Back Stabbers cover

Back Stabbers

Released

The two big hits on the O’Jays first outing for Gamble/Huff powerhouse Philadelphia International Records are as thematically disparate as anything — the “it’s not paranoid if they’re really out to get you” tension of the god-tier title cut (that piano intro alone!, and the closing salvo of soul-unites-the-planet anthem “Love Train,” which respectively nail early-decade, pre-Watergate “smiling faces” anxiety and anticipates (or invents) late ’70s discomania. The rest of it, from the pristine bowtie-funk of “When the World’s At Peace” to the floating-in-space regret ballad “Who Am I,” sound like the top ten hit singles they inexplicably weren’t but should’ve been.

Nate Patrin

Recommended by

Suggestions
Phase Two cover

Phase Two

The Jimmy Castor Bunch
Evolution cover

Evolution

Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band
Black Moses cover

Black Moses

Isaac Hayes
diana cover

diana

Diana Ross
Wake Up Everybody cover

Wake Up Everybody

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
It's Just Begun cover

It's Just Begun

The Jimmy Castor Bunch
The Fabulous Miracles cover

The Fabulous Miracles

Smokey Robinson, The Miracles
Lady T cover

Lady T

Teena Marie
Very Mercenary cover

Very Mercenary

The Herbaliser