''Back'' is the final studio album by the American band
Ohio Players
Ohio Players are an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire" and " Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models f ...
, released in 1988. The first single was "Sweat". It was Ohio Players' only album for Track Record Company.
The band supported the album by headlining a
SOS Racisme show during the
New Music Seminar
The New Music Seminar (NMS) originated in New York City as an event dedicated to education and the celebration of music throughout history, taking place each June from 1980-1995. After several years, the annual NMS was relaunched in 2009.
In 20 ...
and with a North American tour. "Sweat" and "From Now On (Let's Play)" were minor chart successes.
Production
The album was produced primarily by Ohio Players; the band was made up of five members for the reunion. Some of the tracks incorporated
hip hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
-influenced sounds.
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
contributed to the album, after
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner
Leroy Roosevelt "Sugarfoot" Bonner (March 14, 1943 – January 26, 2013) was a musician, vocalist, and producer.
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Cincinnati in 1943, Bonner grew up poor, the oldest of 14 children. He ...
had guested on ''
Perfect Machine''.
[ "I'm Madd!" is about the dangers of drunk driving.][
]
Critical reception
The ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' wrote that "the OPs attempt to reconcile their greazy, yowl 'n' growl attack with the stacks of microchips that go into creating le funk moderne."[ '']Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles
* Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
'' determined that the band "sound as good as ever, sweet and nasty funk played just right."The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' called the album "a continuation and expansion of the jazzy powerhouse funk style that popularized the Ohio Players in the mid-1970s."The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' deemed the sound "hypnotic rhythms geared to maximum danceability, fueled by the dual guitars of Chet Willis and Leroy 'Sugarfoot' Bonner."AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
concluded that, "while the Players deserve credit for trying something different and attempting to be relevant to the hip-hop/urban contemporary scene of the late 1980s, ''Back'' simply wasn't strong enough."[
]
Track listing
References
{{authority control
Ohio Players albums
1988 albums