Hey all you funk/R&B fans out there (pali gap, TA, I'm lookin' at you), I'm lookin' for some albums of the Isleys to get started on with them, what are your suggestions.

JACKAL! This thread's for you!

If you want a wide swath of material from the beginning of their career and don't mind spending a few dollars...



...It's Your Thing: The Story OF The Isley Brothers is a nice place to start.

Since you're a Jimi Hendrix fan, this 3-disc set will get you Testify (Parts 1&2) and Move Over And Let Me Dance.
There are some live performances along with the original arrangement of Who's That Lady (eventually became That Lady)


For a little less money (and less tunes - 2-CD set)...



...The Essential ISLEY BROTHERS

Strangely, it includes Move Over And Let Me Dance but not Testify (the other contender as the 1st Funk record)

After you've taste-tested the tunes, you can zero in on which era of their career you prefer and select specific albums of that period.
I'm sure others will be posting their suggestions in that regard.

Hope this helps.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
[Edited 6/26/05 13:50pm]

"3 + 3"
"Go For Your Guns" (1977) - The Isley's "hard funk rock" LP - My personal fave.
"Isley's Live" (1971 or 2) - They cover Neil Young's "Ohio" and Jimi 's "Machine Gun".

theAudience said:

TA Baby, your suggestions are on point. So far, those are the best compilations CD out there.

Hotlegs said:

There's actually a better one that I left out because I couldn't even find it on their site...



...The Isley Brothers Story
Vol.1: Rockin' Soul (1959-68)
Vol.2: The T-Neck Years (1969-85) on Rhino

This looks worth it if you can find it.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

So True TA Baby.

You can start anywhere in the 70s. They didn't release a bad album during that time. The 3 + 3 lineup is amazing! If you're looking for a greatest hits type overview that focuses mainly on their 70s heyday and will give you a jumping off point of where to start, get this one:

The original release just has 8 songs, but the re-release has 13 tracks. That's the one you want. That Essential Collection that was mentioned is also a great set. I would hope you're only getting a greatest hits set as a starting point. You really are missing out if that's all you get.

The Isleys are my favorite crooners, and if you love good R&B ballads you can't go wrong with them. This one's a great set:




The boxset people are recommending is good, but if you're gonna go that route, you might as well get all their albums. They've got amazing singles, but they have a ton of great, unreleased album tracks. If you're an album person, try their 1974 release, Live It Up.

RipHer2Shreds said:

Yup, if you wanna check out actual albums that one (Live it Up) and this one, The Heat Is On :


are great places to start . I think you get a good idea of their overall sound; shoot, Heat Is On, just by itself, has blistering rock (Hope You Feel Better Love), raw Funk (Fight The Power), and of course, the Soul ballads (hell, all of Side 2: Living For The Love of You, Sensuality, Make Me Say It Again Girl....


...

The Heat Is On
Go For Your Guns
Showdown
Winner Takes All
Go All The Way
Grand Slam

I did buy the boxset, It's Your Thing: The Story Of The Isley Brothers, over thr Christmas break and I'm just rapidly playing all 3 discs again and again. But, before I brought the boxset, I brought the Ultimate Isleys collection Sony released back in 2001 or 2002. I really recommend that one first because you're getting 17 hits all packed on one disc. Please don't buy their Greatest Hits Vol.1 collection with the 8 songs on there. I would just buy the Ultimate Isleys collection first and save all my money to buy the It's Your Thing boxset that should be in everybody's collection because it's just plain HISTORY.



The Ultimate Isleys
[Edited 6/27/05 0:49am]

theAudience said:

another great thing about this set, at least to folks who already have the albums, is that it includes a Live In the Studio mini-concert from 1980!: the Voyage To Atlantis, Groove with You, Take Me to The Next Phase pts.1&2, and Don't Say Goodnight tracks on this compilation are all from the 1980 live session. They don't really explain why they did this, but it's nice to hear the live versions from back in the day...Now, for those who bought this compilation to hear the regular studio versions of these hits, the ones they listened to on the radio all these years, this might be a disappointment...But I thought it was a great , if not fully explained, bonus....






...
[Edited 6/27/05 10:56am]

paligap said:

Pali from what your saying, this CD is the CD for love b/c its got all of Legs favorite slow jams on it.

paligap said:

Good points paligap .

The reason I suggested the comp first is that i'm not sure which Isley Brothers he's most interested in.

I personally see The Isley Brothers as so much more than their 70s funk period.
There is a tremendous story of evolution with this group.
Remember it was the material of this early period that attracted groups like The Beatles to them.
Without which there's no Shout!, Twist & Shout, Testify (historic contender for 1st in Funk along with early Jimi Hendrix on guitar), This Old Heart of Mine or It's Your Thing. All important and historic tunes IMO.

However if the 70s Funk is the destination, the ones that everybody has suggested are all on the money.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

I have a bad habit of assuming it's the 70s period that people are interested in when they mention The Isleys, because - for me - that's where the good stuff is. But you're right, their evolution from pre-Motown, to Motown, to one of the premier funk rock groups is really amazing.

theAudience said:

Well Said TA Baby.

theAudience said:

Ndeed! I mean, what other artist or group had their debut in the 1950's, and are still having chart hits To This Day!??!
But you're right, for all-around definitive, historic compilations , that one is Far and Away the best one out there-- I was happy to get my mitts on it!!! Testify, Move Over and Let Me Dance (I still say that Ron's vocals on that track influenced Hendrix as a solo artist , at least vocally) and the original Who's That Lady--PLUS the later Live in the Studio Jams! A great compilation, I like it much better than Rhino's version...



...
[Edited 6/27/05 13:25pm]

My favorite Isley Brothers era is definately the 1970s/early 1980s funk period but I definately remember a lot of those earlier hits. What gets on my nerves is when I run into younger people who think The Isley Brothers were strictly balladeers and they associate them with more adult contemporary type artists like Freddy Jackson and Lionel Richie. The Isley Brothers did so much more than just ballads.

vainandy said:

Amen To That! Many times I have found that I have to school alot of my students on 70's Music and the Funk in addition to regular curriculum b/c they don't understand the true impact of that groups like the Isley have when we were their age.

In early 2004, I went to see The Isley Brothers in concert. A young guy that I know, in his mid to late 20s, wanted me to make him a 90 minute tape of nothing but the best of The Isley Brothers. I knew what kind of stuff he was thinking of but I got an evil streak in me and decided I was going to show his little know-it-all ass that The Isley Brothers were not just the balladeers that he swore up and down they were.

Anyway, I put the slow songs "Between The Sheets", "Groove With You", and "Voyage To Atlantis" that I knew he was familiar with. For the majority of the tape though, I put hardcore funk jams like "Living In The Life", "Live It Up", "Be With You", "Don't Let Up", etc.

When I saw him about a week later, he said that the fast music on the tape was not The Isley Brothers and that I was lying when I said it was. He's known me for a few years so he knows what an evil whore I can be in taking enjoyment in being right. Then he got mad and said "Where the hell is Mr. Big?" I said "In your pants motherfucker". Then I gave him the slow jam tape I didn't tell him I had made him.
[Edited 6/27/05 23:45pm]

vainandy said:

I'm glad that you showed him what time it is for real. The younger Mr. Bigs shit generation don't know nothing about listening to some good Isley Funk on wax or 8 track. Thank you for breaking the little fucka off and keeping up the fight for real Funk .

To me The Isley's are like Luther. You can close your eyes and pick any of their CD'S and will not get any bad CD.They always give you good music.

If you listen to their entire history they have influenced everybody. I'm not sure if people are aware of it.

Shout - The "Say you will" line influence Berry in the early Jackie Wilson songs he wrote.

Twist And Shout - (You think those guys from Liverpool invented Awwww OOOOH? Think again.)

They saw the talent of Maurice James and hooked him up. Before he used his second birthname of Jimi Hendrix.

The "Harvest For The World" period is a forerunner to "Neo-Soul".

The Isleys could take a mellow FM song and make you forget the original. (Summer Breeze, Sunshine Go Away Today, It's Too Late, you know the rest.)

When you hear the original afterwards it's like: "WTF?. Oh yeah, it is their song." We'll let James Taylor slide, though.

It's Your Thing - (How can you lose with the stuff you use?) I think some fellows called The Commodores heard that record.

And Ronnie Isley still sings great. Even when had they had problelms and one side was on The Caravan Of Love the spinoffs sounded good.

They should have been the first group in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

cranshaw62 said:

very cool. Thanks all for your responses, they one of those acts in this great era we call Rock N Roll that I hear so many good things about but have yet to see for myself.
[Edited 6/29/05 17:29pm]

theAudience said:

I agree with this one, 100%! I purchased this a few years ago, mainly because I didn't want to try to get all the older ones that I already have on vinyl. Great collection! (I am thinking now of putting some of my vinyl on cd so I'll probably include the old ones that I have.)