''Honey'' is the seventh studio album by American band the

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 on August 16, 1975, by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

. It is generally regarded as a classic, the band's best album, and the last great full-length release of their dominant era in the mid-1970s. The cover image gained mild notoriety from urban legends involving one of the singles, "

Love Rollercoaster "Love Rollercoaster", sometimes rendered as "Love Roller Coaster", is a song by American funk/ R&B band Ohio Players, originally featured on their 1975 album ''Honey''. It was composed by William Beck, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middl ...

", one to the effect that the honey injured model Ester Cordet's skin, ruining her career as a model, and another claiming that she was stabbed to death in the recording booth, with her scream captured on the song. These stories are false. The album was recorded and mixed at Paragon Recording Studios in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, with Barry Mraz as the recording engineer. Marty Link, Steve Kusiciel, Rob Kingsland, and Paul Johnson are credited as tape operators. Gilbert Kong mastered the final mix at

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such n ...

in New York City. The album peaked at #2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 during the week of September 27, 1975, kept out of the top spot by

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight RIAA certification, gold or Music rec ...

's ''

Red Octopus ''Red Octopus'' is the second album by American rock band Jefferson Starship, released on Grunt Records in 1975. Certified double platinum by RIAA in 1995, it is the best-selling album by any incarnation of Jefferson Airplane and its spin-off gr ...

''. In addition, it was the third album from the band to top the Soul/Black Albums chart, where it spent three weeks.

Release history

In addition to the standard 2 channel

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

version the album was also released in a 4 channel

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio ortmanteau, formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are po ...

version in 1975. This version appeared on

8-track tape The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, ...

in the US and was the fourth of five Ohio Players albums available in this format. The quad version was re-issued on DTS Audio CD in 2001.

Track listing

Personnel

*James "Diamond" Williams – drums, timbales, congas, percussion, lead & background vocals *Billy Beck –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, acoustic and

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

electric piano, RMI electric piano,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog circuit, analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Minimoog, Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, a ...

ARP string ensemble The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral string synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United ...

, percussion, lead & background vocals *Marvin "Merv" Pierce – trumpets,

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

Marshall "Rock" Jones Marshall Eugene "Rock" Jones (January 1, 1941 – May 27, 2016), professionally known as Rock Jones, was an American bass player. He is best known as a founding member and bassist of the funk, soul music and R&B band Ohio Players. Marshall "Roc ...

– electric bass *

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 ...

– guitars, lead & background vocals *Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks – trumpets *Clarence "Satch" Satchell – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute

Production

*Ohio Players – producers *Barry Mraz, Gilbert Kong & Tom Hanson; engineers *Marty Linke, Steve Kusiciel, Rob Kingsland, Paul Johnson – tape operators *

Richard Fegley Leon Richard Fegley (November 29, 1936 – September 15, 2001) was an American photographer who worked for ''Playboy'' magazine for 30 years. Fegley started taking photos during a stint in the United States Air Force and eventually attended the ...

– photography *Jim Ladwig – art direction *Joe Kotleba – design

Cover versions

* "Fopp" by

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

, from the 1988 EP '' Fopp'' * "Love Rollercoaster" by

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

, from the 1996 soundtrack to ''

Beavis and Butt-head Do America ''Beavis and Butt-Head Do America'' is a 1996 American adult animation, adult animated comedy film, comedy road movie, road film based on the MTV animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head''. The film was co-written and directed by series ...

'' * "Let's Love" by

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

, on her covers album ''

Everlasting Love "Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since covered numerous times. The most successful version in the UK was performed by Love Affair and the highest-charting version ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

References

External links

*
Honey
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1975 albums Ohio Players albums Mercury Records albums