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The Ohio Players were already seasoned funk warriors by the time they unleashed "Honey" upon the world in August 1975, but nothing could have prepared audiences for the sheer sticky-sweet perfection of what would become their commercial and artistic peak. After years of grinding it out in the clubs of Dayton, Ohio, and weathering various lineup changes and label switches, the seven-piece outfit had finally found their groove with Mercury Records, following up their breakthrough "Fire" album with a record that would cement their place in the funk pantheon forever.

What makes "Honey" such a remarkable achievement is how it manages to balance raw, sweaty funk with an almost pop sensibility, never sacrificing the band's street credibility for radio play. The album opens with the title track, a sultry, mid-tempo burner that immediately establishes the record's seductive mood. Lesueur "Sugarfoot" Bonner's guitar work is nothing short of sublime here, weaving serpentine lines around James "Diamond" Williams' rock-solid drumming while the horn section – Marshall "Rock" Jones on bass, Marvin "Merv" Pierce on trumpet, and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks on trombone – creates a wall of brass that's both sophisticated and utterly funky.

But it's the album's second track that truly announced the Ohio Players as major players in the mid-70s musical landscape. "Love Rollercoaster" is quite simply one of the greatest funk singles ever recorded, a three-and-a-half-minute masterclass in groove construction that still sounds absolutely devastating nearly five decades later. The song's famous scream – allegedly from a woman being murdered, according to urban legend, though actually just keyboardist Billy Beck having a bit of fun – adds an element of danger to what's already a pretty menacing piece of music. The interplay between Bonner's wah-wah guitar and the rhythm section is telepathic, while the horn arrangements are both economical and devastating.

The Players' background in jazz is evident throughout "Honey," particularly on tracks like "Fopp" and "Let's Love," where the arrangements show a level of sophistication that separated them from many of their funk contemporaries. This wasn't just party music – though it certainly worked brilliantly in that context – but serious musical craftsmanship that happened to make your hips move involuntarily. The band's years of paying dues in small clubs across the Midwest had honed them into a precision instrument, and "Honey" captures them at their absolute peak.

Vocally, the album showcases the Players' democratic approach to lead singing duties, with various members taking turns at the microphone. This gives "Honey" a varied texture that keeps the listener engaged across its eight tracks. Whether it's the come-hither whisper of the title track or the more aggressive delivery on "Sweet Sticky Thing," there's always a voice that perfectly matches the mood of each particular groove.

The album's production, handled by the band themselves, strikes that perfect balance between clarity and grit that defines the best 70s funk records. Every instrument sits perfectly in the mix, yet there's still an organic, live feel that makes you believe these grooves were captured in real-time rather than constructed in the studio.

"Honey" peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned two massive hits, establishing the Ohio Players as major stars and influencing countless musicians who followed. The album's impact can be heard in everything from hip-hop – where "Honey" and "Love Rollercoaster" have been sampled extensively – to modern funk revivalists who still struggle to match the effortless groove mastery displayed here.

Nearly fifty years on, "Honey" remains a high-water mark not just for the Ohio Players, but for funk music as a whole. It's an album that works equally well as background music for seduction or as the centerpiece of a serious listening session, revealing new layers of musical sophistication with each encounter. In an era when funk has been dissected, analyzed, and replicated ad nauseam, "Honey" still sounds utterly fresh and vital – a testament to the Ohio Players' unique chemistry and their understanding that the best funk music comes from the heart, the hips, and somewhere much deeper than mere technical proficiency.