Ohio Players Albums Ranked

Ohio Players were an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs “Fire” and “Love Rollercoaster”; as well as for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models featured in Playboy. The singles “Funky Worm”, “Skin Tight”, “Fire”, and “Love Rollercoaster”; as well as their albums Skin Tight, Fire, and Honey, were awarded Gold certifications. On August 17, 2013, Ohio Players were inducted into the inaugural class of the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame that took place at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. Here are all of Ohio Players albums ranked.

Don’t miss out on the music of Ohio Players. Click below and listen to the timeless songs of this punk rock band.

7. Pain

“Pain was made earlier, before the Ohio’s had truly developed their hallmark. Still, you can here the jazz elements seeping deep into the funk: The title track has a jazz piano solo. “I Wanna Hear From You.” has a long, snakey horn intro before we get down to boogie. “See you in the morning,” has a Django-esque guitar solo.”

6. Ecstasy

“This album was a great follow-up to the ‘Pleasure’ LP. The Players were well on the way to developing the sound that would carry them to the top of the charts in the mid 70’s. Even though Junie Morrison was still in the group at this time, some of the falsettos sound a lot like Billy Beck. I always wondered if Beck played an uncredited role on this album. This album was a great finale to the Players’ Westbound era.”

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5. Contradiction

“The players threw some down home funk on this one,the title track is funk rock at it,s best while far east mississippi is just down and dirty dayton funk!a true musicians dream just listen the vocals and musicianship after all the players were known to employ over twenty different instruments for one album a must have.”

4. Pleasure

“Pleasure is one: this band tightens the riffs of Pain, speeds up the tempos, and sounds infinately more confident. They add a lot more percussion flourishes; most of all, the Players run extremely tight and complex horn lines on top of the flat, minimal chord changes here. The group began as a jazz unit, and listening to Pleasure, you conclude these guys could have easily worked for Stan Kenton, Donald Byrd, or any other late 60s top cat you can name.”

3. Skin Tight

“When you listen to this album its great… a real journey, it can be dance music, Just as much as background, dreaming or whatchamacallit making music, And you can follow the journey from beginning to end… a lot is happening and there’s a sound and production style hard edged yet smooth that no other group quite had”

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2. Fire

“Ohio Players at their peak with this amazing album which hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B Albums in 1975. The title track “Fire” and “Smoke” are absolute funk grooves while “I Want to Be Free” and “Together” are smooth ballads that bring the funk to this album. Great album”

1. Honey

“The album opens with the BEAUTIFULLY orchestrated title track then goes into the rock-riffed “Fopp” with its outrageous lyrics (“Fopp me right/Don’t you fopp me wrong/We’ll be here trappin’ all night long!”). “Let’s Love” is a smooth romantic jam with an irresistible hook. The 1 1/2 minute “Ain’t Givin’ Up No Ground” is just a quick peek into an Ohio Players jam session. The album closes with the stripped-down, passionate ballad “Alone”. This is Sugarfoot’s finest moment on the mic.”