Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)

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    "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)"

    [Song written by Thom Bell and William Hart]

    A recent addition to this slot featured the Frankie Beverly classic ‘Joy and Pain.' Beverley was born in Philadelphia in 1946 and only a year separates his birth from that of one of the many artists who, over the last thirty years, has brought us this latest Smooth Soul Survivor.  He is fellow Pennsylvania native Norman Connors and the track, made famous by the Delfonics, is ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time.'

    "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)"

    [Song written by Thom Bell and William Hart]

    A recent addition to this slot featured the Frankie Beverly classic ‘Joy and Pain.' Beverley was born in Philadelphia in 1946 and only a year separates his birth from that of one of the many artists who, over the last thirty years, has brought us this latest Smooth Soul Survivor.  He is fellow Pennsylvania native Norman Connors and the track, made famous by the Delfonics, is ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time.'

    History shows that the so called ‘Philadelphia' sound has provided to be a rich vein in the establishment of the genre that here we like to call Smooth Soul Survivors.  It was the producing and writing partnership of Gamble and Huff who took much of the credit for what came from this particular bi-product of soul and disco.  However, it was another ‘Philly' producer, Thom Bell, who was influential in developing the distinctive lush and seductive sound of a number of groups linked to the stable.  One was the Spinners and another was the Delfonics who had hits on both sides of the Atlantic in 1971 with ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time'.

    The original Delfonics line up was formed in Philadelphia in 1965.  They comprised brothers Wilbert and William Hart together with high school friend Randy Cain and the threesome quickly established a local reputation for their smooth harmonies. 

    ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time' was written by Wilbert Hart and Thom Bell, just one of a string of hits enjoyed by the Delfonics in the early seventies but, when the chart success began to slow, Randy Cain opted to leave the band and was replaced by Major Harris.  Harris himself moved on in 1975 to advance a solo career and with his departure the Delfonics slipped away from sight.  Despite their early demise ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time' has endured, becoming a genuine Philly classic and appearing on many compilation and show case albums over the intervening years.

    The track also enjoys a place in motion picture history.  Quentin Tarantino, of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction fame, who is also known as a connoisseur of pop culture, used the number in his momentous 1997 movie Jackie Brown.  It forms the backdrop to the emerging relationship between the characters played by the actors Pam Grier and Robert Forster.  In the film Forster is so taken by the track, and the character Jackie Brown, that he is even seen buying the cassette The Delfonics Greatest Hits so he can listen to the tune and think of her.  Obviously the recording can be found on the soundtrack album Jackie Brown - Music from the Motion Picture that is packed with great soul classics including Bobby Womack's ‘Across 110th Street'.

    Interestingly, while the music of Philadelphia was making stars out of the Delfonics, at the same time and in the same city drummer and composer Norman Connors was enjoying his greatest chart successes with a string of R & B and soul offerings.  He had started out as a major protagonist of jazz and at the age of 13 was even dressing in the style of his idol Miles Davies.  He recorded with Pharaoh Sanders but in the mid seventies turned his attention to R & B.  In this period Connors worked with Jean Carn and Phyllis Hyman but his most notable success came with his own composition, the 1976 smooth and soulful ‘You Are My Starship' which featured Michael Henderson on vocals.

    Connors made something of a come back in the 90's, a period that coincided with him signing to the MoJazz label, and there is no doubt that the style and skills of Connors are well suited to the modern phenomenon that is smooth adult contemporary jazz.  He featured ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time' on his 2000 album Eternity and this version can also be found on the September 2000 compilation Ocean Drive from Jazz FM Records.

    Millie Jackson had a minor hit with the tune in 1980 and New Kids On The Block made it part of their 1987 debut release.  A personal favourite is by Regina Belle from a personal favourite CD, the excellent 1995 Reachin Back.  The Delfonics original appears on no less than ninety eight separate CD's, but first came from their 1970 self titled long player that was their fourth but the first to break into the top 100 pop album chart.  It reached number 61 and over the following two years spawned five hit singles.

    Thirty five years on, ‘Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time' is a genuine Smooth Soul Survivor.

    Denis Poole.  August 2005.See other Smooth Soul Survivors