Sound Experience – The Soulville Collection (Best of)

SOUND EXPERIENCE/Philly Golden Classics: Collectables 5502
Sound Experience were formed in Baltimore but they found success in Philadelphia.
The group got together in 1970, at Morgan State College, in Baltimore. They began playing around that area, building a steady following before trying to find national success. Their shot at that came from Stan Watson, owner of Philly Groove Records.

By the time Watson began working with the group, in 1974, he had racked up a long string of hits on Philly Groove with the Delfonics and First Choice. He started that company after dealing with Cameo-Parkway, the Philadelphia institution that had issued some early Delfonics records before going out of business in early 1968.

With Cameo gone, the Delfonics were left without a label and manager Watson went into business along with writing and producing whiz Thom Bell to form Philly Groove. The Delfonics would have almost 20 chart records for Watson’s label while the disco-oriented First Choice had another half-dozen for the company.

As Philadelphia became a major recording center in the early ’70s, numerous singers and musicians gravitated to the City of Brotherly Love. One bunch was Sound Experience, a rather large group with a membership that included Reginald Wright, Leroy Frailing, Anton Scott, Melvin Miles, Johnny Froman, Gregory Holmes, James Lindsey and lead singer Arthur Grant. They specialized in hard-edged soul music with a distinct rock ’n‘ roll flavor, described by one writer as a „wah-wah electricism“.

Watson once acknowledged it was „kind of difficult“ to break the Sound Experience, but he did succeed with one record, „Don’t Fight The Feeling“, although the group did cut some good material. They even recorded an album later in their career for the GST label, reportedly cut live at the Glen Mills Reform School.

The group’s eclectic style is evident in this collection, which features work done for Watson and his Soulville label.

Liner Notes by: Marl Marymont