Various Artists – The Best of Philadelphia International Records

When i was a teen in the ’70s, there was no label sound more recognizable, more successful, than Philadelphia International, “The Sound of Philadelphia.” Where Motown had been probably the premiere hitmaking label in the ’60s and early ’70s, as I came into my real love of music in the mid-’70s, Philadelphia International, founded in 1971 by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell was where the cool sound was.

But back then, I bought nearly any of this type of music, any soul or R&B, as 45s. I had not a single album on the label until just a few years ago. And of course those old 45s, to the extent they survived (many were lost at some point), are trashed.

So I am delighted that PIR has been issuing beautiful compilations. I already wrote about The O’Jays. Here’s a collection, released in 2021, that is a pretty nice survey of the label’s biggest artists.

The production on these records is always incredible … inventive, unusual, and yet not a note out of place. And even though these songs, for the most part, have never gone away, have been heard throughout my life, they really have an unusual ability to transport me back, to truly make me feel like I’m 14, alone in my room, listening to the AM radio late at night, hearing those incredible harmonies of The Three Degrees, that growl of Lou Rawls.

Billy Paul’s “Me and Mrs. Jones” specifically reminds me of my addiction to Bazooka Joe bubble gum (though it’s the farthest thing from bubble gum music) – which started around the same time, when the walk to school took me past a drugstore and a deli, either one of which was a steady supplier of bubble gum on the way back from lunch. “When Will I See You Again” gives me dreamy memories of nights in my bedroom, fantasizing about relationships, imagining love. We would listen along to “Back Stabbers,” trying to mimic the perfect timing of “What they do!” I’d see all these incredible acts performing on “Soul Train” and just try to imagine being in that world. This collection hits me right in my teens, but the music is timeless.