Deep Album Cuts Vol. 263: The Delfonics
Earlier this month, The Delfonics lead singer William "Poogie" Hart died at the age of 77. His brother Wilbert Hart is now the only surviving original Delfonic, and I wanted to look back at their catalog.
The Delfonics deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. You Are Gone
2. Can You Remember
3. Losing You
4. Somebody Loves You
5. Face It Girl, It's Over
6. My New Love
7. You Can't Be Loving Him
8. Everytime I See My Baby
9. I Gave To You
10. Down Is Up, Up Is Down
11. Think About Me
12. Baby I Love You
13. Baby I Miss You
14. Delfonics Theme
15. Round & Round
16. I'm A Man
17. Too Late
18. Start All Over Again
19. Can't Go On Living
20. Your Name
21. The Phoney
22. Forever New
23. Stand Up
24. Silently
Tracks 1, 2 and 3 from La La Means I Love You (1968)
Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 from Sound Of Sexy Soul (1969)
Tracks 9, 10, 11 and 12 from The Delfonics (1970)
Tracks 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 from Tell Me This Is A Dream (1972)
Tracks 18 and 19 from Alive & Kicking (1974)
Tracks 20 and 21 from Delfonics Return (1981)
Track 22 from Forever New (1999)
Tracks 23 and 24 from Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics (2013)
The Delfonics were a big part of the Philadelphia sound that revolutionized R&B in the '70s, recording for the Philly Groove label with producer Thom Bell, who co-wrote most of the originals on their first three albums with William Hart. They didn't have a terribly long run as hitmakers and are generally remembered for their two top 10 hits and the songs that were sampled or interpolated on other artists' hits. But The Delfonics really went for it for a few years, landing 15 songs on the Hot 100 just off of their first four albums.
"Delfonics Theme" appeared on both their self-titled relese and Tell Me This Is A Dream, but the song had more lyrics and I think a better arrangement the second time around on the latter album. A couple of the group's later albums, Alive & Kicking and Delfonics Return, aren't on Spotify in full, although songs from them are available on compilations. Wilbert Hart released a solo album, Fonic Zone, in 2005 that's erroneously listed as a Delfonics album on the group's Wikipedia page.
The Delfonics have been sampled by a lot of modern hip hop and R&B artists, mostly famously when their hit "Ready Or Not Here I Come" inspired classics by the Fugees, Missy Elliott, and Three 6 Mafia. But a lot of their deep cuts have been sampled too -- "I Gave To You" was sampled by Kanye West in Teyana Taylor's "Gonna Love Me," "My New Love" was sampled by Mac Miller, "Round & Round" was sampled by Boot Camp Clik, "You Can't Be Loving Him" was sampled by Skepta, "Start All Over Again" was sampled by Raekwon, and "Your Name" was sampled by Smoke DZA and Pete Rock. In 2013, the Harris brothers made one last Delfonics album together with hip hop producer Adrian Younge. And a lot of the songs from Adrian Younge Presents: The Delfonics also got turned into samples over the next few years: "Stand Up" were sampled by Royce Da 5'9" and DJ Premier, "Silently" was sampled by ScHoolboy Q, and other tracks were sampled by The Alchemist and Ghostface Killah.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Post a Comment