Good Thang

• Artist: Faze-O
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1978
• Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

Like Wild Cherry, Bell & James, and Carl Douglas, Faze-O turned out to be among R&B's one-hit wonders of the 1970s. The Midwestern funk band's only major hit was 1978's "Riding High," a gem that reached the Top Ten on Billboard's R&B singles charts and was sampled by various rappers in the 1980s and 1990s. But Faze-O didn't have enough killer songs to sustain a long career, and many of the people who bought the "Riding High" single didn't acquire any of its albums. Good Thang, Faze-O's second LP, is a competent but unremarkable effort that was produced by Clarence "Satch" Satchell of the Ohio Players. Satchell, unfortunately, doesn't do as much as one would hope. Although tunes like "Who Loves You" and "Funky Lady" are catchy enough, Faze-O sounds unfocused; you can't tell if the funksters are trying to be Funkadelic, the Ohio Players, or Earth, Wind & Fire. When Good Thang came out in 1978, the funk field was brutally competitive -- Parliament/Funkadelic, Rick James, Cameo, Bootsy Collins, Slave, and the Bar-Kays were the sort of heavyweights you were up against. And if a band that wasn't well established had hopes of competing, it needed to be excellent instead of merely decent. Good Thang is, in fact, a decent record. But for Faze-O, decent wasn't enough. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide