Crate Digger’s Gold: Wake Up Everybody – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

If you have ever heard reference to The Philadelphia Sound with regard to soul music or heard of the production team of Gumble and Huff – this is the definitive example of that genre.  Despite the name of the group, the real star here was Teddy Pendergrass.   He had a deep soulful voice with just a touch of sandpaper.  The music was soul with a touch of disco.  Big arrangements – Gumble and Huff were not afraid of using an orchestra to sweeten the sound.

The huge hit here was “Wake Up Everybody,” which young audiences might recognize from the recent John Legend and the Roots cover.

I bought a reissue on CD a few years ago and played it to death.  I recently hit a garage sale and found what is likely a 1975 original vinyl edition in reasonable shape for $1.00 (thank goodness for the Nitty Gritty Record Cleaning machine).  And dig that cover – that is worth it alone even if the album was in poor condition.