Bargain Audio CDs & Priceless Collection (series)

From The Beginning

by The O'Jays

Product Description:

Cassette available on Chess Special Products (91542).

The O'Jays: Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey (vocals).

An interesting collection that marks the earliest collaboration (1969) between the long running vocal group (at this point, still a quartet rather than the more familiar trio) and talented record producers/songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The songs here were originally released as singles on Gamble and Huff's Neptune Records imprint, the predecessor to their more successful Philadelphia International label, and many of them eventually wound up on THE O'JAYS IN PHILADELPHIA.

The producer's signature sound--danceable, post-Motown R&B and soul--is already in place here, and the opening tune, "One Night Affair," is a classic that's at least as thoroughly realized as anything from the later BACK STABBERS album.