Honey

Ohio Players | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 16, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001G07
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  DVD Audio  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,286 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: OHIO PLAYERS
Title: HONEY
Street Release Date: 04/16/1991
Domestic
Genre: SOUL/R & B

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ohio Players' Sexiest album - I mean the music, stupid!, February 12, 2008

By 

Andre Heeger (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Honey (Audio CD)

I won't lie to you - the first time I bought this album, when I was 16, it was because of the cover. Other kids in school listened to the Beatles and The Police and stuff, I wanted Parliament, Earth Wind and Fire and - The Ohio Players.
When I got home and opened the spread I was .. speechless. What a babe!
But then, as the needle hit those grooves and I turned up the volume, I finally got to know about The Ohio Players.
The cover's photographer is Richard Fegley - of Playboy fame. Here he did a nice variation to the Playboy covers: the monthly where's the bunny search turned into a where's the bee?
My all time favorite ballad is Sweet Sticky Thing.
A great melody, or better two melodies, the slow ballad-like start and then the pushy chorus with those terrific horns; the perfect combination of pushing drums, high chant, sexy horns and ... Satch's amazing sax. Jazzy, seducing, it still amazes me when I listen to it for the tenthousandth time.
Love Rollercoaster (say what?) is a close second. The same pushy drums and chant, but more of a midtempo tune. Or Fopp's hard funk. You need to have this, trust me.
A stomping masterpiece with some of the greatest horns in history (and a great sense of humor)
Oh, and the babe's still good (although a bit small on cd...)

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If anything, the Ohio Players knew about truth in LP titles!, July 21, 2003

By 

30-year old wallflower "Eric N Andrews" (West Lafayette, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honey (Audio CD)

Something was in the water back in the 1970s, for it seemed there was a population boost of sorts going on (where are all these teen-pop singers coming from? *smiles*). Most likely, it was the music that was encouraging people of all races to get it on, from Marvin Gaye's LET'S GET IT ON (1973) to just about anything by the late, great Barry White. Although most of their famous music was uptempo & funky, the Ohio Players probably had a hand in cozying up the bedrooms back in the day.

By the time of 1975's HONEY, the Players had streamlined their album covers from HUSTLER-ish to PLAYBOY-ish, while keeping their music still delightfully funky & sexy beyond description. 1974's FIRE contained their first #1 pop hit with the title track, and the music was definitely what its title stated: blazing! While HONEY hints at something a little more, well, smooth, it's still a fantastic album with enough grit to rock the dance floors before putting on the slower stuff when you get back home.

"Love Rollercoaster" was the Player's 2nd #1 pop hit, and is probably their most famous song thanks to cover versions like that from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. While the Peppers' version was a good White-boy version of it, the Players' one is still the funky king, one to get you up & moving no matter how many times it's been played at parties, sporting events or oldies radio. Also, doesn't the line "your love is like a rollercoaster, baby baby/I wanna ride" scream poetry? *wink*

"Fopp" is another chaotic funky delight with the opening drum line indeed sounding reminiscent of the opening to Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City". Maybe Axl Rose needs to pay some restitution to the Players, who knows? "Ain't Givin' Up No Ground" is a short nonsense number that closed out side one of the original album, and is more of a space-filler than anything else. The Players maybe included it on the album to put it over a half-hour length.

As has been proven time & time again, ballads were always the Players' secret weapon, and they remain underrated with all the loud, screaming funk that was their trademark. "Sweet Sticky Thing" was lucky to be released for it is indeed much smoother-edged than what the Players were known for at the time. The fact this jazz-grooved tune (man, that saxophone!) did so well really says something.

The opening title track was a brave way to start out the album, especially after just having a massive #1 hit with "Fire". I can easily imagine this song coming from Earth, Wind & Fire, who were probably the only other group the Players could really compete with in the funk sweepstakes (Parliament/Funkadelic were already the kings, so they were out of the running).

"Let's Do It" is another romantic jam to melt your lover's heart with, and hopefully you won't find yourself singing the closing ballad "Alone" before long. The man singing this song is all-too-obviously heartbroken and, as my good friend Nathan says, it definitely is a forgotten treasure of '70s R&B balladry with Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner's lead vocal just tear-inducing. Even the spare musical back-up on the song heightens its emotional nakedness.

Back in the mid-1970s, an actual band in R&B/soul was not all that uncommon, unlike today where they seem to be an exception. The fact that most of them were self-contained was even more of a wonder, and the Ohio Players definitely had most of the control over their careers. HONEY was produced, written & performed by the Players themselves, so you know the album is exactly how they would have wanted it. Even those ever-present covers were their brainchild, with HONEY's being the undoubtedly the most famous of all (the inner photo is a true "how could they do it?" affair).

While the Players have been sampled like mad by hip-hop artists for years, and are still adored by R&B lovers today, they have been sort of overlooked in the overall pantheon of popular music. Earth, Wind & Fire have been inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as has Parliament/Funkadelic, so why not the Players? Until that day comes, we can be sure that an album as fantastic & funky as HONEY will be one of the things that gets them in there.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honey, January 19, 2002

By 

WILLIE A YOUNG II "willow" (Houston, TX.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honey (Audio CD)

This is my favorite Ohio Players LP, mainly because it's 7 terrific songs, great writing, terrific playing and some of the lovliest, quirkiest vocals ever put on wax. The title track opens the album and sports one of the prettiest melodies these gents have ever come up with. This doo-wop flavored ballad sets a calming, soothing mood that permeates almost every track with the exception of the heavy-rock/funk track "Fopp" (ever wonder where Guns 'n' Roses copped the riff for "Paradise City"? here's your answer!) and the number 1 hit "Love Rollercoaster". The centerpiece of the album is the masterpiece "Sweet Sticky Thing" which is not only one of the longest tracks here, but is of special note because the band displays an overt jazz sound from the sax playing that colors the choruses, to the astounding drumming of Jimmy "Diamond" Williams (notice his great footwork and his cymbal rolls and crashes that close the song), this track alone makes the LP worth owning. The closing ballad "Alone" is another stunner. Featuring just Sugarfoot on guitar, a rising and falling synth in the background and Sugarfoot's plaintive voice singing lyrics of loneliness and desperation ('I don't wanna be alone anymore', someone pick me up off the floor'), "Alone" ends this classic album on a melancholy but hopeful note for us hopeless romantics! Surprisingly, "Honey" never sounds dated and in fact, it's influence can be heard in the music of artists from the last 2 decades in music (both soul and rock, case in point: Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of "Rollercoaster..." in 1996.) A winning album that has stood the rest of time.