The greatest part of this job isn’t necessarily getting the
\nchance to talk to some of the stars of the industry (though that’s
\na great perk); it’s the joy of discovering an artist whose work
\nI’ve admired for some time, but couldn’t have named if my life
\ndepended on it.<\/p>\n
Example: When I was growing up, there was a radio station in
\nChicago (which is long gone) that used to play what we’d now call
\nadult contemporary, but was top 40 at the time. I used to hear the
\nnew cuts from Christopher Cross and the Alan Parsons Project – but
\noccasionally I’d hear songs like “Use Ta Be My Girl,” which gave me
\na reason to groove to the radio. But if I were asked who was
\nsinging that song, I’d sadly shrug my shoulders and say I didn’t
\nknow.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, what should arrive in the mail but
\nBest Of The O’Jays 1976-1991<\/i>. After a few minutes in the CD
\nplayer and after listening to the first few tracks, it came on –
\n“Use Ta Be My Girl”… the song I loved as a kid! So
\nthat’s<\/i> the artist!<\/p>\n
Truth is, this collection of tracks from the Ohio-based trio
\n(Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, William Powell – who left the group
\na year before his 1977 death – and Sammy Strain, Powell’s
\nreplacement) is filled with songs that just might jar some memories
\nloose in your head. Dare to complain about that, and the music will
\nquiet any protests you may have.<\/p>\n
I will admit that I don’t have a vast knowledge of The O’Jays
\nand their music – but truth be told, you don’t have to in order to
\nenjoy the music on this disc. From more recent hits like “Lovin’
\nYou” to the “forgotten” hits like “Message In Our Music,” this is a
\ndisc that you probably won’t want to turn off until the last note
\nfades out.<\/p>\n
Granted, a few tracks do show a little bit of age (“Message In
\nOur Music”), but the bulk of this album still is quite enjoyable.
\nTracks like “Cry Together,” “Girl, Don’t Let It Get You Down,”
\n“Emotionally Yours” and “Forever Mine” all show why this group
\nenjoyed such success in the R&B world (14 of the tracks on this
\nCD hit the top 10 of the R&B charts). Even if this CD is an
\nintroduction to the music of The O’Jays for the listener, it’s a
\ngreat way to shake hands with their music.<\/p>\n
What is surprising is that the bulk of the music on this disc
\ndoesn’t sound, in some cases, more than 20 years old. This is a
\ntestament not only to the performance by the O’Jays, but to the
\nsongwriting (including the numerous works written by Kenny Gamble
\n& Leon Huff).<\/p>\n
A word of warning, though: This is not a complete “greatest
\nhits” collection, nor does it pretend to be. Instead, it focuses on
\njust the 15-year period, meaning such hits as “Backstabbers”, “Love
\nTrain” and “I Love Music” aren’t on this disc. In one way, this is
\na good thing, as it forces the listener to forget about the group’s
\nbest-known songs, and opens their ears to tracks they might not
\notherwise have heard.<\/p>\n
\nBest Of The O’Jays 1976-1991<\/i> is an excellent collection of
\ntunes from a group that you probably know – and after listening to
\nthis disc, you won’t want to ever forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7419],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39027","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-ojays","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39027"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}