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review
by Alex Henderson
Creatively, commercially, and conceptually, Pain was a major step forward for
the Ohio Players. This 1971 album was quite a departure from their previous
work -- in the late-'60s, the Midwesterners' forte had been raw, hard-edged
Southern-style soul along the lines of Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, and Wilson
Picket. But with Pain, they became a lot more experimental and unveiled an
interesting, distinctive brand of funk that incorporated elements of jazz and
blues as well as rock. The jazz influence is especially strong on "Never Had a
Dream," "Singing in the Morning," and the hit title song, while "The Reds" is a
progressive blues number that draws on jazz as well as psychedelic rock. It
was with Pain, the Players' first album for Westbound, that they unveiled their
goofy Granny character, which the funksters continued to have fun with on
their subsequent Westbound releases but discontinued when they moved to
Mercury with 1974's Skin Tight. And it was with Pain that they became famous
(some would say infamous) for their erotic LP covers. Employing S&M/bondage
imagery, Pain's front cover was considered shocking in 1971. Although the
Velvet Underground had written songs about S&M, and the British spy thriller
The Avengers frequently hinted at kinky sex -- Diana Rigg's Emma Peel
character often dressed like a dominatrix -- S&M and fetishism were very
taboo subjects for Middle America in 1971. And not surprisingly, some retailers
refused to carry Pain. But the album, although not huge, was a decent seller.
With Pain, the Ohio Players' Westbound period was off to an impressive and
creative start.
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Ohio Players - Pain
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Artist...............: Ohio Players
Album................: Pain
Genre................: Soul And R&B
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 1971
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME 3.82
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Insane, (avg. bitrate: 320kbps)
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Ripped by............: Grad58 on 6/26/2013
Posted by............: Grad58 on 6/26/2013
Included.............: NFO, SFV, PLS, M3U, CUE
Covers...............: Front
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Tracklisting
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1. Ohio Players - I Wanna Hear From You [02:43]
2. Ohio Players - Never Had A Dream [04:27]
3. Ohio Players - Pain [06:04]
4. Ohio Players - Players Balling (Players Doin' [04:18]
5. Ohio Players - Singing In The Morning [06:51]
6. Ohio Players - The Reds [04:56]
Playing Time.........: 29:22
Total Size...........: 71.23 MB
NFO generated on.....: 6/26/2013 2:32:16 PM
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