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Saturday, 15 August 2020

"Ready Or Not: THOM BELL Philly Soul Arrangements & Productions 1965-1978" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring The Stylistics, The Spinners, The Delfonics, The Three Degrees, Archie Bell & The Drells, The Intruders, Ronnie Dyson, Connie Stevens, MFSB, Teddy Pendergrass, Laura Nyro and Labelle, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and more (June 2020 UK Ace/Kent Soul CD Compilation – Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...





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"...Could It Be I'm Falling In Love..."

It's funny what fifty years (or thereabouts) can do to perspective.

When I was a hairy-galoot in the early Seventies (where much of this music hails from), most aspiring young hard-rocking dudesters like me (wearing our cheesecloth shirts, desert boots and donkey jackets) would have looked at names like The Stylistics, The Delfonics and The Spinners and made a face akin to stepping into a freshly minted dollop of poodle doo-doo. All those strings and words about making you feel brand new and could I be falling in love and was I ready or not for her special kind of lurve - yucksville central. Where are the Tolkien hoards of Ork un-dead or immortal souls being sold at the crossroads for guitar licks we asked? Why weren't these people Searching For Space, Masters of Reality or at least looking for a Demon's Eye or something eminently sensible like that, eh, eh?

This was the kind of schlock music your sister and her crocheted-smock pals liked – double yuck! And then to throw in cardigan-inducing types like Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis and those matching Three Degrees with all those perfect teeth – why it was enough to make a chap denounce Deep Purple and publicly acknowledge liking Carole King or Cat Stevens or some such horribly sensitive sacrilege...

And yet here we are in 2020, quite rightly worshiping at the podium of THOM BELL – at the feet of melody and composition once again, and not at what was terminally unhip back in the day. And as one of my fellow reviewers has already eloquently pointed out (Runmentionable) - why hasn't this compilation acknowledging the genius of Philly’s Third Man been done before now, who along with Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff put TSOP on the map? It does seem odd actually.

Still, never mind the elephant flares, it's here now, and as you've no doubt gleaned from the flood of five-star reviews, Ace Records and their stunning Kent Soul label imprint have pulled off yet another wise and wily compilation wonder. The Sound Of Philadelphia here we come...to the details...

UK released 26 June 2020 (10 July 2020 in the USA) - "Ready Or Not - THOM BELL: Philly Soul Arrangements And Productions 1965-1978" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Kent Soul CDTOP 488 (Barcode 029667098021) is a 23-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (77:15 minutes):

1. Here I Go Again - ARCHIE BELL and THE DRELLS (December 1969 US 45 on Atlantic 293, B-side of "A World Without Music" - Stereo Version also available on the LP "There's Gonna Be A Showdown" on Atlantic SD 8226)
2. I Can't Take It - THE ORLONS (July 1965 US 45 on Cameo 372, B-side of "Don't You Want My Lovin'")
3. You've Been Untrue - THE DELFONICS (April 1967 US 45 on Cameo C-472, A-side)
4. Look The Other Way - LESLEY GORE (October 1968 US 45 on Mercury 72867, B-side of "I'll Be Standing By")
5. Tick-Tock - CONNIE STEVENS (October 1970 US 45 on Bell B-922, B-side of "Keep Growing Strong")
6. What I See - THREE DEGREES (February 1970 US 45 on Neptune N-23, A-side)
7. Moody Woman - JERRY BUTLER (May 1969 US 45 on Mercury 72929, A-side - also from the Stereo LP "Ice On Ice" on Mercury SR 61234)
8. What Kind Of Lady - DEE DEE SHARP (September 1968 US 45 on Gamble G-219, A-side)
9. Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love) – THE DELFONICS (November 1968 US 45 on Philly Groove 154, A-side – also from the 1968 US Stereo LP "Sound Of Sexy Soul" on Philly Groove PG 1151)
10. I Wanna Be A Free Girl – DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (April 1970 US 45 on Atlantic 2729, A-side)
11. It's The Same Old Love - THE COURTSHIP (May 1972 US 45 on Tamla T 54217F, A-side)
12. People Make The World Go Round - THE STYLISTICS (May 1972 US 45 on Avco AV-4595, A-side)
13. Back Stabbers - THE O'JAYS (June 1972 US 45 on Philadelphia International ZS7 3517, A-side - also from the 1972 US LP "Back Stabbers" on Philadelphia International KZ 31712)
14. One Man Band (Plays All Alone) - RONNIE DYSON (January 1973 US 45 on Columbia 4-45776, A-side)
15. Do You Remember Yesterday – THE INTRUDERS (September 1971 US 45 on Gamble G-4016, B-side of "I Bet He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)")
16. I'm Doin' Fine Now - NEW YORK CITY (February 1973 US 45 on Chelsea 78-0113, A-side – also from the 1973 US LP "I'm Doin' Fine Now" on Chelsea BCL1-0198)
17. Life Is A Song Worth Singing - JOHNNY MATHIS (from the 1973 US LP "I'm Coming Home" on Columbia KC 32435)
18. Something For Nothing - MFSB featuring THOM BELL (February 1974 US 45 on Philadelphia International ZS7 3540, B-side of "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)" - also from the 1973 US LP "MFSB" by MFSB on Philadelphia International KZ 32046)
19. Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - THE SPINNERS (December 1972 US 45 on Atlantic 2927, A-side - also from the 1972 US LP "Spinners" on Atlantic SD 7256)
20. You Make Me Feel Brand New - THE STYLISTICS (from the 1973 US LP "Rockin' Roll Baby" on Avco AV-11010-598)
21. Close The Door - TEDDY PENDERGRASS (May 1978 US 45 on Philadelphia International ZS7 3648, A-side)
22. It's Gonna Take A Miracle - LAURA NYRO and LABELLE (January 1972 US 45 on Columbia 4-45537, A-side - also from the November 1971 US LP "It's Gonna Take A Miracle" on Columbia KC 30987)
23. Track Of The Cat - DIONNE WARWICK (from the 1975 US LP "Track Of The Cat" on Warner Bros BS 2893)
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 15 and 16 in MONO - all others in STEREO

The 20-page booklet is the usual feast of indepth song-by-song analysis sidled by period promo photos, rarely seen seven-inch single picture sleeves, unusual sheet music, and of course those gorgeous Philadelphia International, Atlantic, Columbia, Avco et al 45-labels reproduced by the text (some in promo-form). Many of the entries (Orlons, Jerry Butler, Delfonics, Dusty Springfield etc) by trusted compiler and genuine enthusiast BOB STANLEY benefit from interviews with TB on the making of gems like "Ready Or Not" (the clever use of Trombone and French Horn) or "Back Stabbers" (proud of his string arrangements) and so on. Sometimes his remarks are often sideways to the entry (about other things and not how it was recorded) like how he was surprised to find that The Spinners and their hugely liked Atlantic Records hit "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" was in fact outselling The Rolling Stones at one point. It's a brill little read and like all good liner notes, leaves you wanting to know more. Ace's longstanding Audio Engineer DUNCAN COWELL has mastered the compilation and I can honestly say it's a joy to listen to from start to finish.

At times the criss-cross of Mono 45s with Stereo album cuts and the upbeat vs. smooch programming makes the listen feel like a Northern Soul night out – even if it is Philly Soul that dominates everything. It opens with the irrepressibly chipper "Here I Go Again" which at ten seconds past two minutes, comes in, does the business and then quickly leaves having satisfied all and sundry. In fact as I recall, "Here I Go Again" was reissued in September 1972 on Atlantic in the UK at the height of the British Northern Soul boom - a dancer par excellence. Cameo Parkway girl-group melodrama follows that with another B-side, only this time by The Orlons. Silly little quarrels make sure the phonecalls are not returned in "I Can't Take It" (you will get past this girls, I promise). Falsetto vocals shimmy in when The Delfonics assure us that he still wants her even though "You've Been Untrue" (love that Harpsichord). I didn't have the Lesley Gore cut "Look The Other Way" nor the Connie Stevens gotta-make-it melodrama of "Tick-Tock" with a wall of strings and drum whacks to make Phil Spector proud (another pair of forgotten B-sides). 

The goodies keep romancing our stones with "Ready Or Not Here I Come..." - the vocals almost drowned out with those backing arrangements - gonna make you love me. Equally sweeping is the longing of I gotta travel in Dusty Springfield's "I Wanna Be A Free Girl" - the mighty Linda Creed being one of the four writers (Thom Bell, Gamble and Huff were the other three). The last time I listened to the la-l-la of "It's The Same Old Love" by The Courtship -(an obscure Tamla act) was on Volume 12A of The Motown Singles sets covering 1972 - a thrilling lead vocal from Billy Hill (aka Billy Proctor) who could have been Little Anthony's twin brother.

From Track 12 onwards the songs become more familiar but nonetheless for it - winners like "People Make The World Go Round" (Stylistics), "Back Stabbers" (O'Jays), "I'm Doin' Fine Now" (New York City) and a very smart inclusion of Laura Nyro's collaboration with Labelle on an album of cover versions they did on Columbia called "It's Gonna Take A Miracle". Kent Soul CDTOP 488 culminates with 1978 and Dionne Warwick's whole album of Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff material - "Track Of The Cat" – a song apparently written about literally about her feline qualities and presence.

It's become something of a cliché to say that Ace Records of the UK have Soul CD compilations down to a fine art - something they've doing not for years - but actual decades. Still, every now and then, they pull out a true humdinger. 

Congrats to Bob Stanley, Ady Croasdell, Mick Patrick, Sheila Burgel and Gareth Sweeney and all the good bodies involved. Up there for me as one of the Reissues of 2020...

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