Do The Continental

Regular readers of this blog will know that I likes me some of that sweet Philly Soul stuff. Luckily there's still plenty of great music to be discovered for those who want a Philly fix that goes beyond the usual suspects - there's The Continental IV for instance. They recorded for the Jay-Walking label in the early 70s but weren't all that successful for some reason, their biggest hit was "Day By Day (Every Minute of the Hour)" in 1971 which got to #19 on the R&B charts. Shame, lead singer Freddie Kelly has a sweet falsetto that's as good as anyone and a sublime groover like "The Way I Love You" deserved to be a smash. Maybe they just had the dumb luck to be recording in the same city at the same time as The Delfonics, The Stylistics, The Manhattans etc. etc. and got lost in the crowd, or maybe Jay-Walking was just too small potatoes in comparison to Philadelphia International (even though this was recorded at Sigma Sound it does have a less polished, more "indie" feel to it). Whatever, it's a wonderful record with harmonies that are to die for.

There's only one Continental IV album available, a collection of singles called Dream World. Curiously it doesn't include this track (and I know this was a single), but that's available on Northern Soul Forever.

[Download]
The Way I Love You - The Continental IV