Recent posts on The Dells etc. had me thinking for a week or so about starting this thread. And then with the sad news of Geral Levert's premature departure I felt it was somehow appropriate to start the ball rolling.

For me, The O'Jays have been one of the most important Soul Groups of the past 4-5 decades.

Favourite dancers include...

"I Dig Your Act"

"Hold On"

"No Time For You"

"Lipstick Traces"

"I'll Never Forget You"

"Just To Be With You"

"Just Another Guy"

"I Love Music"

"Looky Looky"

"It's Too Strong"

"Be My Girl"

"Branded Bad"

"Time To Get Down"

"992 Arguments"

"Extraordinary Girl"

"Use Ta Be My Girl"

"People Keep Telling Me"

"Summer Fling"

"Another Lonely Night"

But Eddie and the boys also excelled on the ballads.

"Stairway To Heaven"

"Now He's Home"

"Brandy" etc.

A 40+ year repertoire and the guys are still cutting it today with 3 new albums in the past few years.

Here's your chance to Stand Up and be counted O'Jays fans.

What's your favourite from the guys? (It might be one of the above... or something else!).

Sean Hampsey

Edited November 11, 200618 yr by Sean Hampsey

Stuff on Imperial does it for me but "I dig your act" has a perfect dance tempo in my opinion.

40 years or so of output is a testement to their greatness.So sad to hear of the death of Gerald Levert - will post something on the other post.

  Sean Hampsey said:

Recent posts on The Dells etc. had me thinking for a week or so about starting this thread. And then with the sad news of Geral Levert's premature departure I felt it was somehow appropriate to start the ball rolling.

For me, The O'Jays have been one of the most important Soul Groups of the past 4-5 decades.

Favourite dancers include...

"I Dig Your Act"

"Hold On"

"No Time For You"

"Lipstick Traces"

"I'll Never Forget You"

"Just To Be With You"

"Just Another Guy"

"I Love Music"

"Looky Looky"

"It's Too Strong"

"Be My Girl"

"Branded Bad"

"Time To Get Down"

"992 Arguments"

"Extraordinary Girl"

"Use Ta Be My Girl"

"People Keep Telling Me"

"Summer Fling"

"Another Lonely Night"

But Eddie and the boys also excelled on the ballads.

"Stairway To Heaven"

"Now He's Home"

"Brandy" etc.

A 40+ year repertoire and the guys are still cutting it today with 3 new albums in the past few years.

Here's your chance to Stand Up and be counted O'Jays fans.

What's your favourite from the guys? (It might be one of the above... or something else!).

Sean Hampsey

Hi

"I Dig Your Act", "Working On Your Case", "Hold On", "I'll Never Forget You", "Deeper In Love"

Brilliant!

Edited November 11, 200618 yr by 45cellar

  45cellar said:

Hi

"I Dig Your Act", "Working On Your Case", "Hold On", "I'll Never Forget You", "Deeper In Love"

Brilliant!

And apart from all those and the ones Sean mentioned, who can forget "Backstabbers"...Angie Stone certainly didn't

  soulAdequate said:

And apart from all those and the ones Sean mentioned, who can forget "Backstabbers"...Angie Stone certainly didn't

Hi

Here we go then, The Backstabbers

Unfortunately Angie Stone has been removed from YouTube, SHAME.

So we'll have another O'Jays

Edited November 11, 200618 yr by 45cellar

  Jaco said:

Stuff on Imperial does it for me but "I dig your act" has a perfect dance tempo in my opinion.

40 years or so of output is a testement to their greatness.So sad to hear of the death of Gerald Levert - will post something on the other post.

Yeah.... Girl Machine, Whip it on Me, I've Cried My Last Tear.... great stuff!

Love 'Hold On' and all other tracks mentioned here Sean, but don't forget the driving 'One Night Affair' on Neptune. I spoke to J. Blackfoot a year or two back and he was talking about playing the Apollo with the Soul Children, and when I asked him who else was on the bill the first name he came up with was the O'Jays who performed 'One Night Affair' which Blackfoot loved. He said that the song's lyrics were considered 'on the edge' for the time (1969) and that the O'Jays were thought of as very 'hip' for doing it and getting on the charts. I really like Jerry Butler's version too, but for sheer 'excitement' the O'Jays version wins hands down.

Martin

Without sounding pedantic. Gerald levert was the son of Eddie.

Eddie was the O'jay.

Me and the wife went to see them at the Harlem Apollo for my 40th last year. A night I will never forget. Brilliant is not the word!

  Soulfreak said:

Love 'Hold On' and all other tracks mentioned here Sean, but don't forget the driving 'One Night Affair' on Neptune. I spoke to J. Blackfoot a year or two back and he was talking about playing the Apollo with the Soul Children, and when I asked him who else was on the bill the first name he came up with was the O'Jays who performed 'One Night Affair' which Blackfoot loved. He said that the song's lyrics were considered 'on the edge' for the time (1969) and that the O'Jays were thought of as very 'hip' for doing it and getting on the charts. I really like Jerry Butler's version too, but for sheer 'excitement' the O'Jays version wins hands down.

Martin

Nice one Soulfreak , best version I reckon too!

At work, someone put the guiness book of the Billboard top 40 in the canteen. I looked through it to see how many "Northern" tracks had actually been US hits. There were actually very few suprises, I knew Darrel Banks, Open the Door, Spiral Staircase, Human Beinz etc. What did suprise me was that the Ojays first US Hit was backstabbers. OK it was only the top 40 but I would have thought that something had got through in the '60s.

Another suprise was Cool Aid, Paul Humphrey was a small hit. But it was a suprise that it was a Northern biggie as well. (I bought it in selectadisc for 75p).

I saw the O'jays In Jacksonville Collosseum in 1983, with Bunny Sigler. How many of our old tracks were evident. NONE. Oh well.

Paul

  geordiebri said:

Without sounding pedantic. Gerald levert was the son of Eddie.

Eddie was the O'jay.

Without wishing to sound like Andy Pipkin... Yeh... I Know!

Gerald was only a twinkle when his Dad was 'already' making great records and grew up to have a tremendous career of his own.

I guess that's what makes Gerald's departure even sadder. I imagine there can be few things worse than your kids going before you. Hence this thread (and the other GL thread) as an appreciation.

Some great selections folks, keep 'em coming!

Sean

What's your favourite from the guys? (It might be one of the above... or something else!).

Difficult choice to select just one track, but if pushed, it would have to be

'I'm Gonna Make it' from their LP 'Comin' Through' Imperial 9290 or 12290 (stereo)

Fantastic beat ballad / mid-tempo dancer, just builds & builds, might give it a spin at the next Burnley Niter

Wish it had been issued on 45

cheers

Paul

have to agree, another top group, very hard to pick out best tracks as you always think of something else to add to it, again like the dells this group cuts it on all levels.

Also had the pleasure of seeing them in the early seventies when love train had just done it for them, i seem to remember them doing some of there Neptune output but the memory is a little shakey now.

rob h.

Must say, I've never had the impression that the O'Jays were underrated, either commercially or artistically, compared to 99.9% of other black artists.

It Won't Hurt - o'jays - imperial

11392 refosoul

Today, 12:52 AM Post #13 Dick Turpin!Group: MintPosts: 329Joined: 3-February 04From: Wyke, Bradford. W YorksMember No.: 1,086Event:: Burnley All Niter, Kestral Suite. BB11 1LNLast Played Clip:Various - various What's your favourite from the guys? (It might be one of the above... or something else!).Difficult choice to select just one track, but if pushed, it would have to be'I'm Gonna Make it' from their LP 'Comin' Through' Imperial 9290 or 12290 (stereo) Fantastic beat ballad / mid-tempo dancer, just builds & builds, might give it a spin at the next Burnley NiterWish it had been issued on 45cheersPaul--------------------

Look forward to hearing that tune. Would have to go some to beat this one that was released though, absolute perfection (Imo)

Edited November 12, 200618 yr by Bogue

I'll Never Let You Go - o'jays - imperial

11394 refosoul

Thought i would put up the B-side to It Won't Hurt. A little lack lustre at normal speed but i think it becomes a nice tune with an increase in pitch, +2 till after the first I'll never let you go's then gradual increase to +5 pitch.Apologies to the purists, just think it works (Imho)

  tony_i said:

Must say, I've never had the impression that the O'Jays were underrated, either commercially or artistically, compared to 99.9% of other black artists.

Agree totally... except on the Northern Soul Scene, where, although they've had scores of records played over the years (from Imperial, Neptune, Phil Int etc) I've never met anyone on the scene who cited them as their fave group.

Ask around. You'll always get the usual suspects Tempests, Metro's, Hesitations, Dells, Temps, Tops etc.

All well and good but I honestly feel that the O'Jays have never had the recognition deserved (on the Northern scene).

So good to see that there are others on here who rate their contribution so highly.

Sean

Darling Darling baby or Love Train 70's classic if you hear one. Lipstick Traces good tune aswell

  Sean Hampsey said:

Recent posts on The Dells etc. had me thinking for a week or so about starting this thread. And then with the sad news of Geral Levert's premature departure I felt it was somehow appropriate to start the ball rolling.

For me, The O'Jays have been one of the most important Soul Groups of the past 4-5 decades.

Favourite dancers include...

"I Dig Your Act"

"Hold On"

"No Time For You"

"Lipstick Traces"

"I'll Never Forget You"

"Just To Be With You"

"Just Another Guy"

"I Love Music"

"Looky Looky"

"It's Too Strong"

"Be My Girl"

"Branded Bad"

"Time To Get Down"

"992 Arguments"

"Extraordinary Girl"

"Use Ta Be My Girl"

"People Keep Telling Me"

"Summer Fling"

"Another Lonely Night"

But Eddie and the boys also excelled on the ballads.

"Stairway To Heaven"

"Now He's Home"

"Brandy" etc.

A 40+ year repertoire and the guys are still cutting it today with 3 new albums in the past few years.

Here's your chance to Stand Up and be counted O'Jays fans.

What's your favourite from the guys? (It might be one of the above... or something else!).

Sean Hampsey

Loved their version of This Time Baby but my favourite thing by them was the Ship Ahoy album, just awesome

My favorite album from the O'Jays is FAMILY REUNION.

  The Maverick said:

My favorite album from the O'Jays is FAMILY REUNION.

Agree, Maverick.

Bought it as a new release.

A stunning piece of vinyl.

Adore "She's Only A Woman" and "Stairway To Heaven".

Simply Sublime.

Sean

picked up my copy of "NO TIME FOR YOU" for pennies, best underated dancer they made IMHO,,Kev.

  Black Gold of the Sun said:

Loved their version of This Time Baby

That one sure is superb! I play it out as often as I can.

This Time Baby - o'jays - pir

11627 refosoul

The original version of this tune

Played an early O'Jays (The Mascots) on the Metropolitan Soul Show the other week. I'll post up a sound clip later if anyone wants it.

'Put our heads together' is another O'jays fave of mine and 'Sugar Sugar' from 'The O'jays Meet The Moments'

dispite O'Jays first top 40 hit in US being back stabbers. The main US chart is hot 100. if you can score a hot 100 hit you have done something right. O'Jays had 10 hot 100 hits before Backstabbers. Lonely Drifter from 1963 being first at No 93. They also have had R & B and bubbling under hits (songs that made the hot 200 but not hot 100).

love all those mentioned. i would rate the o'jays as one of my all time favs, without a doubt. also love "the choice" (bell)

You can't beat a bit of My Favourite Person imo - also Let Life Flow is tremendous. And more recently Imagination from 2 years ago is up there with their best.

  daved said:

You can't beat a bit of My Favourite Person imo - also Let Life Flow is tremendous. And more recently Imagination from 2 years ago is up there with their best.

Yes, 'Imagination' is a great soulful stepper, would definitely get into my 'Best of the O'Jays' CD.

An underrated track that was just mentioned is "The Choice". Think it came out on Bell?

Working on your case is my fave, as much for the stunning drum sound as the for the glorious harmonies.

Col

Edited November 22, 200618 yr by Dayo

Top track for me at the moment is one I picked up on recommendation. "To Prove I Love You" on TSOP w/d.Got two copies of it for couple of quid each and flogged other same day to a mate.

Great dancer from 1980.

Dave.

I must add NOW THAT WE'VE FOUND LOVE and LIVIN' FOR THE WEEKEND. Although WEEKEND has a long-winded intro, I just LOVE it when it gets to the dance part!