Ohio Players - "Skin Tight" (1974) - Mercury Records
Hello Friends,
We've got Dayton, Ohio's favorite funk band on the turntable this Saturday night and Holy Crap its funktastic!
Skin Tight would be the band's fifth LP, their first for Mercury Records, and the first to feature more jazz-based & disco arrangements which would eventually launch the band into a much more mainstream direction.
Its a soulful and funky affair with lots and lots of layers of vocals and music which makes it a particularly good listen on vinyl. Every time you put this record on the turntable, you're almost guaranteed to hear something you haven't heard before! (Not to mention, it continues the tradition of the Players' super sexy and risque album covers!)
The title track gets things started and the Vinyl in the Valley headquarters is rockin'. Its officially our favorite funk song of the moment.
Check out those capes!
Side One winds down with the oozing, sexy, soulful ballad, "It's Your Night / Words of Love" that ends with a minute-or-so long piano interlude that could have been written by Gershwin (or Vince Guaraldi). (Plus we really, really like the muted guitar fills in the chorus!)
Flip the record and we're off to the races once again with the amazing "Jive Turkey", a funky kiss-off anthem to end all funky kiss-off anthems! One of the guys singing even sounds a little like Fozzie Bear... Waka Waka!
Things get a little schmaltzy and lovey-dovey on "Heaven Must Be Like This".
The record's sixth & final song is the ballad, "Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved?" It starts out dark & menacing (like a foggy night under a street lamp) and builds up to a full-blown gospel-funk epic! Damn!
Dayton, representin'.
Skin Tight would be the band's fifth LP, their first for Mercury Records, and the first to feature more jazz-based & disco arrangements which would eventually launch the band into a much more mainstream direction.
Its a soulful and funky affair with lots and lots of layers of vocals and music which makes it a particularly good listen on vinyl. Every time you put this record on the turntable, you're almost guaranteed to hear something you haven't heard before! (Not to mention, it continues the tradition of the Players' super sexy and risque album covers!)
The title track gets things started and the Vinyl in the Valley headquarters is rockin'. Its officially our favorite funk song of the moment.
Check out those capes!
Things get turned up even higher on the next song, "Streakin' Cheek to Cheek" featuring a driving wah-wah, some killer Fender Rhodes soloing & a right-up-in-your grill horn section to really get your juices flowing. The layering and complex, but accessible, arrangements in a song like this would lay the groundwork for everything Prince would revolutionize within the next ten years or so!
Side One winds down with the oozing, sexy, soulful ballad, "It's Your Night / Words of Love" that ends with a minute-or-so long piano interlude that could have been written by Gershwin (or Vince Guaraldi). (Plus we really, really like the muted guitar fills in the chorus!)
Flip the record and we're off to the races once again with the amazing "Jive Turkey", a funky kiss-off anthem to end all funky kiss-off anthems! One of the guys singing even sounds a little like Fozzie Bear... Waka Waka!
Things get a little schmaltzy and lovey-dovey on "Heaven Must Be Like This".
The record's sixth & final song is the ballad, "Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved?" It starts out dark & menacing (like a foggy night under a street lamp) and builds up to a full-blown gospel-funk epic! Damn!
Dayton, representin'.
RATING: 4.5 Bad Bad Missus in those Skin Tight Britches out of 5
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