Honey

About

By the time <i>Honey</i> was released in late 1975, listeners pretty much knew what to expect from the Ohio Players: groove, poise, and an unsettling amount of waist-down energy. Still, the sheer comprehensiveness of <i>Honey</i>—its humor, its physicality, its range—made the album stand out. You could call the Ohio Players a funk band, and, broadly speaking, you’d be right (as evidenced on “Love Rollercoaster” and “Fopp”). But in the hours-long jam sessions for <i>Honey</i> from which these songs were spun, you could pick out nearly every strain of modern Black music. The Ohio Players could do ballads that brought to mind The Chi-Lites or The Delfonics (“Honey”); they could do hard rock and pure funk (“Fopp”); they could do jazz and fusion like Herbie Hancock (“Ain’t Givin’ Up No Ground”). They could do light (“Alone”), and they could definitely do heavy (“Love Rollercoaster”). And while the sentiments of most of their tracks were pretty straightforward (“Sweet Sticky Thing” is not about bees), the arrangements had a sophistication and complexity to them that, if not reminiscent of Duke Ellington, were at least in the ballpark of Stevie Wonder (in other words, they’d at least take you to dinner first). <i>Honey</i> would be the Ohio Players’ third straight platinum album. As the group pointed out, most people just love to fopp.

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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