258 Hello The Three Degrees - Year of Decision

Chart  entered : 13  April  1974

Chart  peak : 13

Number  of  hits : 15

When  precisely  "Philly  soul"  became  indistinguishable  from  "disco"  is  unanswerable  but  I  think  The  Three  Degrees  have  a  good  claim  to  be  disco's  first  representatives  here. My  ten  hits  rule  isn't  particularly  kind  to  the  genre  with  Tina  Charles, Fatback  Band, Tavares, Candi  Staton  and  Brass  Construction  to  name  but  a  few  who  just  miss  out.

The  Three  Degrees  are  another  group  who  served  a  long  apprenticeship  in  the  sixties. They  formed  around  1963  in  Philadelphia, the  original  line  up  being  Fayette  Pinkney,  Linda  Turner  and  Shirley  Porter  and  were  soon  adopted  by  songwriter  and  producer  Richard  Barrett  who'd  had  success  with  Frankie  Lymon  and  the  Teenagers  amongst  others. Before  they  got  to  record  anything  Turner  and  Porter  were  replaced  by  Helen  Scott  and  Janet  Harmon.  They  recorded  a  string  of  rather  dreary  doo  wop  singles  with  Barrett  on  Swan  Records  in  1964-65  ( "Gee  Baby" which  reached  number  80  in  the  US , "I'm  Gonna  Need  You", " Close  Your  Eyes"  and  "Look  In  My  Eyes" which  reached  number  97 )  and  a  dull, mainly  spoken  word , cover  of  The  Chantels' "Maybe"  at  the  beginning  of  1966. Another  iron  in  Barrett's  fire  was  16  year  old  solo  singer   Sheila  Ferguson, a  Marvin  Gaye  who  wrote  some  of  her  material  herself.  She  recorded  four  singles  with  Barrett  in  1965 , "How  Did  That  Happen"  a  Supremes-ish  pop  number  on  which  she  sounds  very  adenoidal, the  partly  self-penned  ballad   "Don't  ( Leave  Me  Lover )"  a  Dionne  Warwick  impersonation, "And  In  Return"  ,a  mid-tempo  R  &  B  groover  and  the  Northern  Soul  favourite  "Heartbroken  Memories "  which  significantly  was  partly  written  by  Leon  Huff.

In  1966  the  pregnant  Scott  left  the  group  and  Sheila  was  drafted  in  as  her  replacement. She  made  an  immediate  impact  and  the  sprightly  "Tales  Are  True"  is  much  closer  to  her  previous  work  than  theirs. The  Supremes-like  "Love  Of  My  Life"  with  its  odd  xylophone  riffs  was  their  last  single  for  Swan  in  August  1966. It  was  also  the  last  recording  to  feature  Harmon  who  left  early  in  1967. After  trying  out  a  couple  of  other  singers  on  tour  they  recruited Valerie  Holiday  to  replace  her, completing  the  "classic"  line  up.

Success  was  still  some  way  off  though. For  the  next  few  years  they  label-hopped  in  search  of  that  elusive  hit. Their  next  single  "Contact"  from  May  1968  came  out  on  Warner  Brothers  and  sounds  like  something  from  Hair.   The  following  year  they  were  on  Micromedia  with  a  Northern  Soul  cover  of  Joe  South's  "Down  In  The  Boondocks"  in  March  1969  which  is  pretty  good  with  some  great  drumming. I  haven't  heard  the  follow  up  "The  Feeling  Of  Love"  from  July.

As  the  decade  turned  they  signed  with  Kenny  Gamble  and  Leon  Huff's  Neptune  label  and  recorded  their   over-busy  "What  I  See"  which  was  was  co-written  with  arranger  Thom  Bell. It  was  released  in  February  1970.  When  it  failed  they  moved  on  to  Roulette  and  released  an  R  &  B  version  of  "Melting  Pot" in  March  1970.  Oddly  it  was  a  re-recording  of  their  1966  single  "Maybe " with  Valerie  doing  the  lead  vocal  that  gave  them  their  commercial  breakthrough  by  reaching  number  29  in  the  US. The  album  of  the same  name  reached  number  139. The  gospel-y  follow up "I  Do  Take  You"  reached  number  48  and  the  James  Brown  funk  ( with  proto-rapping )  of  "You're  The  One"  got  to  77 . The  bass-heavy  soul  of  "There's  So  Much  Love  All Around  Me"  scraped  to 98  in  1971  and  then  the  hits  stopped     once  more  despite  a  brief  appearance  in  The  French  Connection.

An  over-produced  cover  of  "Ebb  Tide" , the  preachy  Diana  Ross-like  "Trade  Winds"  , the  resurrected  doo  wop  number from  the  Swan  period   "I  Wanna  Be  Your  Baby"   and  Arethra-esque  soul  shouter  "I  Won't  Let  You  Go"  made  no  impression  and  their  time  on  Roulette  came  to  an  end.

Barrett  then  signed  them  to  Gamble  and  Huff's  label  Philadelphia  International. The  duo  wrote  their  singles, Sheila  was  pushed  forward  as  the  lead  singer  and  the  girls  were  persuaded  to  wear  less  clothes. Their  first  single  for  the  label in  September  1973, "Dirty  Ol' Man ", a  brash  pop  soul  number  directing  a  lech  away  was  a  big  hit  in  the  Low  Countries.

In  the  UK  ( though  not  the  US )  the  follow-up  was  this  one. "Year  of  Decision"  isn't  their  strongest  song  but  it  hammers  a  strong  melodic  hook  often  enough  to  force  a  submission. The  brief  references  to  black  consciousness  and  avoiding  drugs  in  the  verses  get  a  bit  lost  amidst  Norman  Harris's  brass  and  strings, the  upbeat  melody  and  the  girls'  close  harmonies. They  would  shortly  hit  the  top  of  the  US  Charts  in  a  bit  part  role  on  their  backing  band  MFSB 's   TSOP  ( The  Sound  of  Philadelphia )  but    this  is  the  one  that  broke  them  over  here.