We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago……
It was their last LP for Buddah before moving up to the big time on Epic records and their coming funk popularity of the mid to late 70’s. In 1972 the Isley Brothers released “Brother, Brother, Brother”.
The album continues their trend of mixing original material with covers of songs of the day, giving them a soulful burnish and funky vitality.
The brothers are big Carole King fans and for the 2nd LP in a row sample liberally of the burgeoning King catalog. The title track and also “Sweet Seasons” came from her latest LP while they also bring out an incredible version of “It’s Too Late”. The brothers turn the break up ballad into a 10 minute slow jam which includes some of that buzzy Ernie Isley guitar which would become a trademark of the group going forward. They also cover Jackie DeShannon’s ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart”
There are some nice originals too. “Keep On Walkin”, “Work To Do” and especially the hit single “Pop That Thang” stand out.
Some of the instrumentation on this is remindful of Marvin Gaye’s “Whats Goin On” Lp and that’s not a bad template to use.
With Ron, O’Kelly & Rudolph handling the vocals, Ernie on guitar and Marvin on bass it is indeed a brotherly affair, with the sound augmented by Chris Jasper & Truman Thomas on keyboards and George Moreland on drums.
If nothing else, check out “It’s Too Late” off this. It’s really quite stunning.
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