The celebrations for Philadelphia International’s 40th anniversary gather momentum with the release of a wonderful 4 CD box set of TOM MOULTON Philly mixes.
Released on Harmless Records, ‘PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CLASSICS: THE TOM MOULTON REMIXES’ has just hit the sales racks and it’s a must for all soul collectors.
Master mixer MOULTON has been involved with the Philadelphia International label since its onset and in 1977 his groundbreaking eight track double LP, ‘Philadelphia Classics’ became an overnight success.
This new box set features all eight of those original MOULTON mixes and adds 7 ‘lost’ ones (mixed back in the day and unavailable till now); then there are 16 brand new MOULTON mixes of unashamed Philadelphia classics like THE O’JAYS’ ‘Backstabbers’, ARCHIE BELL AND THE DRELLS’ ‘Let’s Groove’ and THE JONES GIRLS’ ‘Nights Over Egypt’. Lesser known gems have been tweaked too and they include ROBERT UPCHURCH’S ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ and BILLY PAUL’S version of ‘The Whole Town’s Laughing At Me’.
MOULTON’S mixing philosophy was simple…essentially don’t fix something that ain’t broke! So rather than take liberties with already great material, the man chose to extend instrumental passages, accentuate percussive breaks and highlight the hooks and the results pleasured disco denizens all over the world. Witness that MOULTON mastery at its very best on his ten minute mix of LOU RAWLS’ ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’. It’s one of 32 wonderful Philly moments and almost rivalled by a tweak of THE INTRUDERS’ ‘(Win, Place Or Show) She’s A Winner’. Here MOULTON does take one small liberty. He loses the atmospheric race track sounds that clutter the intro of the original. It works, allowing the beauty of the strings and the plaintive vocal of LITTLE SONNY to stand out.
‘PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CLASSICS: THE TOM MOULTON REMIXES’ is out now on HARMLESS RECORDS.
