Customer Reviews

Angel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The previous reviewer is dead wrong, this is an excellent album by the Players!! The songs he mentioned are good but there is plenty more to be enjoyed, check out the song Don't Fight My Love for example, and there is nothing wrong with Body Vibes! This is classic funk from the players, don't miss it!!

... This is a classic album by the Players, it contains all of the things that make the Players great, harmonies, awesome horns, thundering drum fills, exquisite organ/synthesizer and the one and only Sugar!!
Don't let anyone tell you this isn't good, it's one of the Players best!!

This album is sort of the Last Blast before the Ohio Players went from their artistic climax with hit albums like Skin Tight, Fire and Honey... to... uhhhhhh.. some less than exhuberent stuff... Though ANGEL arguably might not be up to par with the other Mercury classics, it still has "the sound" - - spawned the mega-disco funk classic O-H-I-O (no, I can't do the dance...) and has a really great opening cut ANGEL... BODY VIBES is pretty funky too... Many of the other tunes are pretty good too (I like DON'T FIGHT MY LOVE and FAITH) - - but again, not quite as inspired as the stuff that came before... all in all I'd say, if you have all the previous MERCURY and definitely WESTBOUND SESIONS already, this one is worth picking up.

The Players had made four classic albums prior to this. Although this one has it's moments (The lovely ballad title cut "Angel", the hot and funky "Body Vibes" is one of thier best songs ever and the sweaty funk of "O-H-I-O" is hot) there were signs of desperation ("Merry-Go-Round" is a poor attempt to recapture thier Love Rollercoaster glory days). Still this is probably worth the price for the three cuts mentioned, but there isn't too much else here. Actually thier next release "Jass-Ay-Lady" is not even in print anymore. That was more of the same as this, several good cuts, more filler. Maybe the best cuts of the two should be combined or have them package together as two for the price of one. Just a suggestion.

...funk outfits which make it big, ie, mainstream, start losing their edge and funkiness afterwards. The cover, however beautiful, hid its mediocrity within. Well, it was mediocre compared to Honey and Fire, the two great OP ellpees before this one. The title track Angel and the near miss party jam O.H.I.O. were just about the only redeeming tracks here: the rest sound like, IMHO, brothers trying too hard to get another mainstream hit. Correction: 'snowed in' brothers trying too hard to get a mainstream hit. Get the way underrated, hard to find OP production Ecstacy, instead. You'll enjoy it more.

I was not to impressed with this collection of Ohio Players material when it first came out, Compared to their earlier classics. But after given it another spin, And being older with a more critical ear, it ranks up there with the rest!!! This is by all means a classic.I was just a little late to recognize it.
My younger brother Melvin played it to DEATH.I put it on yesterday and was blown away by the harmonies and instrumentation of this funky group.
My girlfriend who is a little younger, Thought it was EW&F with funk!
This CD is rare & hard to find, Unlike Skin Tight,Honey,Fire and the rest.

The surprising thing is that even though I have it on CD, I would love to
find a mint vinyl copy, It's nothing like listening to it in the original
format. You tend to miss all of the clarity from this particular album in CD form.The last best of a fabulous group, Give it another classic rewind listen, I promise you will be impressed.That's why it's hard to come by,We were beaten to the punch by more astute listeners who bought up the CD version when first printed and going for top dollar today since there hasn't been any reissues as of yet.

The Ohio Players continued right on into the late 70's with another tight funky recording with this title album. It may not match the success of "Honey, Fire or Skin Tight", but it's still a keeper. One thing is for sure, this group always had a knack for having beautiful women gracing the cover of their lp's back in the day. And this album was living proof of it. If you are a true OP fan, then you will cop this one along with the earlier material that they recorded. This album is on point as well.

You must be smokin' some of that bulls@%t if you think this album is not up to par with their other releases on Mercury. OP wer hittin' on all cylinders with their laid back funk and smokin' ballads, but when it was time to get down... well need I say more it's the Ohio Players. My personal favorites are the mid-tempo title track, the sexy "Glad To Know You're Mine" and the slick and smoothed out "Don't Fight My Love". What else could you ask for from these brothers from Dayton. Yes, it's more ballad oriented than other OP albums, but is that a bad thing? They were truly the macks of superfly funk from 1974-1978 and their later albums wer also great. Just put this bad boy in and cozy up with the woman in your life and have a great evening (if you know what I mean). In other words fantastic from beginning to end, a must have for your "REAL" music collection!!


P.S. Kudos to that slammin' horn section (courtesy of brothers Merv,Satch, and Pee Wee) and the exceptional bass playing of one Marshall "Rock" Jones.

If you don't own this one and love the mid 70's apex of this
group you will definitely want to make this purchase. To me this
is a more solid record than the previous release Contradiction and it boasts 4 great songs-Body Vibes, Merry go round, OHIO,
and Angel. Actually Body Vibes is one of my favorite OP songs of
all time and it was never released as a single. In conclusion, if I didn't already own this disc i would definitely shell out the big bucks to obtain it since it is out of print.

The P-Funkish "O-H-I-O" and the pulsing synthfunk of
"Body Vibes" are two of the bands best tunes.But The soft soul
title song?How come the band can't sing it?They usually can and
at any rate this was released around the same time as the
'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack and had a hard time competing
with the disco avelance smothering popular music at the time.Another great album cover anyway 'Angel' is bogged down with too much filler and besides,it's best songs can be found

elsewhere.Better look for the very highly underrated 'Mr.Mean'
album of the same vintage,whitch has much stronger material
throughout.But this is strangly,sadly-stagnant.