Fire (Remastered) Ohio Players

• 1 Fire 04:33
• 2 Together 03:06
• 3 Runnin From The Devil 04:49
• 4 I Want To Be Free 06:51
• 5 Smoke 06:01
• 6 It's All Over 04:14
• 7 What The Hell 05:38
• 8 Together / Feelings 01:13
• Total Runtime 36:25

Info for Fire (Remastered)

"Fire" is the sixth studio album by the Ohio Players and the second released through the Mercury label.

Their Mercury debut, Skin Tight, was a classic. What came next was even better, as Fire shot to #1 in late '74. The wicked title cut snagged the top spot, too, and the slow-but-funky I Want to Be Free gave these Players another big hit. A classic!

"After greatly increasing their visibility with Skin Tight, the Ohio Players became even more visible with Fire -- an unpredictable masterpiece that boasted such explosive horn-driven funk jewels as "Smoke" and the wildly addictive title song. The Players were always best known for their hard-edged funk, but in fact, there was much more to their legacy. "I Want to Be Free," the almost innocent "Together," and the remorseful "It's All Over" demonstrate that their ballads and slower material could be first-rate soul treasures. The influence of gospel imagery and the black church experience had asserted itself on Skin Tight's "Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved," and does so once again on the intense "What the Hell" and the hit "Runnin' From the Devil." Without question, Fire was one of the Ohio Players' greatest triumphs -- both commercially and artistically." (Alex Henderson, AMG)

James "Diamond" Williams, drums, chimes, percussion, lead & background vocals
Billy Beck, piano, organ, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, ARP, percussion, lead & background vocals
Marvin "Merv" Pierce, trumpet, flugelhorn, valve trombone & background vocals
Marshall "Rock" Jones, Fender bass
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, guitar, percussion, lead & background vocals
Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks, trumpet, trombone & background vocals
Clarence "Satch" Satchell, baritone sax, tenor sax, soprano sax, flute, percussion, lead & background vocals

Digitally remastered

Ohio Players
Formed in music hotbed of Dayton in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables, the group initially included members Robert Ward (vocals/guitar), Marshall "Rock" Jones (bass), Clarence "Satch" Satchell (saxophone/guitar), Cornelius Johnson (drums), and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks (trumpet/trombone). When Ward, the group leader, broke the act up in the early 60s, the remaining members reformed with additions Gary Webster (drums) and the auspicious young guitarist, Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, and later added trumpeter Bruce Napier, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison.

The Ohio Players signed with the Detroit-based Westbound label in 1971 and began a string of three successful albums, each punctuated by a loose, funky sound and erotic album covers that brought added attention. They hit with the single "Pain," and became an R&B staple. However, upon their signing with with Mercury Records in 1974 and the addition of keyboardist Billy Beck and drummer James “Diamond” Williams, they reached new heights.

This lineup created a series of memorable songs and albums over the remainder of the decade, including "Funky Worm," "Fire," “Skin Tight,” "Who'd She Coo," and their biggest hit, "Love Rollercoaster." The Ohio Players were perhaps the biggest R&B band in the world by 1976; but their fall was quick. Drug usage among the group members gutted the creativity and work ethic of the members, and charges of tax evasion robbed them of the wealth they had created over the decade -- and they never fully recovered.

The group fired leader Satchell (who ended up spending time in prison for his role in the tax case) and signed with Boardwalk Records for the minor 1980 hit "Try a Little Tenderness" (a cover of the Otis Redding classic), but they never again achieved the heights of their earlier years. The group split in the 80s and reunited several times in various forms., and both Satchell and Middleton died in the mid-90s. Williams and Bonner led a revised version of the group, but after Bonner suffered illness in the late 90s, his spot in band was no longer available. He went on to form an alternate version of the Ohio Players.

Williams’ Ohio Players released the album Trespassin' early in the new century, their last full studio album. For several years after, two versions of the Ohio Players tour the nation, one led by Bonner and one by Williams, always playing the basketful of memorable hits from the group's heyday.

Death has taken members of the group over the years. Satchell and Middlebrooks died in the 90s, Sugarfoot Bonner passed of cancer in 2013, and Jones, the last of the original Ohio Untouchables, died in 2016.

This album contains no booklet.