Tribute To William Hart - Kent 287 - The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You & Sound of Sexy Soul + Booklet (2007) (FLAC)

                                                         THE MAN AND THE GROUP

William Hart was the legendary lead singer and songwriter of The delfonics who passed last week. He was a terrific singer who had a keen interest in singing from a very young age. who also went by the fond nickname "Poogie".  At first, he sang with the local groups in Philadelphia, where he was born. The local groups he used to sing with include ” The Four Gents,” & “The Veltones,”. However, in 1964,  he formed an ” Orphonics ” group with his brother Wilbert and other team members such as Randy Cain and Richie Daniels. This group, “Orphonics,” was later converted to The Delfonics.....They released their first recording, "He Don’t Really Love You b/w Without You" on Moonshot, in August 1966. This was followed by their second recording, "You’ve Been Untrue b/w I Was There" on Cameo, in April 1967. The group then released a single, "La-La - Means i love you" on Philly groove in December 1967, a big hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100. The Delfonics released their first album "La La Means I Love You", in 1968, and 10 more albums followed this. After a long record of delivering successful hits, the group split into two groups in 1975. The first included Major Harris, Wilbert Hart, and Frank Washington, while the other featured William Hart with new members. Harris joined Hart’s group in 1980 alongside Randy Cain and Washington joined Wilbert’s group in 1985. Although the lineup included Hart, Harris, and Washington, they toured as separate trios with additional members. The trio also appeared together on The Arsenio Hall Show in the USA. The Delfonics continued to perform in 1990s and Harris and Washington recorded several numbers. The group reorganized, and all the members continued to tour. Cain later toured with Hart until his demise in 2009. Hart, along with Russell Thompkins Jr. and Ted Mills, recorded a CD, The Three Tenors of Soul posted here a while back. On July 14, 2022, William  passed away at 77. Williams son Hadi revealed that his father was having breathing problems. He was immediately admitted to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he died from complications related to surgery...The man will be missed with his incredible voice.

                                                                   THIS ALBUM

From 1971 onwards, “The Sound Of Philadelphia” dominated black American popular music in much the same way as Motown had done for most of the previous decade, until it moved out of Detroit at the end of the 1960s. Created by a select group of hightly gifted musicians, producers and arrangers, it seemed to arrive from out of nowhere to stamp its influence on all that succeeded it, right up to the end of the 1970s when real musicians suddenly began to find themselves playing second banana to drum machines and/or string and horn sections that could be played on synthesiser keyboards. Of course, nothing arrives completely out of nowhere, and the Philly Sound was actually a slow builder that had its genesis in the mid 60s with the early success of the Intruders. But it was the early records of the Delfonics, arranged and orchestrated by musical genius, Thom Bell, which really began to push the envelope and expand the boundaries of musical creativity in the City Of Brotherly Love. Led by the unique, soaring tenor of William Hart, the Delfonics looked back simultaneously to Philly’s rich doo wop history, and forward to the ‘symphonic soul’ that Thom Bell would continue to create in the next decade, with the Stylistics and the Spinners. The Delfonics’ first Philly Groove hit (mentioned above) was the first really big hit to embrace the new sound   and the first of its kind to reach the top three of the US Hot 100. Follow-ups, followed on and the still-ahead-of-its-time "Ready Or Not Here I Come", saw them and their arranger-producer Bell reach dizzy undreamed  heights of soulful creativity. It was a sad day for soul lovers everywhere when that creative partnership ceased in 1971, not long after they made the record by which all future examples of group soul would be judged "Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time". The two albums on this  Kent CD are the first two released gy them on Philly Groove & of the three that the Bell-Delfonics partnership forged in nearly four years of working together. Their generous blend of hits, should-have-been-hits and expertly chosen revivals is forever enthralling, and will help those who only caught on to the Philly Sound in later years to understand why the Delfonics will always be among the two or three most important acts to ever represent it. two sweet tasters and one of their northern classics to end. One of my all time fave groups, rest in peace William.

AMM & Tony Rounce

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                                                                       The Tasters!