We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
TSOP…shorthand for “The Sound Of Philadelphia”….the production team of Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff…the duo who gave us some of the greatest soul music of the 70’s….also gave us the great soul LP “Back Stabbers” from the O’Jays in ther summer of 1972.
Gamble & Huff had been producing music since the 60’s having hits like “Expressway To You Heart” from the Soul Survivors in 1967. They worked with alot of different arttists like Archie Bell, Wilson Pickett & Dusty Springfield. They had hits with people like Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (If You Don’t Know Me By Now), and Billy Paul ( Me & Mrs Jones) and others including the Jacksons. They also came up with a signature sound called TSOP, which was recorded by MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister,Brother) and became a hit and the theme to Soul Train. You remember this…
And in 1972 they went into Sigma Sound in Philly with a host of session cats and the soul trio made up of Eddie Levert, Walter Williams and William Powell and known as the O’Jays. They had been working since the 50’s and with this LP finally achieved the breakthrough they were looking for.
It’s an album that moves from slow ballads to funky soul offerings. The hits are here both the highly infectious “Love Train” and the funky title track with that ominous opening.
Some other standouts for me are the topical ‘When The World’s At Peace”, “992 Arguments” and “Shiftless, Shady, Jealous Kind of People”.
This was one of the first soul records I acquired for personal collection as the title track just grabbed me through the radio.
Enjoy!
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