The O'Jays: Ship Ahoy : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

With its ominous sound effects of tempestuous oceans and whips cracking in the air, Ship Ahoy's title track vividly evokes the journey of African slaves to the New World. The nine-minute epic is the centerpiece of a 1973 album that found the Gamble and Huff-produced O'Jays ready to take their socially aware R&B workouts to ambitious new heights. Like many a Seventies R&B masterpiece, Ship Ahoy operates on two levels: The sweaty bass lines (check out the downright orgiastic groove on "For the Love of Money") and the simmering ballads coexist with lyrics condemning the world's woes. The trio's messages might have been simplistic (as in the ecologically aware "This Air I Breathe"), but the O'Jays were never preachy. They kept it fun with tight, brassy arrangements and the kind of gospel-tinged vocalizing that epitomized the sound of Philly soul. Ship Ahoy's main achievement was proving that it was indeed possible to be thoughtful and articulate without losing your funk.