As famous for their "fetish" album sleeves as their music, featuring the killer bass of Marshall 'Rock' Jones and a solid brass section, the Ohio Players were at the forefront of the Funk movement throughout the seventies.
In 1981 they signed with Neil Bogart's Boardwalk label, and cut a couple of well-received albums - and this CD is a reissue of their debut for the new company. Sadly, Mr Bogart died the following year, and without his guiding hand, the label soon expired too, leaving the 'Players high and dry, and turning their two 80s albums into instant collectors' items almost overnight.
In the Millennium year, the British label, Soul Discretion dusted off the 'Boardwalk' tapes and remastered them for the digital era. Original copies of this LP are now hard to find, so this is an excellent substitute - with no vinyl clicks or pops to detract from the music. Since the Soul Discretion label is now as defunct as Boardwalk, their CDs are rapidly becoming highly collectable too!
And finally, the track which gives the album its title - a revival of Try A Little Tenderness - returned the group to the R&B charts, and the follow-up Sticky also sneaked into the list of best-sellers.