TSOP (1974) 9/20/20

Over the past 11 months, we've highlighted quite a few “Great Songs of the '70s” that featured the smooth and soulful “Philadelphia Sound.” These included songs by The Three Degrees, Lou Rawls, the O'Jays. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, The Spinners and others.

Today, were digging a little deeper into TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) and how it developed.

When Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff started Philadelphia International Records, they wanted a house band—a group of musicians they could use to back up their roster of artists—similar to The Wrecking Crew, the group that played on literally hundreds of hits that came out of Los Angeles in the '60s & '70s.

Gamble and Huff hired a group of 30 musicians, named them MFSB (Mother/Father/Sister/Brother) and got to work.

Their first project was to record a theme for TV's “Soul Train...and from the beginning, they were “right on track!” Pun intended.

In 1974, the song, titled TSOP (see above) not only became synonymous with “Soul Train,” it was a HUGE hit on its own, making the Top 20 in 9 countries. In the US alone, Billboard ranked it at #1 on the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Soul Charts!

(Trivia: the vocals near the end of the track were provided by The Three Degrees.)

That was just the beginning. Over the next few years, the group recorded several songs of their own, as well as backing tracks for other artists—just as Gamble and Huff intended.

Eventually, members of MFSB splintered off into other groups, most notably The Salsoul Orchestra and The Ritchie Family, and continued to record hits...but that's a story for another blog. :-)

MFSB and TSOP: a Great Group...with a “Great Song of 1974!