| Pain | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 1972 | |||
| Genre | Soul, funk | |||
| Length | 30:10 | |||
| Label | Westbound | |||
| Producer | Ohio Players, Herb James, Billy Pittman | |||
| Ohio Players chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Pain is the second studio album by Ohio Players, and their debut for the Westbound label.
After recording an album for Capitol Records in 1968, the group had split up. Some of the members decided to take a chance once more and it led them to Armen Boladian, whose Westbound label in Detroit was the then-home of George Clinton and his band Funkadelic. The group recorded "Pain" and was released as a single. Positive feedback lead to Boladian signing them for a full contract, making the band record enough material for their Westbound debut.
The group still has some of the vocal and musical qualities found on their Capitol material, but their first work in the 1970s showed them incorporating a bit of jazz and a harder yet polished soulful sound.
A number of things were established with this album. The romantic and sexy aspects of their music started with Pain, with songs devoted to their love of women. It would become one of their trademarks throughout their career. The group would also become known for their suggestive photos on the album covers. The group would also present a character in the form of a grandmother who was simply known as Granny, voiced by Walter "Junie" Morrison. Granny and her stories would remain with the group until Junie left the group in 1974, the year the Ohio Players signed with Mercury.
When the album was released, the original mono mix of "Pain" was used. In 2018, the very first stereo mix of Pain emerged. It was featured on a 1/4" mastertape from the Nashville recording sessions in May 1971, before the move to Westbound. The Ohio Players were still signed to Top Hit Records at that point. The Nashville tape contains 6 songs, including 2 songs that ended up on the "Pain" LP: "(If You Were) My Woman" and the very first stereo mix of "Pain". All songs on the Nashville tape were mixed by Bud Billings at Music City Recorders in Nashville. The mixes are different from the later releases on Westbound, in that the stereo field is wider and the sound is drier with less reverb. The Westbound album was engineered by Arlen Smith who also engineered Pleasure and Funkadelic's America Eats Its Young.
All tracks are written by Ohio Players (Gregory Webster, Andrew Noland, Walter Morrison, Marshall Jones, Leroy Bonner, Ralph Middlebrooks). The names of band members Bruce Napier and Marvin Pierce were mistakenly omitted from the writing credits on the original LP. Andrew Noland is a pseudonym for band leader Clarence Satchell
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pain" | 6:12 |
| 2. | "Never Had a Dream" | 4:35 |
| 3. | "Players Balling (Players Doin' Their Own Thing)" | 4:22 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 4. | "I Wanna Hear from You" | 2:52 |
| 5. | "The Reds" | 5:08 |
| 6. | "Singing in the Morning" | 7:01 |
Some tracks feature singer Dale Allen. According to drummer Greg Webster, Allen joined the group after being recommended by Bootsy Collins, but was fired from the band after a heated argument with Clarence Satchell in the studio during the third day of recording the album.
| Chart (1972) | Peak [2] |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top LPs | 177 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Soul LPs | 21 |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US [2] | US R&B [2] | ||
| 1971 | "Pain (Part 1)" | 64 | 35 |
Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s. Funkadelic initially formed as a backing band for Clinton's vocal group the Parliaments, but eventually pursued a heavier, psychedelic rock-oriented sound in their own recordings. They released acclaimed albums such as Maggot Brain (1971) and One Nation Under a Groove (1978).
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Observations in Time is the 1969 debut album recorded by the Ohio Players and released on the Capitol label. The album was a regional hit in and around the group's home city of Dayton, Ohio. David Bowie included "Here Today and Gone Tomorrow" into his 1974 live sets for the Philadelphia dates of the Year of the Diamond Dogs tour that resulted in the David Live album.
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Contradiction is the eighth studio album by The Ohio Players, and the fourth album recorded for Mercury.
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Ohio Players is an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models featured in Playboy.
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Straight Outta Compton: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the 2015 film of the same name. The album was released by Universal Music Enterprises on January 8, 2016 in digital formats. The soundtrack features songs that were mainly performed by N.W.A but also includes solo performances from N.W.A members Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre.
