Excellent Double-Sider from Philadelphia’s Broadway Express

Satisfaction and It’s Okay With Me by Broadway Express was released in 1970 on I-D-B Records.
  • Listen to this song in a Spotify playlist here (though note, spotify doesn’t have all / many of the songs featured on the site so some playlists may be incomplete or feature slightly different versions than the original 45s I’m referring to here).
  • Listen to the song on youtube here and here
  • Download the song here

Afternoon All!

Today’s 45 comes to us from The City of Brotherly Love at the dawn of the 70s. Before releasing todays sides The Broadway Express were a Philly group that had cut a really nice 45 with Thom Bell that despite its quality and Thom’s name didn’t break into the national conversation. Lloyd Parks, previously a member of the Philly group The Emanons had just left the Stax group The Epsilons (which featured a young McFadden and Whitehead and were featured on Arthur Conley’s ATCO recordings including the mega-hit “Sweet Soul Music”) after the death of Otis Redding rocked the Memphis/Stax world. Upon returning to Philly he joined up with The Broadway Express and unleashed today’s wonderful sides.

Todays 45 was produced by Sam Reed who later became Musical Director for Teddy Pendergrass and did a lot of horn work for Philadelphia International Records and Norman Harris who you know as a founding member of MFSB, guitarist for Salsoul Orchestra and composer on hit records from The Trammps, Loleatta Halloway, Blue Magic and more. If that’s not an impressive list of credits, I don’t know how to please you. It’s Ok With Me is just a gorgeous and lush side of sweet soul with a beautiful lead by Parks. Satisfaction is a much grittier and uptempo number, not the Northern Soul flavor of their previous release- maybe just a little more Memphis thrown in there. Despite the obvious quality and associated names the record didn’t do much action nationally.

Norman Harris in the mid-70s

Parks left The Broadway Express to join the original lineup of Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes where he joined his childhood friend Teddy Pendergrass to cut some instantly legendary records. He left / was replaced by Jerry Cummings by their third album but would continue recording as a member of The Blue Notes charting with Disco Explosion later in the decade.

Lloyd Parks (bottom left) as a member of Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes

The Broadway Express released one more 45, again produced by the brilliant Norman Harris released on Stan “The Man” Watson’s Philly Groove label but again without making much noise on the charts, that was the last 45 released by the group. Only six sides but they’re all great, from sweet soul and mid-tempo ballads to funky soul, they covered a lot of territory. Having not sold well they’re not terribly common records which is a shame because they’re great sides in my opinion.

That’s all for today, hope you enjoy these sides and check out their other and related work. See you on Friday for a full hour long podcast and next Wednesday for another 45.

Peace,
-George / Snack Attack

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