Having made their way through doo-wop, the early '60s folk scare and neo-operatic pop, PBS is turning to Philly soul to fill its coffers.
On Saturday, a New Jersey  concert headlined by Jerry Butler, the Delfonics, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, the Intruders and the O'Jays will filmed in hi-def for broadcast on PBS stations and, soon thereafter, sold on DVD. Concert, taking place at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, will also feature Bunny Sigler, G.C. Cameron, the Soul Survivors, Jean Carne, Russell Thompkins Jr. & the New Stylistics, the Three Degrees and Bill Jolly.
PBS will premiere the first one-hour special "Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia" as part of December's  Pledge Week with repeat broadcasts slated to run through 2009.  The "Love Train" Pledge Week broadcasts will offer PBS subscribers the "Love Train" companion DVD as well as selections from the Legacy Recordings Philadelphia International Recordings reissue catalog.  The second one-hour special will be scheduled for pledge broadcast in 2009.
The "Love Train: Sound of Philadelphia" DVD (SD and Blu-ray) will include bonus tracks, interviews with the featured artists, and a documentary on the history of Kenny  Gamble & Leon Huff.
While the evening will naturally be devoted to the hits, one  can hope the Three Degrees will perform one of the greatest "jail bait rejects pass from married man" songs ever record.

The overdue induction of two architects of Philadelphia soul into the Rock and Hall of Fame syncs nicely with the 45th anniversary of the meeting of producer-songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.
For the uninitiated, Gamble & Huff personified soul music in the 1970s, created a distinct energy and sultriness in the sound that crossed over consistently in the days of less regimented radio. They took the Motown model, which was crumbling as the label shifted to L.A. from Detroit, and extended it to encompass albums as well as singles on their Philadelphia International Records label. G&H made the soul equivalent of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” with the O’Jays’ “Ship Ahoy,” an album filled with lengthy, sonically shifting tracks that connected together thematically. Disco was their commercial downfall, but the best of their songs have not only aged gracefully, ther commercial vitality has become enhanced over time.
Sony BMG’s Legacy Recordings, which inked a deal with Gamble and Huff last year, is preparing to re-release their Philadelphia International recordings in droves. Gamble and Huff,  being inducted Monday as non-performers in the Hall, have been tubthumping the catalog since Grammy week, when a reception for them attracted the likes of Jimmy Jam, Elvis Costello and Billy Paul as the party turned into a performance, demonstration and master class.
This week saw the release of a hits and misses packages: "The Sound of Philadelphia: Gamble & Huff's Greatest Hits" features tracks by the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Billy Paul, the Three Degrees and others; "Conquer The World: The Lost Soul of Philadelphia International Records" features lesser-known PIR artists such as Bunny Sigler, Ruth McFadden, the Soul Devaliants and Love Committee.
“One of the unique things about Gamble and me, we tailored (songs) for specific artists,” Huff says. “It was time to work for Billy Paul, time for the Three Degrees. Everything was specifically for a certain artist. The publishing company was called Tailor Made, that’s how specific it was.”
The doors opened by Cameo-Parkway, the first famous Philly record company in the rock era, were filled literally and figuratively by Gamble and Huff. Gamble credits the C-P model as a key to their structure; after their early success, Philadelphia Int’l purchased the building that housed Cameo-Parkway and made it the PIR headquarters.
“Cameo-Parkway really was a major force with Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp,” Gamble notes. “We grew up on that environment. Now, every time I go in, I swear I see the ghosts (of the former stars)."