Something's been bothering me the last little while but I wonder why there's no further information on the future of the Isley Brothers. I know Ernie is working on his solo career and Ron is expected to return to the road anytime soon (he's set to be performing at Atlantic City's Boardwalk in May I believe) but what's been bothering me is no one has info on what Ron & Ernie are really up to. For a group that I think are the most prolific recording act in rock & roll history, it's odd not a lot of info comes out about any updates. Ron has yet to be "released" from his sentence (he's in a St. Louis halfway until April) but after his release, the question remains, are the Isley Brothers finally kaput or not?

Ronnie say fuck that shit, i got to catch up
to Uncle Charlie. You think i'm going to let
this mofo get my cheese.

phunkdaddy said:

I bet he was. Charlie Wilson done one-upped him. I guess Ron told Ernie, "look go do your thing, I got some unfinished business, Mr. Biggs is coming back!"

"Mr Biggs erry body wonna know what you gon' do next"

They need to just go ahead and retire because that sellout bullshit they've been making is a disgrace to the great work they did in the past and puts a stain on their name when it is brought up.

vainandy said:

I couldn't have said it better myself.I'll just continue to listen to those amazing albums they did in the 70s and early 80s.

Their new shit does serve a purpose though. It give me a chance to take a piss break at their concerts. I remember when I went to their concert back in the early 2000s. I was the first to get up and go to the restroom and before I left it, the urinals were full of men.

you crazy

Everyone was rushing to get back into the concert so while I was washing my hands, I kept looking in the mirror to see if any of the men would step away from a urinal before they got their dick back in their pants. One of them did.

SoulAlive said:

You can blame Ronald for that.

phunkdaddy said:

Yep.

I think the easy answer to the question is that The Isley Brothers no longer exist.




Music for adventurous listeners



tA

Tribal Records

WetDream said:

I wouldn't be surprised if he reprises that role.

theAudience said:

Yeah you're right. The Isley Brothers as a group really ended after O'Kelly's death in 1986. Since then it's been "Ronald and others".

midiscover said:

I hope he doesn't.

I wanna see Ron and Ernie with a tight backing band make one of these at least one more time....



It's the last album b4 Mission To Please when they thanks 2 one Robert Kelly and Mr Biggs painfully started tryin 2 be "forever young". lol

Honestly the Eternal album was good. It only contained
one R.Kelly produced track which was Contagious. Once
you got around that the rest of the album was pretty good.
Then the isleys ran back to Kelly for the Body Kiss album
and the shit sounded more like an R.Kelly album than an Isleys
album. When they came out with the last album i didn't even
bother listening. Tracks of Life was underrated.
[Edited 2/13/10 14:33pm]

Timmy84 said:

Too bad it's going to happen

midiscover said:

ernie is mad at ronald for getting himself locked up for the whole not paying my taxes rap, so according to him they are taking a break from each other for the moment.

midiscover said:

With R. Kelly right by his side.

jackson35 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. If it were one of my siblings stealing money from a deceased sibling and then not paying taxes...I'd be pissed too.
[Edited 2/13/10 19:59pm]

jackson35 said:

Ah I see. Good for Ernie. I'd wanna be away from a sibling of mine if he did that.

phunkdaddy said:

You know what makes Tracks Of Life so special? It's the last album with Marvin on bass which made it the end of the famous "3+3" band after 21 years. I wish that Ronnie and Erine would look back at that get inspired and maybe that would give us one last Isley classic on par with "3+3", "Winner Takes All", or "Go For Your Guns"

diamondpearl1 said:

So Marvin didn't play at all on Mission to Please although he
was a part of the group at the time?

It's interesting but Marvin hardly ever did play bass on the album. Ernie got more time than Marvin did. I'm assuming this was when Marvin started to get sick so Ernie & Ron decided not to use him so much though he was well enough to be on the cover of the album.

diamondpearl1 said:[quote]

phunkdaddy said:

When I heard Ernie's lead guitar and their vocals on "Sensitive Lover", I was blown away like I hadn't heard Ohio/Machine Gun, Ballad For The Fallen Soldier, Choosey Lover, Summer Breeze, or Voyage To Atlantis lol It's also the last album with Marvin on bass which made it the end of the famous "3+3" band after 21 years. I wish that Ronnie and Erine would look back at that get inspired and maybe that would give us one last Isley classic on par with "3+3", "Winner Takes All", or "Go For Your Guns"
[Edited 2/14/10 10:20am]

I was blown away by Ernie's solo on Sensitive Lover too when
i first saw the video and was inspired to buy the album. I had
never bought an Isley brother album without Ernie playing on it.
I was saddened and shocked to learn what happened to Marvin
after the Mission to Please album. I did buy the Eternal cd
because Ernie laid some licks down on that album and their
was only one R.Kelly produced song. I dug Move Your Body a lot
which was reminiscent of some of the Isleys 70's songs with
Ernie laying the licks on it.

diamondpearl1 said:[quote]

diamondpearl1 said:

To me it seemed like Ronald was controlling the direction the Isleys
were going during their 2000 run. I mean the overplayed Mr.Biggs character
and the reliance on R.Kelly's production on Body Kiss just made it seem
less authentic. Hopefully Ernie sees this now and would prefer to do a
solo album unless Ronnie would agree to do a vintage Isleys album which
i don't see happening.

Is it safe to say then that Tracks of Life was really the *last* album (besides the Live album) where the Isley Brothers were an actual group rather than just a showcase of Ron Isley?

Think about it:

From 1957 until 1985, the Isley Brothers had survived doo-wop, the Beatles, psychedelic music, disco, early rap, etc.

Then O'Kelly died, and Ron and Rudy had to carry on as a duo between 1986 and 1989, then the group was basically in hiatus (since the younger Isley members had left for solo endeavors).

After 1995 or 1996, with few exceptions by Ernie, many of the Isleys' material these days are basically Ron Isley solo recordings.