 Ohio Players I'm pretty sure I've never listened to this CD before, although I think it's been in my collection for three years or so. I was just looking through my CD shelves and noticed that I had like five Ohio Players CD's, where one would easily suffice. Most people will go for Gold, but for my money, the one to have is Jam, a live-in-the-studio album from like '78. Ol' School would have to be fifth or sixth on that list – but of course, being fifth on a list where only the first entry counts tends to demonstrate the accomplished irrelevance of this album. Recorded live in Atlanta in 1996, this finds an older, slower Ohio Players performing their hits for an appreciative audience. It's a fine performance, though the predominance of synths doesn't help the cause too much. It's the type of CD that in its well-rounded blandness accomplishes a level of listenability it shouldn't have. Most people would say "A 1996 Ohio Players album? No, I'd even rather listen to Ouch!" but really, if you heard this playing on a good soul radio station at 11pm, you'd leave it on. The band ain't what it once was – there's no edge and no incredible grooves – but there's some good harmonies and some good cheesy song intros ("We'd like to dedicate this song to all the ladies in the house," etc). Overall, a fine, excessively generic album, but you have to sort of admire these cats for getting out there and continuing to play even though their glory days are long in the past. Things perk up as expected with "Love Rollercoaster" (even the '96 Ohio Players turn this out better than the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and an eleven minute "Fire." The disc closes with a "Megamix" that awkwardly splices together moments from the show in some sort of attempt at an encore or something. It's kind of like a sitcom that plays highlights from that episode under the closing credits. The disc is also apparently an enhanced CD, but I wasn't able to view it, so my apologies if the enhanced portion actually shows some flair. If it's anything like the performance, I can say without seeing it that it's probably as mediocre as can be.
Review by Saul Chan |