The recently assembled The Essential O’Jays begins with the under heralded 1963 single, “Lonely Drifter,” which charted only as high as #93 on the R&B listings.  As great and memorable as that song is, it marks the beginning of the trio of R&B legends known as the O’Jays, whose ‘70s Gamble & Huff compositions would cement them as one of the premier Soul collective units.  The O’Jays were, primarily, Walt Williams, William Powell, and Eddie Levert.  William Powell passed in 1977 after becoming afflicted with cancer, and was replaced with Sammy Strain, although by this time, the disco era was in full swing and that left little room for The O’Jays, thereby flagging their popularity.

The Essential O’Jays brings together two discs of enduring favourites that include many of their ‘60s and ‘70s tunes including the well-known high-charters, “Love Train” (it may seem blasphemy but I really dig Tommy Lee’s updated cover of this song, a testament to the greatness of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s songcraft), “For the Love of Money,” the gospel-flavoured “Put Your Hands Together,” and “Back Stabbers.”  There are more O’Jays classics that will be mostly remembered by the real fan, which picked up their Philadelphia International albums.

The two discs loosely pay attention to chronology of the tracks included.  The closing songs of the set include a father/son rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings” with Eddie Levert and Gerald Levert (Father and Son – Elektra Records, 1995), and a wonderful gospel rendition of “Emotionally Yours,” a Bob Dylan tune from his under-rated Empire Burlesque album, found on the band’s Emotionally Yours (1991) album.

The booklet is a 20-page collection of photos, with multiple pages of credits, and a heartfelt essay by Eddie Levert.  The O’Jays have been compiled before with The Ultimate O’Jays; the 16-track Epic-released The Essential O’Jays (this Essential series titles is upped by 19 tracks for a total of 35 O’Jays gems and contains all of the selections found in the first Essential (2005) release); and numerous others compilations.  This collection is a definitive issue for the fan that wants a nicely selected musical history of the band.