Funk Brothers Music

This is some of their earlier work. The CD is just okay to me. The only stand out in my opinion is the Ballad "I need you so" My mom used to play this one day and night. It was the B side to freedom which is a hip hop classic.

The Isley Brothers Never Lost their Edge.You Can Hear that on this Set.The Vocals are as Strong as ALways.The Music CAPTURES Many Styles.They Are One OF Musics Greatest Chapters ever.The Title cut is very strong.Of Course this would Lead into their Great 70's Run&Early 80's Run.

Some of the tracks on this album are simply as good as it gets. I can never believe how more people don't know about this album - it is so raw and visceral. Ronnie is awesome and the music is as funky and especially as rockin as the Isley's ever got. I have a dozen or so Isley albums and this album, though perhaps just the tiniest bit uneven because there as so many styles so well represented here, is probably the one I cannot do without (although 'Beautiful Ballads' is a must have too). I'll break it down:
Get into Something - 7 minute uptempo, and then down, and then back up again, funky rocker, smokin
Freedom - what a great song - great lyrics, total groove
Take an Inventory - the most chauvinistic song I've ever heard - ya gotta love it - awesome again
Keep on Doin - this song shows the impeccable taste and style of the Bros. What this song really is is just a cover of James Brown's, via his backing band the J.B.s, "the Grunt", as funky and tough an instrumental song as there ever was. The Bros. came up with some killer lyrics and Ronnie just belts it.
These 4 songs alone make the album a must have. They are so killer when heard in row.
To be honest, 5 is a fine song, Ronnie is almost unnervingly coy, and 6 is good too, slow and sweet - O'Kelly, who always seems a touch sad (and who is really often indiscernible from Ronnie) sings as usual exceptionally well here - but they get back to kicking butt with song 7. Song 8 is another weepy but beautiful unrequited/longing for love song sung by O'Kelly.
Song 7 - If He Can You Can - a super hard driver where Ernie's wah work is just astounding. A great, great song with as usual, phonomenal singing (assumed with Ronnie and O'Kelly). There's a "fire in the kitchen" alright. Ronnie's wailing is so urgent I can only think of their song "Testify" with Jimi Hendrix back in the day (mid 1960's) where Ronnie sounds so vital and alive. If you've never heard "Testify" track it down - phonomenal track where the lyrics led this listener to believe that Jimi has introduced the Bros. to acid (Ronnie sings, "You wouldn't understand - cuz yer plastic, man!"). Sidenote: "Testify" was memorably covered by Stevie Ray Vaughan on "In Step" (or "Texas Flood?") in an absolutely stunning guitar instrumental - hey, it's a funky, funky song that was way ahead of its time.
Beautiful - just what it sez; some of that Hendrixesque, melodic guitar by Ernie with beautiful singing.
Bless Your Heart - This song is so crazy/goofy: here the Bros. rip themselves off. They took the exact music of "It's Your Thing," note for note, and just changed the lyrics to "Bless Your Soul". It's a good song, kind of - though you've heard it before - but it's worth listening to just because it's so funny and ballsy that the Bros. "covered" themselves.

I love this album. Ernie and Marvin (bass) really step to the fore on this one and this album is really, really smoking at times and only in a couple instances does it slow its breakneck pace, very effectively though. I am always surprised when "Isley fans" I meet don't know this album. Released in 1970 it is so timely both in music and lyric. Ernie and Marvin are obviously huge Jimi Hendrix/Billy Cox fans (who isn't) and the singing is, well, it's Ronnie Isley and the Bros. No joke - this is a great, great album.

I have searched for this "album" for years. Should have come to amazon.com first.

I love this album. One song that is not talked about is their version of OHIO. I really love the entire album. Notice I said "album". I really love "Ohio". Living during that time of The Vietnam War protest, The Civil Right movement, Women's Liberation movement was so heady and intoxicating. I was in the Marines and did not know if I was going to war so I lived for the moment. This album reflected the times and I identified with it. I nearly worn the groove of this album. I have always wanted to own it again after it was stolen. Now I have the chance to not only own it but to hear it in a way the vinyl records could not bring out.

The reviewer below who tried to judge a book by it cover, obviously didn't get it. The Isleys had already made history by the time this album debuted in 1971. Their prolonged workout on "Shout" (1959) cemented the path from Gospel to Soul. And their cover of "Twist And Shout" from 1962 was both funky and cool and inspired The Beatles' OWN cover version. The brothers'
(O'Kelly, Rudolph, and Ronald) search for fame, fortune, and independence led them to Motown Records in the mid-sixties. While they were only a second-line act there, The Isleys learned a lot about the workings of a Black-owned record label. They also recorded another classic, "This Old Heart Of Mine." Toward the end of the sixties, they launched their own label, T-Neck, with the smash hit "It's Your Thing." The album that followed, The Brothers Isley, neatly closed the book on the group's soul years. With the 1970 release, Get Into Something, the brothers ditched their suits in favor of "hip" new clothes, and their new music showed the influence of Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. Now they were ready to CHANGE history. Joining the group for this new phase were younger brothers Ernie (guitars), and Marvin (bass) and brother-in-law Chris Jasper (keyboards). Giving It Back was the next step in the group's evolution. The guys had established a fresh new sound, for a new decade. Now they would use this new approach to tackle songs (and issues) that White kids were listening to and concerned with. "Ohio/Machine Gun" was a biting commentary on the tragic riot at Kent State University. The drums alternate between a military cadence and rapid-fire drumrolls that simulated gunfire. Add in the incendiary guitar work of Hendrix disciple Ernie, and you had a song that sounded like it was recorded on the front lines of a war zone! On "Fire and Rain" and "Lay, Lady, Lay" they showed their understanding that the changing times were having a devastating effect on people and their relationships. They latch on to "Thought I'd See You/Thought I'd See You Again" on "Fire And Rain" and keep this statement of confusion in the forefront. The cover of "Spill The Wine" illustrated how in touch The Isleys were with other musicians on the cutting edge. Eric Burdon (of Animals fame) had a hit with the song fronting the band War, another Sly-influenced act that was the first successful Black band to reflect the saturation of British Invasion acts in American rock music. The Isleys' version "gives this song back" to Black listeners (and thus inspired the name of the album). The closing number, a cover of Stephen Stills' post-Woodstock classic, "Love The One You're With," puts the brothers right back in the church, where they are clearly celebrating their ability to take these songs and make them their own. The Isley Brothers would no longer be a vocal group, but a self-contained musical unit that was grounded in the foundation of more than a decade of paying dues on the Chitlin' Circuit, and of the profound musicality of the younger members. One more album (Brother, Brother, Brother) would complete this second era in Isleys history. That album was so full of hits ("Pop That Thing" "Work To Do" "Lay-Away" and a testifying take on Carole King's "It's Too Late" that would have fit in nicely on Giving It Back), that when The Isleys shopped for a new marketing deal for their label, CBS opened up the check book. "Who's That Lady" followed, and by then all six members of The Isley Brothers were pictured on the cover of the new album, 3+3. They were a band now. They had arrived. Giving It Back was in important step in that journey and, in retrospect, a turning point in the career of the Isley Brothers.

Not being able to listen to this cd before buying it, i was forced to judge a book by its cover. Just seeing an album cover photo of three bruthas holding acoustic guitars made me incredibly curious as to what this cd was all about. A kind of MTV unplugged 20 years before MTV did it??? Unfortunately no. The only tune I would say is something special on this album is the funkafied, Jackson 5 ABC-esque, version of 'Love the One You're With'. Otherwise, the other songs are nothing that unique (or acoustic for that matter).

Luther Vandross' amazing cover of Stephen Stills' Love The One You're With(from the Songs album) was inspired by The Isley Brothers classic reinterpretation.Even before "Lutha" recorded a covers album,Giving It Back was the brothers re-interpreting songs associated with rock musicians,and turning them into R&B classics.
Their melding of Crosby,Stills,Nash,and Young's Ohio and the Isley's former sideman Jimi Hendrix's Machine Gun is nothing short of amazing as well as their observation to the times.The sensuous treatment of Lay,Lady Lay is a far cry from Dylan's contrified original,and where Eric Burden spoke the words to Spill The Wine,Ronald Isley sings it in his signature tenor,transforming it into an altogether new song.He also nails the deep sadness that James Taylor's Fire and Rain brings to listeners.
If this album has any flaws,is that it took too long to be reissued,thus nearly burying this creative phase of the Isley Brothers music.Where most would pick 3+3 or The Heat Is On as classic studio recordings,Givin' It Back and Brother,Brother,Brother are just as essential.

While it falls short of the exemplary standards set by the 3+3 era's first six albums, "Go All the Way" more than matches up with their other albums. The lead single "Don't Say Goodnight (It's Time for Love)" is a steamy let's-go-the-bedroom ballad, one of the best the brothers Isley recorded, IMO. The midtempo "Here We Go Again" is one of my favorite songs from the 3+3 era, with Ronald Isley's calm voice melding well with the song's polished production.

The rest of the album has the familiar silky-guitar-laden funk, but with a smoother, more danceable arrangement. Ronald Isley's vocals are more restrained and Ernie Isley has only one guitar solo, on the mellow "Say You Will." "Say You Will" and the dance-oriented "Pass It On" are the other highlights on an album that was a good rebound from the (IMO) disappointing "Winner Takes All."

"Here We Go Again"!I have this on tape but not on disc...it's a shame(The Spinners?!)that with all the great songs on this album,it's still not avaliable on CD!"Here We Go Again"! was one of the Isley guyz biggest hits(and one of my favorite songs of all time....and this song is Not on Any other recording but "Go All the Way"!Not even all the 20 odd greatest hits cd's listed right here on Amazon(go ahead---look'em up)!If ANYONE(and I mean ANYONE!) at Amazon or in the Isley's or the record company reads this-- hear this.....PLEASE release ether "Go All the Way" or "Here We Go Again" on cd or at least on I-Tunes or other music sites!!PLEASE!!!

I absolutley have to agree with the previous reviewer.....I too have this musical masterpiece on cassette tape and it is worn to the bone. It breaks my heart that it is unavailable on any other audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)

I am advocating that it will be re-released in the very near future for my and other people's listening pleasure. The Isley's are my favorite group and nothing would make me happier than to hear "Here We Go Again" over and over again.....as many times as I want.

This is one of the best of the 3+3 period.Classic Isley brothers album(oops i mean cd)with six or seven songs and all these are good.I have all of these albums and i am getting some of the 3+3 period on cd.

This Isley's album is a pure funky classic gem. Every song on this cd is just about slammin'. I still love "Voyage to Atlantis". It's one timeless classic. This is a must have in your Isley's collection. Heck, it's a must have in a r&b collection period.

I was a junior in high school when this came out and popular music was becoming increasingly segregated terrain. Post Elvis rock and roll was about White men (save Heart, Joni Mitchell & a lead singers like Stevie Nicks, Chistie Hynde & Blondie) and their guitars. So the appropriation of race music into the "classic" rock and roll we recognize today meant the Isleys, Athur Lee & Love, Mother's Finest, Funkadelic & even Earth Wind & Fire...all rock bands with soul, must become "Black music" or R & B forever ghettoized and inaccessible to most teens (radio play was everything back then). THIS ALBUM is one of the greatest of the 1970s, possibly top 25, the equal to anything put out by Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and as easy to connect with as a Steve Miller album. Read the comments below and then buy it, it is perfect and you will see why we owe a great debt to the Isleys for their contribution to American rock & roll. If not for the informal "White Men Only" rule, you might have heard them along side the Eagles on your favorite AOR format back in the day, but thank goodness you can still buy this classic here to enjoy today!

footsteps in the dark is the most beautiful song ever. the guitar is pure joy and the bass playing is deep and funky ... these guys were the very best at the game

There's just nobody else like them. Distinct sound, real true musical ground breakers who have stood the test of time and are still going strong! Thoroughly enjoying listening to this project. These cuts bring back good memories of a time that has since passed, but the "high" of just having a good time remains with each song you listen to from this project.

Received it during the timeframe indicated with no damage done to it during transport. Enjoyed purchasing with Amazon for it is truly hassle free. Will continue to do business with Amazon in the future.

Thanks

I"ve listened to the Isley Brothers, for years. When I go back and pull out their CD I know that I"m in for a treat. Rap, I don"t understand. I"m truely in love with the MOTOWN SOUND.

The Isley Brothers were one of Motowns most underated group. The group were described by critics as "electric" and "exciting" and anyone who witnessed their wild stage act would agree with this. The group had a handful of major hits on Motown and the most famous is easily THIS OLD HEART OF MINE (IS WEAK FOR YOU)- a fine soul classic! This compilation brings together their very finest work which includes TWIST AND SHOUT, I GUESS I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU and the instantly memroable, BEHIND A PAINTED SMILE (one of their best). A well rounded compilation showcasing their obvious but underated talents.

If you are going to buy one Isley Brothers album, don't make it this one as you will be disappointed. For example, their one song still receiving a lot of airplay after all these years, "This Old Heart of Mine", is an INSTRUMENTAL on this CD! From a vocal group!

we really liked it, even though it isn't out ye

I've been a Isley Brothers Fan for a real Long time&Never get tired of there Jams.matter of fact for the most part aside from some other artists that I listen to the Isley Brothers&R.Kelly Stay in My Music Changer non-stop.the Isley Brothers are so Versatile&have so much Musical depth that you can't label them.amazing run they have had&the Soul just pours from them non-stop.top notch Writing&Production along with Instrumentation.