We're Gonna Make It

The city of brotherly love's musical scene was bursting with energy in the early 1970's. The British invasion was over, and the new music explosion was emanating from large urban cities across America. In Detroit, Berry Gordy's Motown was the "Sound of Young America" and Philly was next with "The Sound of Philadelphia." One of the local Philly vocal groups was the Philly Devotions, consisting of Morris Taylor, Ernest Gibson, Gregory Davis, George Peterson and lead vocalist Matt Covington. The group's first two records were self released, then they moved to local Philly label Don De before graduating to a licensing deal with Columbia Records. As good as any of the better known groups associated with the Philly sound, the Philly Devotions became quite frustrated when their label mates on Gamble and Huff's PIR Records (also distributed by Columbia) were scoring pop and R&B hits, while the Devotions' singles were largely ignored by radio. The frustration became too much to bear and the group eventually disbanded, much to the chagrin of fans who witnessed the blossoming of the newly created Philly sound. Presented here for the first time is a complete collection of the Devotions recordings, capturing all the components that became hallmarks of the early Philly sound.