Album review Masters Of Soul Funk And Blues

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Masters of Funk, Soul And Blues "Motown" does Philly.  Philly does "Motown".  Philadelphia producer Phil Hurt, who has 11 gold and platinum records, is releasing “A Soulful Tale of Two Cities.”

The concept is simple. Let the Motown stars record the Philadelphia classic soul jams.  Have the troops from the Philadelphia International school record some Motor City tracks.






The remaining members of Motowns house band The Funk Brothers with other Motown Artists 'Freda Payne', '{safm}Bobby Taylor{/safm}' and 'Lamont Dozier'  performs the Philly penned classic hits such as 'Close the Door', 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now', 'Betcha by Golly Wow', 'Me & Mrs. Jones', 'Love Train', 'For the Love of Money', 'TSOP' and others. 

And vice versa Philly's renown MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother) with well known Philly artists 'Jean Carne', '{safm}Bunny Sigler{/safm}'  performs the Motown penned classic jams such as 'Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing', 'Dancing in the Street', 'Knocks Me Off My Feet', 'Fire and Desire', 'Isn't She Lovely', 'Baby, Baby, I Need You' and other tracks. The tracks are recorded, produced with respectively Motown and Philly influences.

Here’s just a sample of what we can expect on the CD from the Philly artists:

  • Jean Carn sings Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”
  • Blue Magic’s Ted Mills sings the Miracles “Shop Around”
  • The Delfonics’ William Hart sings the Four Tops “Just Ask the Lonely”
  • Writer, producer, artist Bunny Sigler sings Marvin & Tammi’s “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”

And from our Motown friends:

  • Freda Payne, (remember her), does the Stylistics “Betcha by Golly Wow”
  • Bobby Taylor of the Vancouvers sings “If You Don’t Know me By Now” of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes fame
  • Lamont Dozier croons “Me and Mrs. Jones” from the Billy Paul song book

In on the project is Detroit native George Clinton, who tackles “Love Won’t Let Me Wait”, Clinton also covers “Expressway to Your Heart,” the big Philly hit by the Soul Survivors.

The Motown folks are recording the Philly songs in Detroit, and the Philly International crew are cutting their Motown songs in the city of brotherly love.

It's a really fresh idea. Some songs did reach the charts in the UK.

This double CD consist thirty tracks and is released by Phil Hurt’s Soul Renaissance Records  and is a must for the real soul lover.

 

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