yeah yeah I know they aint Prog and never did anything remotely Prog
BUT
they are very good musicians and play some really good Funk for any who may be interested
I know there are probably more than a few here who own some of their albums but I thought I'd post this for the curious
I recently made an 80:20 CDR of their earlier stuff
from 1965 a couple of tunes they recorded when Hendrix was their Guitar player... fun tunes but nothing profound
I also threw on their big hit It's Your Thing
but then I skipped ahead to the point where they let Ernie loose
For those who are not familiar, Ernie Isley is quite an accomplished electric Guitar player who evidently picked up some stuff from Hendrix while in his company as an adolescent.
So, here's my take on the 3 albums I compiled on the CDR:
Early on they liked to record a LOT of cover tunes as evidenced on their album Brother Brother Brother
Well, they were still doing covers when Ernie started laying down the scorching solos on their next album 3+3.
I cut some of the cover tunes but had to keep 'Summer Breeze', if not for the cool new arrangement then definitely for the excellent extended Guitar solo Ernie takes to finish the tune out. This solo is one of his best ever (and I'm a big fan of his work). They do nice versions of 'Listen to the Music' and 'Sunshine Go Away Today' but the only other reason to own 3+3 is for 'That Lady' ... that is if you haven't heard it too many times in your life already.
Their next album, Live It Up has only one cover... Todd's 'Hello It's Me' and I did not care for it. The album is otherwise fairly solid with 4 strong tunes but they really hadn't found themselves yet.
The Heat Is On is where they hit their stride and found the identity that would carry them through the rest of the 70s. Side one is smoking Funk (including 'Fight The Power') and side two is well crafted love songs as smoldering as only the Isleys have mastered.
The albums which follow (who knows when I'll get to digitize them) are all chock full of smoking Funk jams, usually in the format of one side Funk, one side "quiet storm"... but a lot of the Funk is really really great thanks in no small part to the Guitar work of Ernie Isley.
Hopefully this thread helps some who might like to check out their stuff, though I expect it to sink like a lead zeppelin
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