Anatomy of THE Groove: “Skin Tight” by Ohio Players

Ohio Players emerged in the early 70’s as the first wave of Dayton funk bands-which would later go on to include Sun,Heatwave,Slave and Zapp among others. Clarence Satchell,Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks and bassist Marshall Jones were originally members of the Ohio Untouchables. They started out as a backing group for The Falcons-whose members included Wilson Pickett,Eddie Floyd and the Untouchables original lead singer/guitarist Robert Ward.  The apparently unreliable Ward was replaced by Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner . The band changed their to name to the Ohio Players by 1965.

The band signed to Westbound in 1970. There they added musicians such as Walter Junie Morrison. He provided their first major hit in the humorous funk groove of “Funky Worm” a couple of years later. In 1974,the band left Westbound and signed to Mercury while Junie stayed behind for a solo career and eventually joining George Clinton’s P-Funk-with George being an admirer of Ohio Players. Right out of the box on Mercury they had a hit which I discovered over 20 years ago in my parents 45 collection. But the album version is another entity altogether. It’s the title song to their Mercury debut Skin Tight.

Marshall Jones gets the party started with one of the most iconic bass lines in 70’s funk-with it’s bluesy base. Wah wah guitar joins in shortly before conga drums lead into the main song. It starts with ascending and descending horn charts. The drum plays a fast tempo that hits heavy on the snare on every other beat. The wah wah and percussion zero right in on the rhythm while the electric piano provides melodic accompaniment. Throughout the song,ascending horns define the chorus while descending horns define the choruses. After an electric piano solo on the bridge,the chorus fades out the song.

The first time I heard this song,it didn’t really occur to me that this was hearing funk 101 as it were. In terms of the mid/late 70’s sound of the genre,this song had it locked down. The call and response lead/falsetto vocals and horns,and the chorus staying right on the one for nearly eight minutes on the album version. Of course,Jones’ bass line became (as my friend Henrique pointed out) the signature riff on songs such as The Commodores “Brick House” a several years later. Ohio Players always gave up the funk after this. But “Skin Tight” is the song that truly got the party going for them on Mercury!

 

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Considering the fact that it was sheer luck that I discovered this nearly impossible to find CD in a used CD store,it’s amazing how often I refer to and come back to this particular album. Always been fascinated by the impact of the album cover,a rare and topical group portrait in proto “gangsta” garb (something hip-hop has latched onto in many areas) as well. Interestingly enough this serves as a possibly loose soundtrack to a film of the same title,itself a rarity as well.

So basically it gave the Ohio Players a change to stretch out their music in a more cinematic arena. On the other hand,even as the membership of the band swelled from seven to nine members on this album all was not well within. Financial difficulties revolving around Clarence Satchell’s extravagant lifestyle were catching up to all of them. And…honestly it was their final album of all new material for Mercury.  All the same it is an album that,for sure get’s a very unbalanced and unfair reputation to say the least.

To clear up one of the most popular misconceptions,this is by no stretch of the imagination an “unfunky album” as so many listeners and critics charge. Quite the contrary it’s MOSTLY funk,albeit often of the more futurist and experimental variety. Mixing a strong rhythm box drum machine with almost Tangerine Dream/Kraftwerk style atonal electronic synthesizers “The Controllers Mind”,in it’s briefness in length finds Billy Beck WAAAY ahead of the game.

It was especially in terms of hip-hop’s later use of what some call the “video game” sound. P-Funk were just getting in on it too around this time and the Players took it way ahead here. On “Magic Trick”,basically a smooth late 70’s melodic dance-funk there are even more hints of that same atonal electronic jazz-funk keyboard sound. “Fight Me,Chase Me” and “The Big Score” limit the vocals primarily to the song title as the band flex their collective,cinematic jazzy funk muscles otherwise,with heavy emphasis on the jazz end of it.

The title song and the closing “Speak Easy” are the most conventionally funky numbers here. And even for that you’ll find the band driving the groove even harder into the ground than usual. The albums longest number is the nearly ten minute,moody “Good Luck Charm”,another Ohio Players bluesy style mid-tempo funk groove with some well executed use of ARP strings and a somewhat romantically tortured lyric. There’s a degree of complexity with the song,as it is on most of this album.

Actually musically stronger and FAR more ambitious than either Contradiction or Angel this album reaches out more into what was to come into and from funk music in the future more than it does deal with it’s past and present. In fact newer genres of techno dance and hip-hop might’ve benefited more from some of these musical ideas that the funk and disco of the era. In many ways I suppose we could only wonder. If this lineup of the Ohio Players hadn’t drawn to a halt and this album was a jumping off point as opposed to a conclusion……just what might’ve been.

Originally posted on July 29th,2016

LINK TO ORIGINAL REVIEW HERE!

*Listen to the title song of this album here!

*Listen to “The Controllers Mind” here!

*Listen to “Magic Trick” here!