At first glance, this nine-track album looks like an unethically slim greatest-hits survey of
Kenny Gamble and
Leon Huff's biggest early- to mid-'70s Philly soul classics. Look again, though, because it turns out to be something entirely different. Originally released as a double LP in 1977 and combined onto a single CD (with the addition of the bonus track "Do It Any Way You Wanna" by
People's Choice), these are not the familiar original versions, but the extended 12" dance mixes. Indeed, the nine songs add up to 76 minutes, including whoppers like an 11-minute-and-30-second "Love Is the Message" by
MFSB, an 11-minute-and-three-second "Don't Leave Me This Way" by
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, a nine-minute-and-43-second "I Love Music" by
the O'Jays, and a nine-minute-and-44-second "I'll Always Love My Mama" by the Intruders. The idea for the album originated with Harry Chipetz, general manager of Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, who suggested that
Tom Moulton do a mix of a
Gamble & Huff track (which turned out to be "Do It Any Way You Wanna").
Moulton subsequently did a whole double album's worth of extended mixes of
Gamble & Huff productions. It's not what the average fan looking for a
Gamble & Huff best-of should get; you're better off with the standard versions (indeed all but one of the "regular" versions, along with other big
Gamble & Huff hits not worked over for
Philadelphia Classics, are on the Philly Super Soul Hits compilation). Dance fans will eat up the extended grooves and instrumental passages here, though. Even non-dance specialists will enjoy the variations if they're Philly soul specialists, due to the chance to hear the trademark
Gamble & Huff intricate funk-pop-disco mix in a more elongated, elastic setting. The CD reissue includes liner notes by
Moulton, which confusingly refer to
the People's Choice's "Do It Any Way You Wanna" extended mix as having been issued, although according to the track listing it was previously unreleased. ~ Richie Unterberger