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1976
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"...Sweet Sticky Thing..."
After 10 albums of
hard-hitting Funk-Soul since their 1969 debut on Capitol Records and with
renewed success on Mercury Records – Dayton's OHIO PLAYERS were due a 'Best Of'
and 1976's compilation album "Gold" fitted the bill nicely. Armed
with nine chart hits including four monster No.1 singles - "Fire”,
"Love Rollercoaster", "Sweet Sticky Thing" and "Who'd
She Coo?" and one new track "Feel The Beat (Everybody Disco)" –
it's hardly surprising that the gatefold LP climbed to No. 2 on the US R 'n' B
album charts in November 1976.
This clever and
brill-sounding 2015 CD reissue from England’s Beat Goes On Records lumps that
classic together with a lesser-heard 1978 platter called "Mr. Mean"
where their dominance of the Soul/Funk scene was beginning to wane (although
the music was still cool). Here are the dudes with big hats, funky horns and
album covers with ladies wearing very little else....
UK released August 2015
(September 2015 in the USA) – "Gold/Mr. Mean" by OHIO PLAYERS on Beat
Goes On Records BGOCD 1218 (Barcode 5017261212184) is a Compilation that offers 2LPs Remastered on 1CD and breaks down
as follows (79:39 minutes):
1. Feel The Beat (Everybody
Disco)
2. Love Rollercoaster
3. I Want To Be Free
4. Fopp
5. Far East Mississippi
6. Skin Tight
7. Fire [Side 2]
8. Sweet Sticky Thing
9. Jive Turkey (Part 1)
10. Only A Child Can Love
11. Who'd She Coo?
Tracks 1 to 11 are the
compilation LP "Gold" – released November 1976 in the USA on Mercury
SRM-1-1122 and in the UK on Mercury 9100 030
12. Mr. Mean
13. Fight Me, Chase Me
14. The Controller's Mind
15. The Big Score
16. Magic Trick [Side 2]
17. Good Luck Charm
18. Speak Easy
Tracks 12 to 18 are the
album "Mr. Mean" – released January 1978 in the USA on Mercury
SRM-1-3707 (no UK release).
You get the tasty card
slipcase and a 16-page booklet with new liner notes by noted Mojo contributor
and genre expert CHARLES WARING along with full album credits and photos from
the album covers. ANDREW THOMPSON has carried out the 2015 remasters at Sound
Performance in London and the audio (as you might expect) punches like a mule –
especially when you’re getting your speakers hammered with those big brassy
sections and that Marshall Jones Bass thumping backbeat that so many admire and
love.
Collating together all the
hits from the Mercury years (begins 1974) - the "Gold" compilation
hits you with no less than eight chart smashes – a rare B-side and one new
song. It opens with the passable newbie "Feel The Beat (Disco
Everywhere)" which just about scraped Number 19 - but things go Funky
Central with the wicked "Love Rollercoaster". Both it and the other
infectious Number 1 "Sweet Sticky Thing" were lifted off the August
1975 album "Honey" (also featured "Fopp") – an album sleeve with a naked lady slurping
from a large jar of – well – honey.
The Side 2 opener
"Fire" also charged up to the top of the charts (December 1974) while
"I Want To Be Free" hit a respectable No. 6 in April 1975 (both taken
from the "Fire" album of November 1974). But I'd forgotten just how
socially conscious they were – hitting both your head and your heart with the
superb groove of "Far East Mississippi" – Charles Satchell doing the
vocal huffing and puffing while Leroy "Sugar" Bonner licks that
Harmonica. "Skin Tight" has that Steely Dan brass section thing going
too. Also included on the "Gold" compilation was the mid-tempo
talking smooch of "Only A Child Can Love" - a non-album B-side to the
7" of "Far East Mississippi" which rose to No. 26 on the R&B
singles chart in late November 1976. It ends on the "...Are you
ready..." Funk of "Who'd She Coo?" – a party animal of a groove
and a deserved Number 1.
The "Mr. Mean"
album (recorded in 1977) sees the songs stretch out into seven and nine-minute
workouts – and despite not having any hit singles – it still managed a healthy
No. 11 placing on the US R’n’B album charts in the first week of 1978. Both the
title track and "Fight Me, Chase Me" are heavy on the brass with the
second cut even having some fusion stuff going on in there. "The
Controller's Mind" is one and half minutes of synth and drum machines
searching for a groove but ends up feeling kind of pointless. Side 1 finishes
on the 7:35 minutes of "The Big Score" – a Funky Tour de Force where
the frantic pace is filled out with synth fills and brass runs.
"Magic
Trick" comes closest to the magic combo of old – a Funky Groove with
'yow!' vocals and those chunky brass arrangements (the remaster is fabulous
too). But for me this has always been a one-track album - the wonderful and
sexy groove of "Good Luck Charm" which at 9:35 minutes feels epic
(loving those slinky keyboard runs). It opens with drums rolls, has some
"Sugar" vocals but eventually settles into a Guitar Groove with the
Saxophone that lasts forever - the kind of slinky tune that has punters rushing
to the counters of Soul shops everywhere wanting to know who it is...
So there you have it – a
killer compilation and an album that has its moments. I don't know if I'd lick
the spoon clean over this one – but if you're a fan or just a casual buyer –
you need the stunning audio and those fantastic forgotten Soul/Funk grooves
(like "Good Luck Charm") on both records...
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