As the liner notes proclaim, this album is a collection of lost singles from Philadelphia International Records. These 16 singles “failed to chart but stand out as worthy, cool musical moments.”

Well, the statement is mostly true. While many of the tracks here are great and deserve to be better known than they are, some of the 16 should have stayed in the neighborhoods that spawned them.

This point is never clearer than in the opening track, “Hard Workin’ Man” by Pat & The Blenders. It’s not that the song is bad, but it’s a weak offering and far from a track that should open a compilation album arguing that these songs need to be heard. The song would be better served as a 30- or 60-second theme song for a ’70s sitcom. The horn riff is great, as is the rest of the music, but the vocals sound half-assed at best. It’s just a bad way to start this set off.

Contrast that with the second song, “Conquer the World Together” by David Sigler & Dee Dee Sharp, which is one of the best here. Over a nervous bass line juxtaposed with a cool, calm string section are two of the best vocal performances on this disc. The call-and-response between Sigler and Sharp is fantastic.

Actually, it should come as no surprise that a Sigler track is one of the best here, as Sigler is a bandleader of this record label. He wrote or produced six of the 16 tracks here, and those six are among the best of the collection.

That said, the disc is a real hit-or-miss, with the misses usually resulting from a bad decision rather than simply bad songwriting. Case in point; “Makin’ Up Time (Parts 1 & 2)” by Frankie & the Spindles lasts just under eight minutes for no apparent reason beyond Frankie wailing about time for minutes on end as an outro. Realistically, two minutes could be eliminated without losing anything important. Admittedly, it’s a great single otherwise.

Sometimes, however, the decision to go outside the normal soul format works wonders. As “Ruby’s Surprise Party” by Ruby & the Party Gang obstinately demonstrates, actual singing is not necessarily required for a song to be great. Instead, over a mid-tempo groove, Ruby and various backup singers utilize call-and-response via spoken word, wherein Ruby is hit on or complained to by various guys. She procedes to diss them all in turn, which is accompanied by hooting and hollering from the other guys. The originality of this song as a whole is paralleled only by the music itself.

One of the overall strengths of the disc is the balance between ballads and up-tempo numbers. Sure, PIR may have pigeonholed itself as a soul-music-only label which limited its output, but inside that limitation was almost endless potential, as seen on this compilation.

The production is also pitch-perfect. No instrument dominates any other and, for all the talk of these singles not being received well by the public, they all sound spectacular.

If you are looking for an introduction to Philly Soul, I would recommend a compilation disc with well-known hits on it. If, however, you already know your way around this sub-genre and are looking for great Philly Soul records that aren’t gold (or even close), this is a good place to start.

3 stars out of 5