''Ship Ahoy'' is an album by

Philadelphia soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

group

The O'Jays The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appearance with the minor hi ...

, released on November 10, 1973 on

Philadelphia International Records Philadelphia International Records (PIR) was an American record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1971 by songwriting and production duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff along with their longtime collaborator Thom Bell. I ...

. The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching #1 on ''Billboard''s " Black Albums"

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and #11 on the "

Pop Albums The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular Album, music albums and extended play, EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the ...

" chart and launching two hit singles, "

For the Love of Money "For the Love of Money" is a soul/funk song that was written and composed by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Anthony Jackson; it was recorded by Philadelphia soul group The O'Jays for the album ''Ship Ahoy.'' Produced by Gamble and Huff for Phi ...

" and " Put Your Hands Together." Conceived as a theme album built around the title track, ''Ship Ahoy'' includes socially relevant tracks and love songs under a cover that is itself notable for its serious subject matter. The album, which achieved RIAA platinum certification in 1992 for over 1 million copies sold, has been reissued multiple times, including in a 2003 edition with a bonus track. ''Ship Ahoy'' was the highest selling R&B album on the ''Billboard'' Year-End chart for 1974.

Songs and music

The songs on ''Ship Ahoy'' balance the romantic with the politically and socially conscious. In its review of the 2003 re-issue, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' noted that the album's "main achievement was proving that it was indeed possible to be thoughtful and articulate without losing your funk." The album's lead single was "Put Your Hands Together," a song urging cooperation and optimistic prayer for "a better day to come."

Rickey Vincent Rickey Vincent is an American author, historian, and radio host based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the author of ''Funk: The Music, the People and the Rhythm of The One'' (St. Martin’s Press, 1996), which encompasses the history of funk m ...

, author of ''Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One'', describes the song as "fairly standard musically", "with a strong gospel feel." The second single, "For the Love of Money," is a protest against

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

with a

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that ''Rolling Stone'' described as "downright orgiastic". The song was written around a bass line composed by Anthony Jackson, which in 2005 ''Bass Player Magazine'' described as "landmark."Excerpt
at Mywire. Retrieved August 18, 2008. ''Bass Player'' went on to note that the song has "become one of the most recycled singles ever, sampled continually by rappers, and appearing on over 75 compilation CDs, numerous movie soundtracks, and, most recently, the theme for TV's ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

''." The album's title song, "Ship Ahoy," was built around the theme of African captives being transported in a

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

as part of the

Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...

of the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

. It had originally been penned by Gamble and Huff for inclusion in the soundtrack to ''

Shaft in Africa ''Shaft in Africa'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film directed by John Guillermin, and the third film of the '' Shaft'' series, starring Richard Roundtree as John Shaft. Stirling Silliphant wrote the screenplay. The film's budget was $1.5 mi ...

'', but the producers decided instead to give it to the O'Jays as part of a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

centered around slavery. The song brought in the sounds of waves and cracking whips to add immediacy to lyrics which, according to PopMatters, personalized "the 'voyage' in ways that few black popular artifacts had previously done so—some three years before the publication of Alex Haley's ''

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''. The book ''A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race and the Soul of America'' notes that unlike the seminal work by Haley, "Ship Ahoy" is a hopeless, ominous song that offers "no sense that things are going to work out fine." In its 1974 review of the album, ''

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'' characterized the song as "dark and occasionally spine-chilling." In 1993, ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' dubbed "Ship Ahoy", along with the song "Don't Call Me Brother" as among " e cream of the vocal trio's angry music." "Don't Call Me Brother" is a nearly nine-minute long album track that protests hypocritical claims of racial unity from backstabbers.

Artwork

The cover of the album depicted the band in a slave hold with illustrations of slaves. In its review, PopMatters commented that the use by producers Gamble and Huff of this imagery demonstrated not only their freedom as the heads of Philadelphia International Records, but also "how seriously the duo viewed popular music as a vehicle to 'teach and preach'." According to ''The Greatest Album Covers of All Time'', the production of such politically conscious imagery from a band known for its popular music "was enough to make even the most myopic of white music fans take note that something was changing." Illustrator James Barkley was otherwise better known for illustrating

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

and a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

—a 1972 image of

Mount McKinley Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the thir ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

—along with commercial design and other nature paintings.

Reception

''Ship Ahoy'' reached #1 on ''Billboard''s " Black Albums"

and #11 on the "

" chart and contained two hit singles, "For the Love of Money" (#3 "

Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

", #9 " Pop Singles") and "Put Your Hands Together" (#2 "Black Singles", #10 "Pop Singles"). The album certified "Gold" by the RIAA on January 21, 1974 and "Platinum" on August 11, 1992. In addition to its commercial success, the album was critically well received. In a 1974 review, ''

'' described it as " fine recent album" representing producers "Gamble and Huff at their creative best".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

describes the album in its review as " e "other" O'Jays album masterpiece", with "shattering message tracks and stunning love songs".

Releases

The album has been reissued multiple times by Philadelphia International as well as

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

Legacy Records In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the label ...

and Sis Records. In 2003, it was re-released by Sony and EpicNeal, Mark Anthony. (May 9, 2003
The O'Jays Ship Ahoy

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

. Retrieved August 18, 2008. with a bonus track, a live version of "Put Your Hands Together" recorded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1974.

Track listing

All tracks written by

Kenneth Gamble Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production team credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

and

Leon Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production team credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

, except where noted.

Side one

#" Put Your Hands Together" – 4:07 #"Ship Ahoy" – 9:41 #"This Air I Breathe" (Gamble,

Bunny Sigler Walter "Bunny" Sigler (March 27, 1941 – October 6, 2017) was an American R&B singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer who did extensive work with the team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and was instrumental in creating th ...

) – 3:53 #"You Got Your Hooks in Me" (Sigler) – 5:34

Side two

" (Gamble, Huff, Anthony Jackson) – 7:19 #"

Now That We Found Love "Now That We Found Love" (also known as "Now That We've Found Love") is a song written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff and originally recorded by American R&B/soul vocal group The O'Jays for their seventh album, ''Ship Ahoy'' (1973). Heavy D ...

" – 4:41 #"Don't Call Me Brother" (Gamble, Sigler) – 8:58 #"People Keep Tellin' Me" ( John Whitehead,

Gene McFadden Gene McFadden (January 28, 1949 – January 27, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as one of the key members of the Philadelphia International record label, and was one-half of the successful team o ...

, Victor Carstarphen) – 4:00

Personnel

Performers

* Lenny Pakula –

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

* Leon Isley Brooks –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Anthony Jackson – bass *

Eddie Levert Edward Willis Levert (born June 16, 1942) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist of The O'Jays. He is the father of Gerald Levert (1966–2006) and Sean Levert (1968–2008) Biography Levert was born in Bessemer, Alabama, but ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bel ...

– orchestra, various instruments *

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Cha ...

– vocals * Walter Williams – vocals * Rocco Bene – trumpet solos

Production

*James Barkley –

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

*Steven Berkowitz – A&R *

Kenny Gamble Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production team credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

– producer,

surround Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...

mix Mix, mixes or mixing may refer to: Persons & places * Mix (surname) ** Tom Mix (1880-1940), American film star * nickname of Mix Diskerud (born Mikkel, 1990), Norwegian-American soccer player * Mix camp, an informal settlement in Namibia * Mix ...

* Norman Harris –

– producer, surround mix *

Don Hunstein Donald Robert Hunstein (November 19, 1928 – March 18, 2017) was an American photographer. Life He studied at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in 1950. Later he served in the United States Air Force in England. He returned to th ...

–

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

*Ed Lee –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Bobby Martin – arranger *Lenny Pakula – arranger * Joseph M. Palmaccio – mastering *Darcy Proper – mastering *Al Quaglieri – remix producer *Leo Sacks – reissue producer *Joe Tarsia –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Audio samples
hosted with permission at

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ship Ahoy (Album) 1973 albums The O'Jays albums Albums produced by Kenneth Gamble Albums produced by Leon Huff Albums arranged by Bobby Martin Albums recorded at Sigma Sound Studios Philadelphia International Records albums