Search - Ohio Players :: Funk on Fire: Mercury Anthology

PLAY ON

Carl Mack | Palm Springs, CA United States | 07/07/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oh yes, the Players. In my opinion the best funk band ever. From "Skin Tight" there is the X-tremely funky jam of the title cut and the incredible ballad "Heaven Must Be Like This". From "Fire" the incredible title track and check out the drum work on the smoldering ballad "I Want To Be Free". "Honey" is well represented with four cuts including the incredible jazz influenced "Sweet Sticky Thing". The second side includes latter day efforts that are not as well known but just as good. "Who'd She Coo" is so cool that the funk just flows throughout it and from "Gold" they included one of the two new cuts that were included on that release, "Only A Child Can Love" which is superior to Feel The Beat anyway. Check out "Body Vibes" too, wow, funky and jazzy it just flows and love the smokin funk and space sounds on "Funk-o-nots". Best of all these are all the full length album versions not the singles which do not do the Players justice. As a bonus the last three tracks are previously unreleased tracks from the "Jass-Ay-Lady" sessions (it was to be a double album). Too bad there aren't bands like this around anymore. Play On!"

The Best Anthology You'll Find

Carl Mack | 07/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A fabulous overview of a very underrated funk band. If you came of age in the mid-1970s and ventured beyond horrible Top 40 pop radio, then inevitably you chanced upon the Ohio Players. Hard-working and prodigious like great jazz players, they were always consummate musicians. This captures the best of their popular 1970s Mercury releases (nearly as interesting for their practically X-rated album covers as the great music within). All of the classics are here ("Love Rollercoaster" and "Fire") but one listen will expose you to the other fine, albeit less heard, cuts that never crossed over to 70s Top 40 but were staples of large city R&B stations -- and curiously making a comeback on "gold soul/funk R&B" radio formats of 2001. (Some of) these guys are still on the road in the summer of 2001, proving that good funk never dies. A worthy investment."

Disc 1 - tremendous Disc 2 - disappointing

John K. Reed | Harrisburg, PA United States | 03/17/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Had the producers elected to include different albeit less popular selections on disc 2 then the compilation could have been absolutely masterful.If you're at all a fan of 70's funk then this one is required but there's enough uninteresting material to bring down the overall rating."