Last week, we were discussing the O'Jays and how they don't have a comprehensive collection. Well, looks like they issued the best one so far. It covers their early work (Pre-Gamble and Huff) to "Emotionally Yours" (and Wind Beneath My Wings with Gerald and Eddie).



Track Listings
Disc: 1
1. Lonely Drifter
2. Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)
3. Stand in for Love [Live]
4. I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow (Than I Was Today)
5. There's Someone (Waiting Back Home)
6. One Night Affair
7. Deeper (In Love with You)
8. Back Stabbers
9. 992 Arguments
10. Love Train
11. Time to Get Down
12. Put Your Hands Together
13. Sunshine, Pt. 1
14. You Got Your Hooks in Me
15. Now That We Found Love
16. For the Love of Money
17. Give the People What They Want
18. Survival
19. Let Me Make Love to You
20. I Love Music

Disc: 2
1. Livin' for the Weekend
2. Stairway to Heaven
3. Family Reunion
4. Ship Ahoy [2008 Single Version]
5. Message in Our Music
6. Darlin' Darlin' Baby (Sweet, Tender, Love)
7. Big Gangster
8. Use Ta Be My Girl
9. Brandy (I Really Miss You)
10. Cry Together
11. Forever Mine
12. Sing a Happy Song
13. Lovin' You
14. Wind Beneath My Wings - Eddie LeVert, Gerald LeVert
15. Emotionally Yours [Gospel Version]

It's a nice effort, but I can't help but notice some pretty significant omissions:

When the World's at Peace
Let Me Make Love to You
Keep On Lovin' Me

As much as I love Gerald, they should've dropped "Wind Beneath My Wings" to make room for one of those.

AlexdeParis said:

I agree about the Gerald track being dropped. It's not my favorite track by them together (though it is good). I would much rather see "Let Me Make Love To You".

I also think they could have left off "Ship Ahoy". I know it is probably their biggest album, but I don't recall if the title track was ever released as a single...nor do I recall it getting a lot of airplay in my area.

I do have to give it to them, its a hell of a lot better than the first "Essential O'Jays" collection.

1 Back Stabbers
2 992 Arguments
3 Love Train
4 Time To Get Down
5 Put Your Hands Down
6 For The Love Of Money
7 Sunshine
8 Give The People What They Want
9 Survival
10 I Love Music
11 Livin' For The Weekend
12 Stairway To Heaven
13 Darlin' Darlin' Baby (Sweet Tender Love)
14 Use Ta Be My Girl
15 Big Gangster, The
16 Message In Our Music

The Ojays need the box-set treatment.This compilation is missing many songs...

"Work On Me" (1977)
"Your Body's Here With Me (But Your Mind Is On The Other Side Of Town)" (1982)
"I Want You Here With Me" (1979)
"I Just Want To Satisfy You" (1982)

I'm tired of these compilations that don't include eveything.How about a 4-CD box set that includes not only the hits,but key album tracks,live versions.unreleased stuff from the vaults? I know there's a ton of unreleased stuff because in 2004,Gamble and Huff released a compilation of previously unreleased Ojays recordings.

SoulAlive said:

I totally agree with you. I hope that since PIR is back with Sony, they can issue some vault material. They did it a few years ago with Together We Are One, but it was mostly remixed stuff. I wish they would release the songs with the original arrangements and tracks. "Together" went in and mixed in new instruments with the old vocal tracks. It was pretty bad.

Yeah that 'Together We Are One' CD was a missed opportunity.I wish they had released those songs in their original form,instead of trying to "update" them with silly remixes.

No "Just another lonely night?"

My favorite Ojays album is 1975's 'Family Reunion'.That's the only classic Ojays album that hasn't been remastered yet!! All of their other 70s and 80s albums have been remastered a few years ago,but for some crazy reason,the excellent 'Family Reunion' is STILL waiting to be upgraded

daPrettyman said:

IMO, if you're doing a comprehensive O'Jays set "Ship Ahoy" is an essential song. It wasn't a single, but as an album track The O'Jays received critical and fan response from the song's lyrical content and the concept.

I understand the logic of choosing some of the pre-Gamble and Huff songs on a set, but IMO The O'Jays didn't become what they for those songs.

LittleAmy said:

I totally get your point. Ship Ahoy is probably their biggest (critically and in popularity), but I would have included something like You Got Your Hooks In Me or Now That We've Found Love. These songs are more "essential" than Ship Ahoy (IMO).

LittleAmy said:

That's what sucks about compilations.

Listening to their albums,it's amazing how many excellent "non-singles" they have.It's not enough to have a Greatest Hits CD by them....you have to get the albums too.Their singles tell only part of the story.Some of my favorite Ojays song have never been released as singles...


"Never Break Us Up" (from the 'Survival' album,1975)
"You And Me" (from the 'Family Reunion' album,1975)
"She's Only A Woman" (from the 'Family Reunion' album,1975)
"Paradise" (from the 'Message In Our Music' album,1976)
"We're All In This Thing Together" (from the 'Traveling At The Speed Of Thought' album,1977)
"This Time Baby" (from the 'So Full Of Love' album,1978)
"Help (Somebody Please)" (from the 'So Full Of Love' album,1978)
"Strokety Stroke" (from the 'So Full Of Love' album,1978)

All of their Gamble and Huff-produced albums (except 'Family Reunion') have been remastered in recent years...most are available as "twofers" with extensive,well-written liner notes.I bought them all.

daPrettyman said:

Which is why I have all three on my own compilation set. For that matter, all three songs are on that Essential O'Jays set where you posted all the tracks so I'm not quite following you.

Timmy84 said:

Not really. I wouldn't consider "Just Another Lonely Night" an essential or secondary O'Jays song. It was a decent hit during the act's rather dry mid-'80s period but there are more essential and secondary songs to The O'Jays' catalog. I would consider "Just Another Lonely Night" a complementary song, one that can be omitted if needed without hurting the quality of the compilation.

Compilations are meant to be one-stop-shopping concepts. If you have a comprehensive set like the one I created for The O'Jays and you don't want to spend $100-plus and search for every last album, you've got all the essential and secondary songs plus more than a fair share of complementary songs to know what they are all about. If you're more of a completionist like I am, you still can buy the albums but I would rather burn a tighter set on two or three discs instead of lugging around a dozen or more discs just to play a few songs.

The quality of the compilation is also going to be determined by the artist's body of work, and to a lesser degree, the length of the songs. A comprehensive compilation of The O'Jays, IMO, has to be three discs without feeling cheated. I can see a fourth disc if it contains their pre-Gamble and Huff stuff, unreleased material (studio or live) and some outtakes but anything beyond that is watering it down, IMO.
[Edited 6/24/08 7:24am]

Yeah,the mid-80s was a rough time for the Ojays.There was much disarray at Philadelphia International Records,which was on its last legs.In fact,the albums released by the Ojays during this period mostly consisted of previously recorded outtakes from the vaults...in other words,second-rate material that normally wouldn't make it onto an album.


Fortunately,they were able to wrap up the "Gamble and Huff years" with an excellent comeback single "Lovin You" in 1987.It went straight to Number One on the R&B charts and gave them alot of momentum going into the 90s.

SoulAlive said:

Yes. That song was amazing. My only complaint is that the album wasn't that great.

I agree,the 1987 album 'Let Me Touch You' is one of their weakest albums."Lovin You" is the best thing on it.That sounds like a classic Gamble and Huff composition.