To my shame, I'd never heard Love Epidemic before either! It made even less headway in the UK single charts than in the US! Plenty of other Philly acts had hit singles in the UK of course, but the only act associated with the label to regularly trouble the album charts was The Three Degrees. I've been watching a series called The Battle For Black Music on the BBC in which Gamble and Huff speak positively of their distribution deal with CBS, but in the UK at least the conglomerate had a lousy reputation for marketing black music.
The fact that it wasn't even a hit in the UK was indeed remarkable Paul. Even more because, as I wrote, it's the off-shore pirate stations that made it into a hit in the Benelux. And the UK had those also. The role of the record company could be the difference here. Thanks for sharing & reading.
I never heard this song before today! Of course, like most Americans, I only knew The Trammps' "Disco Inferno." I can definitely hear the sound of Philadelphia though. It reminds me a bit of The O-Jay's "Backstabbers" and many others from the time.
To my shame, I'd never heard Love Epidemic before either! It made even less headway in the UK single charts than in the US! Plenty of other Philly acts had hit singles in the UK of course, but the only act associated with the label to regularly trouble the album charts was The Three Degrees. I've been watching a series called The Battle For Black Music on the BBC in which Gamble and Huff speak positively of their distribution deal with CBS, but in the UK at least the conglomerate had a lousy reputation for marketing black music.
The fact that it wasn't even a hit in the UK was indeed remarkable Paul. Even more because, as I wrote, it's the off-shore pirate stations that made it into a hit in the Benelux. And the UK had those also. The role of the record company could be the difference here. Thanks for sharing & reading.
I remember first hearing this about fifteen years ago and being shocked it wasn't a bigger hit.
Thanks for reading & sharing Mark !
I never heard this song before today! Of course, like most Americans, I only knew The Trammps' "Disco Inferno." I can definitely hear the sound of Philadelphia though. It reminds me a bit of The O-Jay's "Backstabbers" and many others from the time.
That's Earl Young you hear :-) He was the drummer on both. Thanks for reading Dan !