The O'Jays: Live In London : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

These albums are not likely to take their place beside the Motown and Stax/Volt European tour LPs, principally because Philadelphia International is a producer's operation. The O'Jays are fine performers, and lead singer Eddie Levert is positively breathtaking throughout most of the London album, but without the settings crafted by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, tunes like "Back Stabbers," "Put Your Hands Together" and "Sunshine" have a hollow ring. "Love Train," minus the irresistible rhythm line Thom Bell gave it, is just another supercharged show-closer. Billy Paul, who doesn't hold a candle to Levert technically or expressively, comes off better than the O'Jays. For all his stiffness and occasional wandering off pitch he does have a way of putting over a song to an audience, and he has the better band. Songs like "Me and Mrs. Jones" and "Your Song" benefit from the relatively spare accompaniment heard here; Paul's live version of "Mrs. Jones" and the audience reaction demonstrate the perfect blend of performer and material which made the record such a monster in the first place. Live In Europe is preferable in many ways to Paul's War of the Gods. The O'Jays Live in London is an energetic party sure-shot. But The Stax/Volt Revue Live in Europe they ain't.