The O'Jays

In the cover painting the three O'Jays stand smiling childishly in the midst of a very
extended "family" which includes an Eskimo, a Tartar, a bald Nubian, Asians, Scandinavians,
a Mexican, one each of almost every nationality. "Remember, the family that prays together
stays together," coproducer Kenneth Gamble writes in his liner notes. "Put the 'Unity' back
into the family." It's only with misgivings that the listener puts on the album's first... More >

In which Jesse Jackson (or is it Reverend Ike) goes disco, proving that the words do too matter. The self-serving, pseudopolitical pap Kenny Gamble sets his boys to declaiming here underlines the way the overripeness of this vocal and production style can go mushy, which it does. Even the working-class party anthem "Livin' for the Weekend" is ruined by the rest of the side--some play-her-like-a-violin soft-core, and the unspeakable (would it were unsingable) "I Love Music." Moral: the rich and the superrich sh*t--the nouveau riche can f*ck you over too. (Grade: C)