Soul Music.com Archives: Phil Hurtt - A Soulful Tale Of Two Cities
PHIL HURTT (A SOULFUL TALE OF TWO CITIES)
by David Nathan
by David Nathan
- Tale Of Two Cities,” the two-CD set released a few months back on the independent
Soul Renaissance Records which has been a consistent best seller at the Soul Music
Store. The original brainchild of Philly producer/songwriter Phil Hurtt (whose impressive
credits have included hit records on The Spinners, Jackie Moore, Bettye Swann, Sister
Sledge among others), the project brings together some of the most beloved artists
associated with the music of Philadelphia - such as Bunny Sigler, Jean Carne, Ted Mills
(of Blue Magic), Major Harris, Barbara Mason, William Hart (of The Delfonics), Jimmy Ellis
(of The Trammps) and Kathy Sledge – with their counterparts from Detroit including
Lamont Dozier, Freda Payne, Ali ‘Ollie’ Woodson, Bobby Taylor, George Clinton, Carolyn
Crawford and The Velvelettes.
In a unique twist, the Philly folks are singing Motown songs and the Motor City artists are
giving their renditions of material from the City of Brotherly Love with some most
interesting combinations! Prime examples: Jean Carne and Bunny Sigler give the
Teena Marie/Rick James’ classic duet, “Fire & Desire” a veritable workout while the
usually-funky George Clinton turns soulful balladeer for this rendition of the Major Harris
chestnut, “Love Won’t Let Me Wait.”
Hurtt, who worked with Sigler, fellow renowned Philly producer Bobby Eli, Dozier and
former Motown alumnus Clay McMurray as producers for the thirty-song set explains, “I
realized that there was no arena for the people who created this music (from Philly and
Detroit) to write and perform. The idea for doing this stemmed from frustration on my
part: the industry has changed so much and what is called R&B or soul music now is
quite different from what it was. I thought about what it could mean for the artists from
Philadelphia and Detroit as well as for the generations of listeners who don’t even know
them…”
Focusing in on the vision of bringing together Motown and Philly artists that became
clear to him in May 2004, Phil recalls, “I thought I would try the idea out on a friend and it
blew his mind completely! I then went about getting the financing together and checking
to see which artists were available. Unfortunately, we started losing some of the guys
that were on the original wish list like Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Lou Rawls…”
Noting that it was “easier to get to the Philly folks,” Phil began getting the Motown/Detroit
contingent involved starting with Freda Payne and then reaching out to Lamont Dozier,
who not only produced several of the former Motown artists but also sang on tunes like
Billy Paul’s “Me & Mrs Jones” and Teddy Pendergrass’ “Close The Door.” Through
Lamont, Clay McMurray came on board and that resulted in the participation of Bobby
Taylor, who contributed his vocal skills to two O’Jays tunes, “Love Train” and
“Sunshine.”
Probably the biggest challenge was choosing the material from the Philly and Motown
catalogs: “It was difficult!” recalls Phil. “We looked at the vast body of music and finally
selected fifty songs. Then we shared our selections with the artists involved and said,
‘Figure out what you want to do and go do it!’ I did tell the artists, ‘Don’t just do a cover!’
because we wanted each person to bring something to the songs they chose – and to a
man and a woman they did just that. One of the big surprises was having George Clinton
do “Love Won’t Let Me Wait” and seeing what a dramatic change from what might have
been expected. And then, Bunny (Sigler) did Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” in just
one take!”
Phil himself took center stage vocally for The Temptations’ “The Girl’s Alright With Me”
using a big band arrangement: “We definitely tried to make each one a little different
than the original versions. I think it was a little easier for us Philly folks to do the Motown
songs because we grew up on them. We went to Detroit and worked with the Funk
Brothers and the feeling we had in the studio was like we were brothers and sisters. So
many of us had similar stories to share and when people began to leave, there were
tears… It was a real feeling of family, like a love fest. That really touched me. It was an
awesome experience working with everyone. We had a lot of fun and it was wonderful
how easily it all came together. There was no ‘attitude’ and if there was any ego, folks
checked it at the door before they came into the studio. I’ve never experienced anything
like it and working with artists like Jean Carne, who knows what she’s doing, was
great.” Phil’s association with some of the Philly folks goes back: for instance, he wrote
a number of songs and produced soul singers like Jackie Moore and Bettye Swann with
Bunny Sigler and he comments, “we know each other so well from working together, it’s
almost like we know what each other thinks.”
With a total of forty-seven tracks completed, Phil and co. had to cut it back to thirty songs
for the project and when released a few months ago on his Soul Renaissance imprint,
the appropriately-titled “A Soulful Tale Of Two Cities” began getting an immediate
response “especially from buyers in the UK and Japan through online sites like Soul
Tracks, Amazon and CD Baby. We don’t have a million-dollar budget so it’s been all
about word of mouth. We’ve had some radio stations in Chicago, Philly, Detroit and L.A.
playing different tracks and we know there’s a huge demographic out there for this kind
of music. All of the artists want to do a live show of the music but there has to be a
demand for it through the sales. It’s going to take the public letting us know for that to
happen and it’s the same thing with recording new material with the artists on this
project. We just have to let them know the CD is here.” We at Soul Music.com are happy
to do our part in letting Motown and Philly music buyers know that “A Soulful Tale Of
Two Cities” is indeed here and ready for you to purchase at The Soul Music Store!
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