MFSB ~ TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia) 1973 Disco Purrfection Version

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1968 was the year when ex-Cameo-Parkway recording engineer Joseph Tarsia opened Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios for business. He had been working with a large group of studio musicians from his old label and they moved over to his new enterprise. Those musicians were responsible for the full orchestral funk of Cliff Noble's "Love Is All Right", so much so that when it was released as a single it was the instrumental B side that became the surprise hit and galloped all the way to #2 on the pop charts, so the lead singer does not appear at all on his biggest hit.

Another song they worked on, "Keem-O-Sabe" was a sitar laced funk tune released by Electric Indian that made it all the way to #16 in September of 1969. Then assuming the name The Assembled Multitude, they recorded the 1970 #16 pop hit "Overture from Tommy (A Rock Opera).

Shortly after that, they heard that Don Cornelius the host of a local program called "Soul Train", was looking for a new original song to replace King Curtis "Hot Potatoes" he had been using as the show's theme. When the show was getting ready to go national, he was unable to reach an agreement with the heirs of Curtis to secure the rights so when Cornelius ran in to Kenny Gamble and he mentioned his quest for a new theme.

Gamble organized the recording sessions and they put together about half a dozen candidates for the new theme, but one really stood out, "The Sound Of Philadelphia" which got shortened to "TSOP". Some lyrics were written and the Three Degrees were brought in to add their sweet funky harmonies. On the original single release, their voices did not come in until the very end of the song and the words "Soul Train" were not even used. However, these vocals were brought forward in this new remix meant to feature their voices once the song began to hit.

The group decided on the acronym name of MFSB, which was supposed to mean Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, but rumour has it that it actually stood for "Mother F*cking Sons of B*tches", the world may never know. In any case, they created a stone cold disco smash that enhanced the popularity of "Soul Train" which in turn pushed the single to #1 on the pop and R&B charts.


MFSB began to shift allegiance to a new label based in New York called Salsoul run by the Cayre brothers who put the world's most famous band at the forefront of the disco movement.