Search - The Ohio Players :: Pain

The O-H-I-O Players-Pain

Calvin B. Miles | 02/22/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the band hitting full stride before going commercial. And the music is raw and tasty. Walter "Junie" Morrison was just getting his stroke in full swing, and the musicianship shows here. They had a Bluesy funk edge to their sound. Highly underated, by hotly anticipated LP when it came out. This is good stuff, folks. Funky, Bluesy, Jazzy. what else could you want from them back N the day? Only more of it. "I Just Wanna Hear From You" and "Singing in the Morning" are two great Classic songs. You can Feel the pain, and the "player's Balling" Get on the dance floor and get your "Boogie" on"

Prepare to be Funktafied!!!

d.nice | richmond,va | 10/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Ohio Players debut this album on Michigan's WESTBOUND that was made famous by George Clinton's Funkadelic crew. The Ohio Players brought a more refined jazzed up Funk attitude when they dropped this album in '72.

The Westbound years produced two other highly reccommended albums,1974's "Pleasure" and 75's "Ecstasy" all three must have's for any funk fan. Two more albums were issued by Westbound who was attempting

to cash in on the groups later success at Mercury records. (who alongside label mates and soul veterans the Bar-Kays would put Mercury records on the charts with heavy Funk in hand) tracks from those 2 albums are reissued as extra tracks scattered across the 3 reissues (it's worth checking out the remastered 2007 edition instead of earlier CD editions that lack these bonus tracks) Having seen this group on more than one occasion I can say when listening to this earlier Westbound material prepare to be "Funktafied", these tracks weren't aiming for a pop market these tracks sweat,even down to the explicit (for it's time atleast) album covers these records reek of hard intense Funk. Why this group has not gained access into the Rock'N'Roll hall of fame (based in Ohio) beats the hell out of me..they have all the credentials??(but then again I say this about: WAR,The Chambers Brothers,The Guess Who,KISS,The Commodores,Kool&The Gang(especially pre 76'),The Faces,Sunnyland Slim,Big Mama Thornton,Peter Tosh,Grace Jones and Leon Russell). Get all 3 Ohio Players Westbound re-issues and enter the groove."

A leg up

William R. Nicholas | Mahwah, NJ USA | 04/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Ohio Players had a leg up on other funk outfits: they were jazz guys. They could romp and stomp as well as anyone on the block, but there was a bit more complexity in all those grooves. Listen to the horn riffs on Honey or Skin Tight.



Pain was made eariler, before the Ohio's had truely develped their halmark. Still, you can here the jazz elements seeping deep into the funk:

The title track has a jazz panio solo. "I Wanna Hear From You." has a long, snakey horn intro before we get down to boggie. "See you in the morning," has a Django-esqe guitar solo.



All this music is great, even if not exactly the Ohio Players you know and love. As they progressed, the complex jazz facets got more intwined into the music; not toned down, just a more intagrated part of a whole. This made them even more intreguing.



But Pain is still a great album, well worth your time, as you hear this mothership start liftoff."