Customer Reviews

Best of the O'Jays: 1976-1991

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many Great Songs Here.The O'JAYS ARE SoulFUl.Darlin'Darlin'Baby is the Jam as is Brandy,your Body's Here With Me(But Your Mind Is On The Other Side Of Town) that's Great Story-Telling in a Song.The Voices&Music Takes Me Back to A Time when Soul Music was Respected Truly Great Music&Artists.

...this is classic material from perhaps the greatest of all soul groups to ever come out and do their thing in tuxedos!
they have so much music, that it does require two or three "best of" editions to catch it all...go ahead and get those, but don't sleep on these classics...that just aint right!...

As much as I dig these guys, I would suggest that money spent on this album would be better spent purchasing their earlier collections, either Collector's Item or their earlier Greatest Hits package.

These songs are for the most part fine, but make clear that their best work came in the previous years, from Back Stabbers through Livin' for the Weekend and Ship Ahoy.

Delivered on time and a must-have for any O'Jays aficionado. Contains some hard to find tunes as well as the well-known standards.

I am extremely pleased with my order and the timely fashion in which it arrived.

A CD that brings all the old days right back to the present. Authentic cuts that move and groove you. I recommend this cd to old lovers and the young in love.
Carole

This may be the only album "Loving You" can be found on. I haven't been able to find it on any of the other O'jays compilations. It's a very beautiful and special feel-good love song. There are plenty of love songs in the world that put you 'in the mood', but this one is different. It puts you in the mood AND you can still groove to it if you're not in the 'put you in the mood feeling'.

Unfortunately, this compilation's producdrs failed to include such beauties as "I Can't Stand The Pain", "Put Our Heads Together" and the majestic "Extraordinary Girl" on this budget-priced CD. Not one of the O'Jays 1983-86 hits was included here...as a result you can't consider it truly definitive. Most of the songs here, however, are great--it would have been nice,though, to have more of their mid-to-late 1980s PIR hits here.

I thought that this O'Jays best of is the best to cover not just the '70s but the '80s and '90s. They proved that they could even have top 10, top 5 and No. 1 hits on their own after the powerhouse Gamble/Huff era of hits from 1972-1980. The hits are all over here, especially Lovin' You from '87, Have You Had Your Love Today from '89, Message in Our Music (I thought a family was singing that song, mom, dad and two kids when I first heard it, not the group) from '76, the classic Forever Mine from '79, Brandy (the jam from '78!), Emotionally Yours from '91 the funky shift to hip-hop beats in '91 on Don't Let Me Down and others.
However my criticism is on the liner notes. How come the writer didn't give one mention of the O'Jays massive hit "Love Train" in his liner notes? That song is really what helped them get on top in the '70s as a group! That was quite a surprising omission, because everybody knows that song! It's still being played in some TV commercials these days. He talked about their early era of hits, but failed to mention Love Train. I know that people are pressed for time to get the CD ready for release, but get it right next time!
The O'Jays have gone through numerous member changes but are still at it some 40+ years later! I hope some young groups now should put aside their issues and riffs and concentrate on being around as long as the O'Jays. This compilation shows the group at their very best artistically.

At first I was leery of purchasing this disc. I wasn't completely familiar with a lot of the songs. I'm mostly a "Back Stabbers" era O'Jays fan.

I took a chance on buying it and glad I did! Excellent work by the guys, who never fail to please with the smooth grooves. Really liked "Brandy," "Darlin' Darlin' Baby," "Girl, Don't let it get you down."

Just some excellent stuff. It might not have the star quality of "Love Train" and "Back Stabbers" but it's a definite must-have for all soul music fans.