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Description
Released in April 1974, *Skin Tight* marks the fifth studio album from the Ohio Players, though it stands as something of a phantom object in the annals of funk history. It was their first Mercury Records release-a commercial breakthrough that would outsell all their prior LPs combined. Produced entirely by the band themselves, it finds the Players honing their signature sound: a fusion of jazzy, polished funk with soulful swagger. Recorded in Chicago at Paragon Studio with Barry Mraz as engineer and Lee Hulko handling the final mix, *Skin Tight* captured that late-'70s funk aesthetic where saxophone lines braid through clavinet rhythms like confetti through a funk cannon.
Curiously, this was the second of five Ohio Players albums issued as quadraphonic stereo on Mercury, yet despite being quadraphonically mixed, no known copies of *Skin Tight* have ever surfaced, even among collectors. The album nevertheless took the top spot on the Black Albums chart for six weeks, missing the Billboard 200's Top 10 by precisely one position-a detail that would have made any label executive in Chicago weep with relief. The tracklist, penned entirely by the band, includes the title cut and "Jive Turkey," both of which found success as singles, with "Jive Turkey" eventually becoming a staple in the Players' live repertoire.
The album's legacy has rippled beyond its time: R.E.M. covered "Skin Tight" during their 1989 Green Tour, while D'Angelo sampled it for the 1998 *Down in the Delta* soundtrack. It remains essential listening for any connoisseur of late-'70s funk, a testament to an era when soul was still king and the Players held court like the royalty they were.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_Tight_(album)) [2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/skin-tight-mw0000262957)
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