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Apr 20, 2012 Web Exclusive By Kenny S. McGuane

During the 1970s, Philadelphia International Records released some of the best and most memorable pop music of the last century. Fact. Golden Gate Groove documents what some consider to be one of the most important nights in showbiz history, when a handful of Philadelphia International Records’ best and brightest performed for a mainly white, and somewhat skeptical, convention of CBS record execs. The O’Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Three Degrees, and Billy Paul all played with the venerated Philadelphia International Records house band, MFSB, and evidently blew the lid off the Fairmont Hotel in June of 1973. The concert was so explosive that it convinced naysayers at CBS to dive headfirst into promoting what later became known, worldwide, as the “Sound of Philadelphia.”

The music performed that night in San Francisco is presented and preserved here, at last. But given how fondly the night is remembered, and how important historians have said it was, the full effect is only barely felt here on compact disc, nearly 40 years after it was recorded. The performances are polished and energized, but Golden Gate Groove seems to lose its impact without any visual aids. Of course it’s unlikely that evening was captured on film, and so we’re left with using our imaginations to fill in the gaps. The sleeve notes feature an excellent essay by author and music historian Ashley Kahn, but the rest of the packaging leaves a lot to be desired. Point is, if this night was as important as we’re supposed to believe, then this recording deserves much, much more. (www.legacyrecordings.com)

Author rating: 5/10