Best Kept Secret NEW O'Jays Album & Wow! Just Wow!

[jaybs]

With The Temptations new album we had teasers but yesterday without any big announcement or advance push The O'Jays released a New Album 'Too Imagine' and as I said Wow! just Wow! The Guys are back with a Bang! doing what they do best with such top harmony vocals.

11 Superb tracks, sadly as the trend seems to be download only as far as I can see I downloaded immediately to my Spotify account, who thought I would get to use Spotify and have virtually all my Soul collection on there. I also downloaded it on Amazon just over £7, partly due to my car not having a CD player just SD card and Amazon download in MP3, its also on iTunes

If you listen to one album today or download it just has to be THE O'JAYS TOO IMAGINE!

[PeaceNHarmony]

Will listen - thanks for finding!

[jaybs]

Well I have every album released by The O'Jays, but it seems I have been well and truly tricked with this one, it is the re-release of an album from 2004 titled 'Together We Are One' but not all the tracks from thatrelease album, but I see now even then they were not from that period they were tracks from the 70's & 80's with new overdubs?

[midnightman]

Wow, didn't know they released a brand new album!!!

[JimBagley]

They changed the name of a lot of the songs. They went to a lot of trouble to deceive the public.

[dylan]

Hi all,
Here are two articles regarding the release.

From Soultracks [[June 2018):
https://www.soultracks.com/first-listen-ojays-cant-live-without-it

[[June 29, 2018) Earlier today we wrote an entire story on how odd it was that the legendary O'Jays issued a brand new album with no promotion whatsoever. Not even a mention on their website. But we heard the album and it was surprisingly good.

Well, we have some sharp readers, and a few SoulTrackers recognized the music, if not the titles of the songs. Turns out that the "new" O'Jays album, Too Imagine, is actually a re-release of the 2004 album Together We Are One, which was itself filled with "vault" songs from the old 70s and 80s Gamble and Huff recordings by the O'Jays. But in a cynical move that threw us off, all of the titles of the songs have been changed by the Music World Music record label [[except the cover of "When Sunny Gets Blue"), presumably to make us think it was a new release. Pretty bad, eh? And the O'Jays had nothing to do with it, either.

We and a lot of folks were fooled by the label trickery, but we did learn in the process of some calls we made that the O'Jays are actually working on a brand new album. We'll keep you posted as we learn more about that one. In the meantime, you can hear a pretty good song from the new, old, older album Too Imagine. It's now called "Can't Live Without It." Even if we hate what the new label did, we do always love hearing the O'Jays...
------------------------------
From Billboard [[Mar 6, 2004):
https://books.google.com/books?id=3A8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=The+O%27 Jays+Together+We+Are+One&source=bl&ots=cA7v9-GLjk&sig=gw0JdGfXlkC1BZtha4cZKjZVJOI&hl=en&sa=X&ve d=0ahUKEwio7dSW2_vbAhWBna0KHajmBTIQ6AEI3AEwJQ#v=on epage&q=The%20O'Jays%20Together%20We%20Are%20One&f =false

BALL OF CONFUSION:
EMI Music/ The Right Stuff is releasing what it's calling a "lost album" by the O'Jays, "Together We Are One," April 6, 2004. The lead single at radio is "I Know What You Are Doing." Originally recorded with Eddie Levert, Walter Williams and Sammy Strain, the tracks were rediscovered by the trio's longtime producers, Gamble & Huff. Both Levert and Williams stress that despite a press release to the contrary, they did not reunite in the studio with Gamble & Huff to complete the project. "There was no new collaboration between us and has been none in recent years," Levert says. "These songs stem from the '70s into the '80s. Canned songs that didn't make an album. I can't deny that it's me and Walter, but it's dated stuff." Williams adds, "They asked us to be involved after the fact, so we declined. I haven't heard the updated material. These songs were rejects -not good enough then and not good enough now."

[midnightman]

Interesting... no wonder I didn't hear word of it.

[jaybs]

Respect Eddie so much, but I can't agree the tracks released are not good enough, has anyone else listened to them? would be interested I am playing the new album a lot, need to go through my collection and listen to the original album and compare.

[edafan]

It's good to see and hear that they can't fool the music buffs on here.

edafan

[soulster]

Are you kidding me right now? This album is a bunch of crap! It's nothing but slow, mellow love jams. I almost fell asleep listening to it on Spotify. This is NOT the O'Jays I know and love from the mid-70s!

Next!

[manny]

I heard those songs from "Together We Are One" album when was realised in 2004 and, if I well remember, there was a track I have on vynil from "Love Fever", 1984 album on PIR called "All Eyes On Africa". The rest of the titles, for my taste, don't says nothing to me and I don't was surprised when I read in some soul website that Levert and Williams disagreed with the G & H decision to produce this album. IMHO they lost their soulful trademark after "Emmotionally Yours". I purchased all the albums until the next album, "Hearbreakers"... IMHO, the last good album was "Let Me Touch You", the last for PIR and with very good G & H and Thom Bell songs, musically superior to their previous LP's [["When Will I See You Again", "Love And More",...). Where is the big - band, rich orchestrated, jazzy flavoured Philly Soul...? The last time I heard something similar was in the Larry Gold's "Don Cello & Friends" VV. AA. album...

Cheers to all and lots of respect to The O'Jays, G & H, Thom Bell, etc.

[jaybs]

Are you kidding me right now? This album is a bunch of crap! It's nothing but slow, mellow love jams. I almost fell asleep listening to it on Spotify. This is NOT the O'Jays I know and love from the mid-70s!

Next!

Nothing wrong with slow jams! what frustrated me even more were top soul groups artists from the 60's, 70's & 80's trying to do the music of today! and not keeping at what they are best about, staying with their roots!

Managed to dig out my copy of the O'Jays 2004 CD, yes the one track has bee missed out 'All Eyes on Africa' perhaps it was just felt that one track did not fit with the rest of the album. Some titles have been shortened. But many albums are re-released I have seen this one selling for £86 plus, no I will hold on to mine.

[TomatoTom123]

Ooh I was very excited there but then I became very confused and then slightly disappointed lol

[soulster]

Nothing wrong with slow jams! what frustrated me even more were top soul groups artists from the 60's, 70's & 80's trying to do the music of today! and not keeping at what they are best about, staying with their roots!

No,there's nothing with slow jams, except when they are uninspired and boring. I hate it when these veteran soul artists act like they are in a rest home for the aged.

[jaybs]

It's a Big Wide World of Music and thankfully we all have different tastes in music, never liked funk music at all, came through the disco era! and it was great, but it is ballads I always loved, be boring if we were all the same, aged 19 featured 'The Peaceful Hour' in my radio show with those top slow jams! it takes a real top vocal to deliver a strong ballad!

Nothing worse when you used to go to weddings to see Dad's aged 50's, 60's and some 70's acting as if they were 21 still that happened with so many soul artists that tried to move on with each and every era of music change, sometimes it is Best to stick at what you are Best at! and no I have no intention of going in a rest home for the aged lol

Love Soulful Detroit and Motown, partly due to a late older brother w=by 11 years always playing Motown! just wish there was the same amazing forum as this for Philly!

[soulster]

I...never liked funk music at all

That probably explains it. You're just probably more of a vocal guy. Me? I like a good ballad, but I can't listen to them throughout an entire album. I have to have a nice mixture of fast and slow, light and heavy. And, ballads can't be paint-by-numbers, like they are on this album. They have to have some excitement, some bombast.

IMO, the O'Jays were the best at their message music of the early 70s.

I'm with you on the desire for a Philly forum.

[manny]

That probably explains it. You're just probably more of a vocal guy. Me? I like a good ballad, but I can't listen to them throughout an entire album. I have to have a nice mixture of fast and slow, light and heavy. And, ballads can't be paint-by-numbers, like they are on this album. They have to have some excitement, some bombast.

IMO, the O'Jays were the best at their message music of the early 70s.

I'm with you on the desire for a Philly forum.

Curiously, practically all my O'Jays' favorite tunes are MID TEMPOS [["The Big Gangster", for example, was a favorite of mine during years and years since was published in the VV.AA. album "Let's Clean Up The Ghetto").

I'm also with you, gals, it's "necessary" a Philly Forum [[or a "SoulfulDetroit" Philly sub-forum,....? with permission by Ralph...). There's a big Philly place as the blog by Jim, but is not exactly a forum.

[soulster]

Curiously, practically all my O'Jays' favorite tunes are MID TEMPOS [["The Big Gangster", for example, was a favorite of mine during years and years since was published in the VV.AA. album "Let's Clean Up The Ghetto").

My favorite O'Jays tracks are the ones that are soul shouters, the ones with fire and make you wanna pump your fist at social injustice and the wrongs of your fellow man. I like the fast songs about love and brotherhood. I like the crusades of giving the people what they want.