The Sound of Philadelphia
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This publication has a striking front cover of 'The Three Degrees' watching the performance of some sharp suited Italian Crooner. It contains lots of interesting photographs, interviews and poster reproductions from the time. It is a great pity that Methuen have chosen to cut corners and reproduce it on the cheapest possible paper. The lifespan of paper is supposed to be 100 years, yet my copy is already going yellow and curling up at the edges after only 25 years. Credit must go to Tony Cummings for being ahead of his time in the green stakes, but as a purchaser of his product I would have liked it to have kept a little better. I can vividly remember being disappointed with this book when I first bought it in the mid-seventies. Now, reading it for the second time I feel exactly the same. Given that the book is well researched, well written and about a topic I am deeply interested in I was puzzled as to why this should be so. After careful consideration however I think I have come up with two reasons for it. Although it is clearly aimed at the 'soul' market the book is about much more than that, it is about the history of music in Philadelphia in all its diversity. There is a chapter about semi-classical singers such as Mario Lanza, Gospel Singers such as 'The Davies Sisters', Doowop groups such as 'The Castelles', Jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, crooners like Al Martino and Rock and Roll stars such as 'The Virtues'. In short we're nearly halfway through the book before Soul music gets the slightest sniff. Because it has been organised chronologically I had to wade through seventy pages of this other stuff before I got to the parts I wanted and by this time my concentration was unquestionably starting to wane. The second weakness of this book is its lack of human interest. There are lots of interviews with the personalities involved as their rises and declines are accurately charted. To his credit Tony Cummings does not just concern himself with the major acts, but the minor ones as well. The problem with this approach is that even the big players are afforded little more than half a page. Although this gives the book a balanced perspective the reader never finds out enough about any of them to feel any real empathy. I doubt very much if this book is still in print, but if it is it is well worth getting. It is factual, well written and informative, but the reader must bear in mind it is about Philadelphia music as a whole and not exclusively soul. If the reader is prepared for that and can maintain his concentration then there is much to be gleaned from its pages. |
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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