Honey (Ohio Players album)

Honey is the seventh studio album by American band the Ohio Players. Released on August 16, 1975 by Mercury Records. It is generally regarded as a classic, the band's best album, and the last great full-length release of their dominant era in the mid-1970s.

For the 1958 LP, see Honey (Sonny James album).
Honey
Studio album by
Ohio Players
ReleasedAugust 16, 1975
RecordedFebruary–June, 1975 at Paragon Recording Studios
(Chicago, Illinois)
GenreSoul, funk, R&B
Length31:47
LabelMercury
ProducerOhio Players
Ohio Players chronology
Fire
(1974)		 Honey
(1975)		 Contradiction
(1976)
Singles from Honey
  1. "Sweet Sticky Thing"
    Released: August 9, 1975
  2. "Love Rollercoaster"
    Released: November 9, 1975
  3. "Fopp"
    Released: February, 1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[2]

Like previous albums by the band, Honey is known for a racy cover photo. In this case image is a nude woman holding a sticky jar of honey in one hand while lasciviously swallowing a spoonful of it with the other. The inside cover photo shows the nude woman lying on her back with honey poured all over her body, and the Players looking at her with sheer delight and amazement. The model was Playboy magazine's October 1974 Playmate of the Month, Ester Cordet. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover Art.

It was recorded and remixed at Paragon Recording Studios in Chicago, with Barry Mraz as their recording engineer. Marty Link, Steve Kusiciel, Rob Kingsland, and Paul Johnson are credited as tape operators. Gilbert Kong mastered the final mix at Masterdisk in New York City.

The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 during the week of September 27, 1975, kept out of the top spot by Jefferson Starship's Red Octopus.[3] In addition, it was the third album from the band to top the Soul/Black Albums chart where it spent three weeks.

Release history

In addition to the standard 2 channel stereo version the album was also released in a 4 channel quadraphonic version in 1975. This version appeared on 8-track tape in the US and was the fourth of five Ohio Players albums available in this format. The quad version was re-issued on DTS Audio CD in 2001.

Track listing

All tracks are written by James Williams, Clarence Satchell, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, Marvin Pierce, William Beck.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Honey"4:15
2."Fopp"3:45
3."Let's Love"5:15
4."Ain't Givin' Up No Ground"1:45
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Sweet Sticky Thing"6:13
6."Love Rollercoaster"4:52
7."Alone"4:40

Personnel

Production
  • Ohio Players – producers
  • Barry Mraz, Gilbert Kong & Tom Hanson ; engineers
  • Marty Linke, Steve Kusiciel, Rob Kingsland, Paul Johnson – tape operators
  • Richard Fegley – photography
  • Jim Ladwig – art direction
  • Joe Kotleba – design

Cover versions

Charts
Chart (1975) Peak
[4]
U.S. Billboard Top LPs 2
U.S. Billboard Top Soul LPs 1
Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions
US
[4]		 US
R&B
[4]
1975 "Sweet Sticky Thing" 33 1
"Love Rollercoaster" 1 1
1976 "Fopp" 30 9
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See also
  • List of number-one R&B albums of 1975 (U.S.)

References
  1. Henderson, Alex. Honey review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: O". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. "Billboard 200: Week of September 27, 1975". Billboard.com. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
  4. "US Charts > Ohio Players". Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
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