Dr. Hook Gold

Ship Ahoy, the O’Jays album that consolidated their superstardom after the world-beating Back Stabbers, is best known for “For the Love of Money” and its lowdown, phased bassline. It’s the album's toughest cut by some measure, but Ship Ahoy’s pursuit of Philly-style message soul hardly ends there. “Put Your Hands Together” is an uptempo jam whose payoff (“And let us pray”) gives a spin to an R&B and rock commonplace. “Now That We Found Love,” a mellow romancer that expands its brief to “spreading it all over the land,” was later a hit in a revved-up version by reggae kings Third World. The most startling moments, however, come with the title track, which places the ruminations of a slave ship’s denizens in the trio’s mouths.