Philly Soul

The Philly soul sound is defined by lush arrangements, often borrowing upon the orchestral instrumentation (mostly the strings and brass) seen on productions from the 1960s period, with the commercial atmosphere exemplified by Pop Soul and the Motown Sound. Some of the most popular songs were in ballad format as a result, precursing the Smooth Soul subgenre. Later productions then drew more influence of Funk's compositional features. It originated with the activity from the Philly Groove Records label and then developed further in the 1970s by Philadelphia International Records. Although there are musical acts related to the genre that aren't from the city, the sound's development mostly was localized there. Having its peak on the early 1970s, philly soul declined around the second half of the decade with the rise of popularity of the more commercial soul subgenres, but also with Disco, which succeeded on the prominent orchestration of the genre and gave it a more club-friendly atmosphere which was then globalized. AKA: Philadelphia SoulPhiladelphia SoundThe Sound of PhiladelphiaTSOP