| Tracking numbers are listed for lp's & CD's and cassettes. Some may be non-US numbers. An expanded discography with artwork is available by clicking on any album title. | OHIO! - you must own this album. Buy it asap! OHIO -- the band at their best, definitive OP OHI ---- great record, good addition to any collection OH ----- solid effort with some misses O ------- ain't missin much, but if cheap buy it! |
** click on the album title to jump to the album detail **
| Official Studio Releases | |||||
| TITLE | TRACKING # | COMMENT | GRADE | BUY @ CDNOW |
BUY @ RAZ-UP RECORDS |
| First Impressions 1968 Compass/ Trip |
lp: TLP-8029 cd: ?? |
OH | |||
| Observations In Time 1968 Compass/ Capitol |
lp: ?? cd: ?? |
band searching for sound | OH |  $16.49 |
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| Pain 1971 Westbound |
lp: WB-2015 cd: SEWM 004 |
Junie Morrison's first album, great sign of things to come | OHIO | $14.49 |
|
| Pleasure 1972 Westbound |
lp: WB-2017 cd: SEWM 014 |
my first OP record and still my favorite. Hear on WFNK Radio Nutwork | OHIO! | ||
| Ecstacy 1973 Westbound |
lp: S-222 cd: SEWM 026 |
James "Diamond" Williams replaced Greg Webster. Hear on WFNK Radio Nutwork | OHIO | $14.99 |
|
| Climax 1974 Westbound |
lp: WB-1003 cd: ?? |
unfinished material from the Westbound years with some great jams | OHI | ||
| Skin Tight 1974 Mercury |
cd: 848 345-2 cass: 848 345-4 |
Billy Beck replaced Junie Morrison, great new sound | OHIO! | $8.49 |
|
| Fire 1974 Mercury |
lp: srm 1-1013 cass: 848 346-4 |
funk rock at it's finest, an all time classic | OHIO! | $10.49 |
|
| Honey 1975 Mercury |
lp: srm 1-1038 cd: |
they are at the top of their game. Hear on WFNK Radio Nutwork | OHIO! | $10.49 |
|
| Contradiction 1976 Mercury |
lp: srm 1-1088 cd: 848 348-2 |
adventurous and still very good | OHI | ||
| Angel 1977 Mercury |
lp: srm 1-3701 cd: 848 349-2 |
great title track, but they are starting to retread | OHI | ||
| Mr. Mean 1977 Mercury |
lp: srm 1-3707 cd: 848 350-2 |
most amazing or most dissapointing, hard to tell. read the WFNK.com review | OH | ||
| Jass-Ay-Lay-Dee 1978 Mercury |
lp: ?? cd: 848 351-2 |
planned double album, has it's moments | OH | ||
| Everybody Up 1979 Arista |
lp: AB-4226 cd: ?? |
Title track is weak, the rest decent | OH | ||
| Ouch! 1981 Boardwalk |
lp: NB1-33247 cd: ?? |
hard to find and harder to like | O | $10.49 |
|
| Tenderness 1981 Boardwalk |
lp: FW 37090 cd: ?? |
much better than Ouch!, Merv's last record | OH | $10.49 |
|
| Graduation 1984 Century Vista |
lp: ?? cd: 18000-2 |
no Sugar - Billy Beck lead vocals. Unoriginal but has some strong tracks | OHI | $22.99 |
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| Back 1988 Track |
lp: ?? cd: 58810-2 |
Darwin Dortch replaces Marshall Jones. All synths, not much else | O | ||
| Ol' School 1996 Intersound |
lp: ?? cd: 9177 |
Live enhanced CD-ROM, great show | OHI | $14.49 |
|
| Jam 1996 Mercury |
lp: ?? cd: 314 532 406-2 |
Live-in-studio from 1978, an amazing funk time capsule | OHIO | $16.49 |
|
| Greatest Hits | |||||
| Greatest Hits 1975 Westbound |
lp: WB 1005 | early but strong | OHIO | ||
| Gold 1976 Mercury |
lp: srm 1-1122 cd: 824 461-2 |
Mercury's Greatest Hits | OHIO! | ||
| Best Of The Early Years Volume 1 1977 Westbound |
another Westbound Greatest Hits | OHIO | |||
| Orgasm: The Very Best Of The Westbound Years 1994 Westbound |
cd: SEWD 062 | The definitive collection of the Westbound years | OHIO! | ||
| Funk On Fire: The Mercury Anthology 1995 Mercury |
cd: 314 528 102-2 | A 2-CD definitive collection of the Mercury years | OHIO! | $25.99 |
|
| Best of Ohio Players 1997 Polygram Special |
another Mercury collection sans packaging | OHI | |||
| Reissues | ||||
| Pain+Pleasure=Ecstacy 1974 Westbound |
compilation of the first three Westbound LP's | |||
| Superpak 1977 Mercury |
OP on one side, Kool & The Gang on the other | |||
| Summertime 1994 Charly |
cd: CPCD-8030 | reissue of both "First Impressions" and "Observations in Time" | ||
| Little Soul Party 1995 |
same as "Summertime" +1 track | |||
| Live:Sweet Sticky Thing 1997 |
reissue of "Ol'School" without the cover art | $6.49 |
||
| O-H-I-O 1989 Polygram Special |
cass: | reissue of "Gold" | ||
| Lonely Street |
reissue of "Observations in Time" | $3.99 |
||
| Unauthorized Releases | |||
| Rattlesnake 1975 Westbound |
lp: W-211 | Very rare!! more unfinished tracks from Westbound | OH |
Ohio Players Side Projects
special thanks to Maria Granditsky for this info
| Love Lite | 1979 | Elektra | lp: 6E-233 |
| Shadow | 1980 | Elektra | lp: 6E-293 |
| Shadows In The Street | 1981 | Elektra | lp: 6E-345 |
Shadow was a three-piece group consisting of James "Diamond" Williams, William "Billy" Beck and Clarence "Chet" Willis. All songs on their first release were written, composed and arranged by Williams, Beck & Willis but they shared the production with Don Mizell. Strange to say, only "Chet" is credited for playing bass, guitar and vocals, Billy Beck and Diamond are not listed among the musicians. A certain Fred Wesley is, something that may be of interest for his fans. The single "I Need Love" was charted for eight weeks, debuted on 11/24/79 and peaked in 1980 at position 77. The follow up was "No Better Love", debuting 2/23/80, peaked at 72 and was charted for no more than three weeks.
For their second LP, Diamond, Chet and Billy turned to veteran producer Leon Ware. For those not familiar with Leon, he was/is an accomplished singer, songwriter and producer who, among other things, worked closely with Marvin Gaye on his classic "I Want You" album in 1976. Sadly, there are no credits as to who played what on the liner notes. All tracks but one were either written by Williams, Beck, Willis or co-written with Leon Ware. The single "Mystery Dancer" backed with "Hot City" was a two sided 100 hit. "Mystery Dancer" charted on 8/09/80 and "Hot City" 10/18/80. The A-side peaked at number 68 and the B-side at 75 and was charted for 5 respectively 4 weeks.
The third album, also produced by Leon Ware, this time had information on who did what on the album. Billy Beck played Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes, Prophet 5, Arp Solus and Oberheim. Clarence "Chet" Willis handled lead guitar and bass while James "Diamond" Williams kept the whole thing together behind his drums, percussion, Syn Drums and Gong. Billy Beck sings lead on "Clouds" and "Chet" Willis does the same on "Piece Of Cake". No singles released charted on the Billboard R & B Top 100. (all chart info taken from: Joel Whitburn's Top & B singles, 1942-1988)
| Riding High | 1977 | She Records | lp: SH-740 |
| Good Thang | 1978 | She Records | lp: SH-741 |
| Breakin' The Funk | 1979 | She | lp: SH-742 |
Faze-O consisted of Keith "Chop Chop" Harrison (keyboards synthezier, perucssion, lead & background vocals), Tyrone "Flye" Crum (bass, background vocals), Ralph "Love" Aikens (guitar, lead and background vocals, talkbox) Roger "Dodger" Parker (drums, percussion) and Robert "Bip" Neal, Jr. (percussion, lead and background vocals).
"Riding High" was produced by what is referred to as "Tight Corporation", but there is very little doubt that it in fact was produced by the Ohio Players since they wrote and co-wrote every song on the album (particulary Clarence "Satch" Satchell"). OP are listed as arrangers and Robert "C.D." Jones is credited for playing congas. The single "Riding High" peaked at number 9 on the Billboard top 100 R & B list in 1978 and it was charted for eighteen weeks. Debuted 3/04/78.
By the time Faze-O released their second LP they obviously felt more secure since they handled more of the songwriting themselves. Only one track, "Who Loves You", was co-written by Clarence Satchell. "Satch" produced the album, played saxophone and trumpet, while fellow Ohio Players members Chet Willis and Billy Beck supplied Faze-O with additional guitar and keyboards, respectively. The single, once again the title track, "Good Thang" debuted 11/25/78 but peaked in 1979 at 43 and was charted for ten weeks.
Faze-O's third LP, once again had Clarence Satchell handling the production along with Faze-O lead singer and keyboardist Keith Harrison. "Satch" co-wrote "Ya-Ba-Da-Ba-Duzie" and "Let's Rock". Unlike the two previous albums, which were recorded in Chicago (from where I suspect Faze-O originates), "Breakin' The Funk" was recorded at 5th Floor Studios in Cincinnati, Ohio. The single "Breakin' The Funk" entered the charts on 11/03/79, peaked at number 63 and was charted for eight weeks.
| Love Shock | 1977 | Mercury | lp: SRM-1-1171 (hear on WFNK Radio Nutwork) |
Kitty And The Haywoods was an all female vocal group, hailing from Chicago. They began their career as commercial jingles singers. Consisted of sisters Kitty (lead vocalist), Vivian, Mary Ann and was in 1976 joined by Vivian's daughter, Cynthia Haywood. The LP was produced and written by the Ohio Players who supported instrumental aid as well. The title track, "Love Shock" was the only single from the LP to appear on the Billboard top 100 R&B Chart. It debuted on 8/20/77 and was charted for four weeks, peaking at number 84.
