Philadelphia International Records

And, uh, And again, sort of using the song that on one hand, like if you read the lyrics just without any, you know, if you just read the lyrics without any backing to them, they're not anything, you know, overly like, you know, overly political or overly ambitious or anything like that, but set to the music and set to kind of the way that the, you know, all of the arrangements have, it's really an impressive work.

Yeah, I mean, this was originally written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Hough, Cody Gilbert as well in Philadelphia, Philadelphia International Records, Harold Nevin on the Blue Notes, very primary act of the Phillies' soul sound.

And they, as you said... it's a politically charged album, wake up everybody that it's part of.

And you get the sense of there's something more to that record than just like a torch song, right? It is, it is a torch song, but in, in this like setting of political strife, racial strife, you know, Like late 60s, early 70s, things are burning.

We're on fire.

OJs, Billy Paul, Three Degrees, Teddy Pendergrass, Philadelphia International, on fire.

Okay.

Okay.

Now, the Jacksons came along because I always loved their music.

We did not have an African-American major band on Epic.

It was Philadelphia International.

Clive made a bad deal with Stax for distribution.

But you can hear the very big instrumentation behind there as well.

So one of the things that happened was that there was a breakdown of relationships between a number of the Philly Soul artists and Gamble & Huff, the record label, and the brothers really capitalized on this, and Salesoul was successful in securing a number of contracts with a handful of the key former Philadelphia international artists.

Among them, Vince Montana, who created the Cell Soul Orchestra and was a backing artist to many, many tracks, but also Bunny Sigler, Norman Harris, Earl Young, They all went on to write or record or produce many of the label's biggest hits like Sells All Hustle, which we may play later on.

Let No Man Put Us Under from First Choice.

creating custom labels instead of buying an established sole label, the report advised CBS to partner with the top producers to create semi-autonomous custom labels.

This strategy led directly to the creation of the legendary Philadelphia International Records with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

And the fourth point, was avoiding major acquisitions.

Counter to some popular myths, the report explicitly warned CBS against trying to buy a major player like Motown or Atlantic or Stack, fearing antitrust issues and high cost.

It's all right

That was Johnny Williams, "Shall We Gather by the Water," on the Philadelphia International Records label from 1962.

From Memphis before that, the South Street Soul Guitars did "Soul Fire," that was that instrumental, on the, uh, Silver Fox label from 1969.

Simtec and Wiley did "Can't Break Away" on the Sharma label from 1970.

I'm one of those people.

I went to school right next door to Philadelphia International Records on Broad Street way, way, way back in the day.

Basically, our guest today, you know, I was introduced to her.

Via my father's illustrious record collection, a lot of jazz in there.

Okay.

It's weird, like a lot of

artists that represent Philly International, in my mind, they're always from Philadelphia, even though they just record for a Philadelphia label.

So, you know, it's kind of...

Yeah.

You know, Philadelphia International Records.

You know, he knew, you know, Teddy Pendergrass and Tom Bell.

Yeah.

Now you go back to Philadelphia in the mid 60s, you're actually looking at the beginning of something that would eventually become one of the most recognizable sounds in soul music.

But it didn't just suddenly appear in 1971 with Philadelphia International.

The story really starts with Cameo Parkway Empire.

Philadelphia already had a remarkable recording industry, producing dance records, doo-wop, R&B and pop, and Cameo Parkway had enormous success with people such as Chubby Checker, DD Sharp and The Orleans.

I will be the enemy.

© BF-WATCH TV 2021 At the same old place, yeah Another girl, what a glimpse of his face Though I never really knew I could feel so low, yeah Until I saw him walk in ¶¶

Tonight we're taking a journey into Philadelphia sound of the mid-60s, before Gamble & Huff, before Philadelphia International, and before the polished orchestral sounds that would conquer the 70s.

This is Philadelphia when the sound was still being invented.

As I mentioned, Cecil and Linda had known each other their whole lives, and they reconnected, eventually got married, and they started both a personal but also a professional partnership.

And that's where the Philly International thing comes in, because they became key contributors to that Philly International sound.

I mean, they were, you know, Philly International was a network of great songwriters, producers, arrangers, musicians.

I mean, it's amazing to me when I think about it.

I really feel that there should be more recognition there I know it's celebrated.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on.

And I just feel like there's...

there should be more, uh, I know the city acknowledges it, but there should be something more like a, I don't know, a Philly international museum or something like that, that would, you know, kind of represent this city and everything it's done.