Before putting our sleek disco-laden soul albums with lusty women on the covers, The Ohio Players were a Midwest band that sounded like they grew up in Memphis. This cd contains material mostly form their days of 1969 and 1972, from the albums Observations In Time and First Impressions. The core team of Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner/g, Greg Webster/dr, Bobby Frears/voc, Marshall Jones/b, Ralph Meadowbrooks/tp-sax, Dutch Robinson/p-voc and Clarence Satchell/sax-fl sound like something from a STAX recording, as the grease up on the old R&B hit “Mother-In-Law” and get jazzy on a hip read of “Over The Rainbow”. They even do some Gershwin with a hip read of “Summertime” while the ribs are dry rubbed on “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow” and “A Little Soul Party”. Fears’ vocals have an attractive earthiness to them, but the band plays like they were waiting for Joe Tex or Wilson Pickett to grab the mic. Bare footin’!