The influence of the Sound of Philadelphia is everywhere this week with new music from Silk Sonic, Adrian Younge and Drake.
Think of this as weird. Or as kismet or fate. Or what have you… No sooner than dosage MAGAZINE and I discuss the 45th anniversary of David Bowie’s Young Americans, its sonic union to North 12th Street’s Sigma Sound Studio, and its reach into the plushness of Gamble, Huff and Thom Bell’s Sound of Philadelphia aesthetic, several major new records make their debut at the same time. All united by the good groove of Philadelphia brand cream cheesy soul and R&B. And all with questionable ties to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.
First up is the new song from the not-too-unlikely pairing of Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak under the united guise of Silk Sonic. Apparently, Parliament-Funkadelic legend and funk bassist extraordinaire Bootsy Collins is also part of Silk Sonic as a “special guest host.”
“We made an album!!” wrote .Paak on Instagram. “Y’all get the first song next Friday 3/5!! Rocket emojis and all that!!!”
That song, as you hear and see “Leave the Door Open,” is aptly titled considering the duo’s moniker. This track is vintage silken soul blessed by the Ormandy-inspired strings and the magical use of a glockenspiel that once was the Philadelphia International label, another brand celebrating 50 years in business this year. Thank you, Thom Bell.
Add in the Bell-like ringing of heavenly male harmonies taken from his arrangements for the Chi-Lites, the Spinners, and the Delfonics, and Mars and .Paak’s “Door” is opened, along North 12th Street and sometime during 1973. Neither Mars nor .Paak are from anywhere near these parts. Yet, that hasn’t stopped them from borrowing liberally and sensationally from the Sound of Philadelphia.
The same goes for producer, songwriter and singer Adrian Younge. While he has, on previous recordings touched on Black American music’s past, with an eye towards cinematic, future-forward deconstruction, on albums such as the Blaxploitative Black Dynamite and the New York old school rap of Twelve Reasons to Die with Ghostface Killah, and Luke Cage’s Original Soundtrack LP with A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad, it is 2013’s Adrian Younge Presents the Delfonics that remains his most haunting work.
Recorded and written with The Delfonics’ highest voice, that of William Hart, the 8-year-old album is breathtaking in its scope and soul. Only Younge’s brand new album, The American Negro, is as layered and operatic. Lacing his atmospheric, gospel-laced R&B with riveting zig-zagging harmonies, reeds and string sounds. It too benefits from the heft of the Sound of Philadelphia’s best. Combine that with Younge’s sense of socially conscious politicism that rivals that of Philadelphia International Records classics such as The O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money,” and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ (with Teddy Pendergrass) “Wake Up Everybody,” and this bold new album is a mindful mouthful.
Speaking of richly orchestrated operatic works, and I might be pushing things a little bit here, but, I’m hearing the lustrous lushness of the Sound of Philadelphia in Drake’s new softly strung (out) “Wants and Needs,” from his EP drop the other day, “Scary Hours”. There’s just something about the manner in which the melodies and harmonies flitter and flutter than is reminiscent of Gamble, Huff and Bell at their friskiest and finest.
If Drake’s due-soon new album, the much-hyped, long-anticipated follow up to “Scorpion” that is “Certified Lover Boy” sounds anything like this “Wants and Needs,” expect another column just like this one.
About Post Author
