Taking Sides: Motown (The Sound of Detroit) v. Gamble & Huff (The Sound of Philadelphia)

Motown in a walk--concentrated quality. I prefer the actual sound of Philadelphia, but as a canon, Gordy's minions have it all.

the planet known as 20-something white "teens" from philadelphia. (don't argue with me on this one.)

(on a nationwide level you could substitute "the roots" for this age group. which is slightly less objectionable.)

Bonus exercise for critic types: compare the Archie Bell and the Drells track produced by Gamble and Huff with Bell and Co.'s Atlantic classic "Tighten Up." Discuss.

I've seen a nice connoisseur's Philly comp done by Norman Jay which I will probably get, but what else is there around at the moment? Is the box set still available?

(I do have all this stuff scattered about on vinyl, but, y'know, it would be nice to have it all in one place...)

As others have said, I'd have to go with Motown for consistent quality, but I prefer the sound of Philly (TSOP!).

What about 70s Motown though? Amazing stuff: Stevie, Marvin, The Temptations with Norman Whitfield, The Supremes without Diana Ross (Up The Ladder To The Roof, Stoned Love, Automatically Sunshine), The Jackson Five, early Commodores, "Walk In The Night" by Jr. Walker

Motown, at least for a while (and together with the British beat acts on "the other side"), helped blur the difference between "white" and "black" music, which was a good idea and should have continued into the 70s and 80s.

matos OTM -- i'm unaware of any thom bell comps, sorry marcello.

(Benny Benjamin was no slouch either.)

Eisbar - i rather suspect that Geir's sole awareness of Philly soul would be the more MOR stuff the Stylistics did with Hugo & Luigi which was big in Britain but not the US - he probably likes "Na Na Is The Saddest Word" because it has a "classically European arrangement" (actually, i rather like that arrangement as well, but not because it's "classically European", just because it *works*). or maybe Elton's collaborations with Thom Bell, which i also like, but *you know* ...

(sorry everyone, continue thread normality)

x-post

oh great more fucking cock

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

the 70s disco age was the darkest age of music after The Beatles.

1) Classical Music
2) History
3) Cultural History
4) Politics, including its vital and unavoidable connections with music

Of course, the entire idea of a politician banning a style of music just because he doesn't like it (for "objective" reasons or not) is completely absurd and grotesque. And, I mean, even as much as I hate the idea of 12 tone music, having 12 note composers killed because of their music was, well... ... quite undescribable, really...

if you cannot answer the question that i asked, hongro, then get off this thread. i'm not interested in your views on musical purity, nor is anyone else on this board. go and talk about them somewhere else please.

thank you.

have you seen "elephant" yet? that's what happens when you "ignore" people.

(Marcello, the phrase "underemployed Norwegian imbecile" is so matter-of-fact and dead-on and really rude all at once it cracks me up something fierce. nice one.)

marcello i started a thom bell vs gamble and huff thread which might have stuff for you on it

How many number one hits did Motown have?
How many number one hits did Philly have?

I think you have to take that into consideration too when you look at the number of compilations etc...

GET OFF THIS FUCKING THREAD. SHUT UP. WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR WORTHLESS OPINIONS OR YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE.

GOT IT?

During that time, Motown artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were getting away from Motown model of producer/artist and making the calls themselves.

What Gamble and Huff were trying to do was completely based upon how Motown was run, but they had their own production sound, which many producers of that period seemed to emulate. Bowie even tried to channel their sound somewhat on "Young Americans", which says how influential their sound became.

Carlin, in case you haven't bothered to read the top fifteen or so posts, this is NOT YOUR THREAD. People are perfectly entitled to talk about stuff unrelated to your question, even if they are talking complete nonsense. Fuck's sake...

(maybe only I get this joke)

Anyhow, Philly soul (great btw) gave way to 'disco' (not good, as in bee gees/whitebread stuff). That was what was bad. 'disco' eventually gave way to idunno better stuff.

FWIW, i never liked chic/beegees/etc, but things got better. oh yes they did.

http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/images/29/r33.jpg

is it because i attacked him?

one law for carlin, another law for everybody else on ilx part 2450.

you people would probably come out in favour of paedophilia if i attacked it.

so let's get rid of this relativism. hongro is a stinking racist piece of shit who, if the moderators had any guts at all, would long have been banned from these boards.

his mother should have had an abortion rather than make us suffer.

in future when i ask a question on ilm or ilx i expect relevant answers. if you can't give them, keep your shit to yourself.

in what way do we suffer, really?

I'm not defending him.

I'm just finding it weird like a mondo film.

The sad answer to your question AFAIK Marcello is "apart from the one Matos mentioned there aren't any good ones in the UK", the fashion in soul and disco reissues seems to cycle along with the fashion in pop reissues, so it's all 80s soul weekender stuff now and no love for Philly. It's hard to find on soulseek too :(

Xpost: if you want Geir to be banned ask on the Mods board Marcello. As it stands I don't think anything he does merits banning - he has some spectacularly wrong-headed ideas which he debates politely and without flaming or threatening other people. It's also not as if he's the thin end of any unpleasant wedge or is corrupting the hearts and minds of ILM - everyone disagrees with him all the time.

I ch-ch-choose THE SOUND OF PHILADELPHIA - those strings get me every time.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2003-08-07/cover.shtml

After four decades of lying dormant, a collection of unproduced tracks from the defunct Philly Groove label may one day find its way onto your playlist thanks to a partnership between Drexel and New York music publisher Reservoir.

http://drexelmagazine.org/2015/07/drexel-helps-long-gone-music-label-get-its-groove-back/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/arts/music/joe-tarsia-dead.html

RIP Joe Tarsia engineer at his own Sigma studio in Philadelphia who worked on many a Philly soul record in the 70s