Stream the album on Spotify Here
* FIRST-TIME-REISSUE OF 1975 FAMILY BAND SOUL LP *
– Sounds of The Delfonics, The Stylistics,
Curtis Mayfield, The O’Jays and Marvin Gaye.
– Heavy use of the instrument, the Mellotron;
rarely heard in Soul and R&B records.
– Brewerytown Beats second reissue after philly
jazz collective ‘Sounds of Liberation.’
– Put together in collaboration with the group
and original producers: with gatefold packaging, limited-edition coloured
vinyl, new liner notes and never-before-seen group photos.
– Separate 45 including a remix of the album’s opening track, ‘Message,’ from Philly DJ, FROZ1.
Brewerytown Beats proudly presents a soul LP born in their backyard; the highly
sought after 1975 release ‘I’ll Get Over It’ by North Philly’s own, The
Thompsons. Philly has a ridiculously long and storied history of putting
out world-changing soul music and much of it is well known. But for every
Philly International Records smash there was a neighborhood crew who sweated it
out for years in local bars and VFW halls: many never even making it to seeing
their names on a shiny vinyl platter. The Thompsons were somewhere
closer to the latter category despite putting out one unique and deep R&B
platter in 1975. They did indeed put it to the wax plateau but in the past 45
years it had sadly faded from the city’s soul history.
The Thompsons
had quite a family – 10 children: seven brothers and three sisters. Growing up
on North 25th Street in North Philly many of them sang. Like many other soul
legends they came up singing in the church. By their early teens, three of the
brothers – Cornelius (aka Lefty), Sylvester (aka Lightbulb) and Bill
– joined up in a quartet with friend and “honorary Thompson” Sandy Andersen.
They went to Vaux Junior High and started making waves at talent shows.
From their early high school years the four-piece vocal group were managed by school friend Eric Ward and by 1974 Ward met an up-and-coming musician and producer, Tyrone Broxton: a classmate of Ward’s at West Philly High. After months of rehearsals and intermittent gigs they decided to drive forward and put out a full-length album. None of the young musicians had experience in the record business but they had talent and energy to spare. Broxton and Ward found a studio in New Jersey – Century Productions in Sayreville – and songwriting work began in earnest.
Originally self-released on Ward and Broxton’s BCW
Records label (with a run of the 300 copy production minimum) it remains
one of the rarest Philly soul gems of the ‘70s; long sought-after by R&B
spelunkers. Thankfully, Brewerytown Beats storeowner, Max
Ochester, met the group and its producers in 2019 (the West Girard record
store is blocks from The Thompsons’s childhood home) and immediately set
about getting the album reissued.
Although the group haven’t performed together as
a quartet since the early 1980s there have been some rumblings that (and with
the help of BrewerytownBeats who recently spurred a renaissance
local jazz legends Sounds of Liberation) we may be hearing more of their
sweet sounds on wax and on stages in 2020. Until then, however, lose yourself
in their one and only release from 45 years ago – it’s easy to do and well
worth the time.

Track List |
Side A A1 Message A2 Seems Like I’ve Known you A3 I’ll Always Love You A4 Invincible | Side B B1 I’ll Get Over It B2 Love In Her Eyes B3 We Love To Sing B4 Gotta Get Down to Ever Get Up |