercially lucrative sides here are "Right On The Tip Of My Tongue" and "The Touch Of You" by Brenda and the Tabulations and Fantastic Johnny C's "Boogaloo Down Broadway". Other artists here had little or no commercial impact nationally at the time but were more successful locally. Also here are recordings by Kenny Gamble, who, along with his musical partner Leon Huff, went on to write and produce some of the most memorable soul music of the 70s, including many of the hits of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, who are represented here by work done here before their collaboration with Gamble and Huff. While not loaded with recognizable hits, this compilation gives a glimpse of some of the music that laid the foundation for the explosion of Philadelphia smooth soul that dominated the charts in the following decade. Production-wise, sound quality is decent here with tracks 2 and 10 in stereo, the remainder in mono. While the cover states "From the original master recordings", some of the tracks, 4,6,8 and 12 in particular, are noticably noisy and are from either poor tape sources or are disc dubs. The accompanying four-page liner notes booklet does give some backround on the included tracks and artists. Though somewhat narrow in focus with its limitation to the Jamie/Guyden labels, this piece does offer some value to casual and more zealous fans of the genre."