The Delfonics

The Delfonics were the agents by which producer Thom Bell crafted a new subgenre of soul. Blending lush, pop-influenced orchestrations with a group harmony approach (complete with soaring, romantic tenor leads) updated from the '50s doo-wop aesthetic, Bell and the Delfonics were the pioneers who blazed the trail in the late '60s for the Philly Soul explosion of the '70s.

Formed in Philadelphia, the Delfonics were high-school buddies who came together as the Orphonics in the early '60s, led by Washington, D.C.-born vocalist-songwriter William "Poogie" Hart. The original lineup included lead vocalist Hart, his brother Wil-bert singing baritone, Ricky Johnson singing bass, and second tenor Richard Daniels. In 1965, Daniels and Johnson left, and the Harts added tenor man Randy Cain and moved on as a trio.

In 1968 Bell and the Delfonics cut William Hart's "La La Means I Love You" (the title sentiment was inspired by a phrase Hart heard his young son utter one night), a song that combined Bell's symphonic soul arrangement, the trio's close-knit harmonizing, and Hart's smooth, seductive lead vocal. "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)" put the trio back on the charts in 1969, in advance of its defining, and monster, hit, 1970's "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)," a Top 10 pop single that was even bigger than its chart position, or its Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance of 1970, indicated. It was most certainly the first pop hit to put the phrase "blow your mind" into a romantic context, free of even the most remote drug connotations, and Hart's gently pleading, soft-as-satin reading of the lyric "I gave my heart and soul to you, girl/Now didn't I do it, baby, didn't I do it, baby."

The group's eponymous fourth album, led by "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)," yielded no less than five hit singles (out of only 10 cuts), and stands as the definitive statement of the Delfonics-Thom Bell collaboration. For one, the trio was at its absolute vocal peak in these sessions, love men to the hilt on the ballads, and testosterone-fueled go-getters on frantic uptempo fare such as "Funny Feeling," a soul workout spiced with psychedelic flourishes. Even nonsingle tracks that may have been intended as filler reveal the trio's pride in craftsmanship and ability to wring all the emotion out of a lyric -- witness the breathtaking flight of William Hart's falsetto on "Delfonics' Theme (How Could You)," a rather drab title masking a potent performance.

Long after the Delfonics disbanded, William Hart resurfaced in 1990, along with Major Harris and another vocalist, Frank Washington, and returned to the studio to cut the album Forever New for the Volt label. Harris, and especially Hart, were in good form vocally, but the album sounds dated. Producer Fred Pittman, who also cowrote a number of the songs, seemed ready to relegate the reconstituted Delfonics to the Vegas lounge circuit with his and Preston Glass's stillborn, simplistic arrangements and melodramatic lyrics better suited for a Hallmark greeting card than for vocalists of Hart's and Harris' stature.

One could do worse than to buy The Delfonics and leave it at that. But then, the Buddha/BMG re-issues of the group's other two Bell-produced early albums, The Sound of Sexy Soul and its debut, La La Means I Love You, merit close inspection as well. The latter contains Top 40 hits ("I'm Sorry," "Break Your Promise") and a couple of interesting covers of Hal David/Burt Bacharach songs ("Alfie" and "The Look of Love") that seem to be Bell's way of tipping his hat to one of his primary influences. Like the other Buddha/BMG reissues, new liner notes bring the listener up to speed on the course of the Delfonics' career and the music at issue, and complete discography info is published as well.

The Sound of Sexy Soul , the group's second album (the third was a greatest-hits album), contains a few more crossover hits in "Somebody Loves You" and "Ready or Not Here I Come," and some inspired cover choices among its dozen tracks. Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar" is done close to the Motown style of Gaye's original single, oddly enough, whereas "Scarborough Fair" finds Bell and the trio dabbling in psychedelia, albeit less effectively than they would on The Delfonics' "Funny Feeling." Finally, for those who prefer their Delfonics straight, no ephemera, Arista's aptly titled La-La Means I Love You: The Definitive Collection is the winning ticket. All the hits are here, supplemented by the cream of the album tracks, including "Delfonics' Theme (How Could You)." (DAVID MCGEE)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide