The Ohio Players: Skin Tight - 1974

The Ohio Players were a kick-ass brassy n' bassy funk band that peaked in the mid-seventies. They were also a hit with teenage boys such as myself back then due to their erotic album covers. Those were the days. 

This was The Ohio Players' fifth album and it was the one that really brought them mainstream attention. Its production was slicker and smoother than on previous albums and the album's six tracks were all over five minutes in length. Extended, jazzy, brassy funk was becoming popular and this album led the way as many people got the funk. Groups like Tower Of Power, The Meters, Kool & The Gang and, of course, James Brown enjoyed similar success. It also influenced subsequent artists such as Rick James. Their over-the-top flamboyant image must have had an effect on Earth, Wind & Fire and The Isley Brothers too - soon, all funkers were donning the Elvis-style suits. They do look awfully dated now (even to me), almost like looking at Victorian sepia photos once did when I was younger.

What is for sure is that the sound hasn't dated. The opener, Skin Tight, with its insistent wah-wah guitars and fatback drums, typifies the album's tight, funky jam workout style. Vocals were at a premium - just female backing vocals and Funkadelic-style growling male ones - infectious funky rhythms were at a maximum, however. 

Streakin' Cheek To Cheek has a positively smouldering, deep bass line and some sumptuous wah-wah grooves. Check out that funky organ too. It's Your Night - Words Of Love has the group going all bedroom-based and the seduction continues on Heaven Must Be Like This, a track made for extended carnal fun if ever there was one. The instrumentation throughout the track is excellent too - lovely bass and keyboards.

The grinding funk was once more to be found on the very Parliament-esque Jive Turkey, which utilised those same strange sort high-pitched vocals that both Parliament and Funkadelic used. The drums on this are great. Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved? is a classic piece of socially-conscious seventies funk that grinds along as the vocalist asks to be saved, preacher-style. 

Not much more to say other than that this was one of the best seventies funk albums.

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