What was I doing around the time that this album came out? I was touring with Yes, and working in the U.K. with "medieval rock band" Gryphon. The Ohio Players never even showed up on my radar screen. As a result, this 5.1 reissue of the quad mix provided me with an unusual opportunity to hear a 25-year-old album for the first time. The Honey album virtually documents where studio technology was at the time. There is enough material on the (probably 24-track) masters to make for a full, satisfying surround mix, while the instrumentation and effects used on the recording tell a tale of technology in transition. We can hear what sounds to me like the very first string synthesizer, by Ken Freeman, on many of the numbers. In addition to a little flanging, there’s what sounds like a Countryman phaser on several tracks. Yet here we are in a time before ...