Search - O'Jays :: Anthology

Margaret S. from GLENVIEW, IL
Reviewed on 3/22/2007...

Get on aboard the love train! The OJays songs are from when they were young. NICE!

ARRGH!!! Yet again, not enough of The Right Stuff

Jeff Pearlman | Lakeland, FL USA | 07/10/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My hopes of having all my O'Jays needs finally met in one place were again dashed with a scan of the track listing of this set. This essentially repackages The Right Stuff's 1976-1991 set with the newer R&B hit "Somebody Else Will" tacked on to the end and FAR TOO FEW of the group's crucial pre-1976 hits added to the beginning. Don't wait till you've bought it to find out that "Backstabbers" is not on here! The emphasis has definitely been placed on the wrong part of this excellent group's long career. How can they leave off "Backstabbers"? By the way, this also includes one, count 'em, one, of the O'Jays' many pre-Philadelphia International hits: "Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)," which reached #48 on Billboard's pop chart (#28 R&B) in 1965. So far, Amazon has not come through with the track listing. I am almost positive that the entirety of the 1976-1991 set is included here. The timings are not listed on the back, so I could not tell if these are single- or album-length versions. "Anthology" has 3 or 4 hits from the 1972-75 era, including "Love Train," "For The Love of Money," and "I Love Music." Those are great hits, but this was widely regarded as the O'Jays' critical and commercial peak, featuring several other huge R&B hits ("Put Your Hands Together," "Give The People What They Want," and "Time To Get Down"). Definitely not the era to skim over. The imbalance is probably because different parties hold the licensing rights to the O'Jays' Philadelphia International hits, with an apparent dividing line between "Livin' For The Weekend" and "Message In Our Music," sometime in 1976. It looks like a combination of "Ultimate O'Jays" and "Best of 1976-1991" is still the best strategy for collecting all the big hits. I also recommend "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow," which covers the group's years on the Bell label (roughly 1966-69). The remaining Liberty and Neptune hits from the '60's are still MIA on CD to the best of my knowledge.Maybe it's an error and "Backstabbers" will be magically included in future versions of this 2-disc set. Unless and until then, buyer beware."

A COMPLETE O'JAYS ANTHOLOGY IS NEEDED....

willgee | ca | 03/31/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Unfortunately, no single multi- label-career- spanning anthology of the legendary O'JAYS exists, covering the best of their LIBERTY, MINIT,IMPERIAL,BELL,SARU,EMI & PHILLY INTERNATIONAL HITS ..... BUT, fortunately you can come CLOSE ...by collecting their career IN PIECES. If you check elsewhere on this site ,two foreign CD releases...."WORKING ON YOUR CASE" and "THE ULTIMATE O'JAYS COLLECTION" capture the best of their 1963 thru 1966 years on the LIBERTY /MINIT & IMPERIAL labels..including their first national and regional hits...(all of which featured all 5 original members, including BILL ISLES... such as "LONELY DRIFTER", "STAND IN FOR LOVE "," LIPSTICK TRACES" "WORKING ON YOUR CASE" AND "LET IT ALL OUT" (although the excellent early hit "IT WONT HURT" is conspicuously missing except a "live" version ,(but is available on 45 on certain oldies websites ... WHILE "THE O'JAYS : I'LL BE SWEETER TOMORROW" CD captures the best of their BELL RECORDS sides from the years 1967- 1969...featuring hits like "THE CHOICE" "I MISS YOU" ,"I'LL BE SWEETER TOMORROW" AND "LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER" (the latter two of which were both later covered by THE ESCORTS), and "the O'JAYS IN PHILDELPHIA"... the stunning GAMBLE - HUFF pre " BACK STABBERS" ALBUM WITH THE HITS "ONE NIGHT AFFAIR", " DEEPER IN LOVE WITH YOU, LOOKY LOOKY (LOOK AT ME GIRL ) AND " BRANDED BAD" has the best of their early GAMBLE HUFF WORK (this album ,originally released in 1969 while original O'JAYS member BOBBY MASSEY was still in the group , had his face on the original lp album cover (on GAMBLE & HUFF'S now defunct NEPTUNE LABEL )but not on the PHILLY INTERNATIONAL LP & CD release. I recommend all 4 of these CDS... they are ESSENTIAL to get the best possible overview of this legendary group's early career.Next come the PHILIDELPHIA INTERNATIONAL HIT YEARS... these albums were all SO GOOD,that a general "GREATEST HITS" CD will not include ALL the great songs... ALL of these albums are available on CD...and ALL of them went either GOLD OR PLATINIUM...and many of the NON SINGLE ALBUM CUTS became hits on the radio as well...so you'd be cheating yourself by not collecting them ALL. 1)the BACK STABBERS cd.. 2) SHIP AHOY...3) THE O'JAYS LIVE IN LONDON...4)FAMILY REUNION 5)SURVIVAL...6)SO FULL OF LOVE (available alone or in a "two-fer" with the "IDENTIFY YOURSELF" CD and 7)MESSAGE IN OUR MUSIC.From this point ,to keep from going broke , go to several import "2-fer collections of their later PHILLY INTERNATIONAL WORK , SUCH AS the YEAR 2000 /MY FAVORITE PERSON COLLECTION , and the LOVE FEVER/LET ME TOUCH YOU CD if you want the original albums , or the " BEST OF THE O'JAYS -1978-1991" OR THE RIGHT STUFF/ PHILLY INTL " THE O'JAYS ANTHOLOGY" DOUBLE CD if you dont.Until someone releases a comprehensive , ALL- INCLUSIVE O'JAYS box set ( The record companies really dropped the ball on this one ,they should have released one years ago when the group was inducted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME ) this is the BEST way to cover the long , storied early career of the O'JAYS."