An essential
library collection chronicling the sonic evolution and abiding achievements of
the unprecedented R&B ensemble, The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and
T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) follows The Isley Brothers through their
transformation from a 1950's doo-wop/gospel vocal group into the world's
preeminent R&B rock 'n' soul powerhouse party band. As evidenced in this
quarter century of recordings, The Isley Brothers absorbed the music and
culture surrounding them to continually create contemporary sounds spanning the
decades.
The Isley
Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) showcases tracks
written (excepting "covers"), arranged, performed and produced by The
Isley Brothers. This definitive new
Isley Brothers anthology was compiled and produced by Grammy Award®-winner Leo
Sacks, co-produced by Jeffrey James and Jeremy Holiday, and mastered from the
original analog tapes by Grammy Award®-winner Mark Wilder at Battery Studios.
The Isley
Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) features newly remastered versions of The Isley
Brothers' 21 albums released for both labels, nearly all of which are expanded
with rare mixes and tracks making their CD and digital debuts. The new collection includes 84 rare and
previously unreleased bonus tracks.
This set
also includes, released here for the first time in its entirety, the
"Great Lost Isley Brothers Album": Wild In Woodstock: The Isley
Brothers Live At Bearsville Sound Studio 1980.
First conceived as a "live" double album (with overdubbed
crowd noise), this newly restored performance offers an immersive look at a
crucial chapter in The Isley Brothers' history, a pivotal moment in the fusion
of rock and funk music in an era fueled by the sound of the Isleys.
By the
1990s, The Isley Brothers' dominant influence over hip-hop music and culture
could be felt at every turn. "Footsteps In The Dark" from 1977's Go
For Your Guns was sampled in Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day," while
The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" interpolated the title track of
1983's Between The Sheets. The Isleys' flashy fashion sense directly inspired
the "bling" aesthetic embraced by rappers everywhere. R. Kelly
proclaimed the group his biggest influence, collaborating with them on his Top
5 hit "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" in 1995 (featuring Ronald Isley
in a career-redefining role as Mr. Biggs in the accompanying video). Kelly's
writing and production for the group continued through the 1990s and 2000s, peaking
with Body Kiss which hit No. 1 the Billboard 200 in 2003, a full 44 years since
their first hit with "Shout."
The Isley
Brothers' classic works continue to reach new fans through consistent radio
airplay, film and television licenses and samples: in 2015, Kendrick Lamar won
two Grammy Awards® for the track "I," built upon the groove of
"That Lady" (from 1973's 3+3), while singer/rapper Frank Ocean
covered "At Your Best (You Are Love)" from Harvest For The World
(previously covered by Aaliyah in 1994, who made it a Top 10 hit).
The Isley
Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) offers new music
fans an opportunity to revisit the seminal R&B sounds that continue to
reverberate through contemporary soul, rock, hip-hop and pop records.
Born and
raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, The Isley Brothers--O'Kelly Isley,
Jr., Rudolph Isley, Ronald Isley and a fourth brother, Vernon Isley (who died a
couple of years after their first incarnation)--began performing as a
gospel-based vocal group in 1954. Moving
to the New York City area in the late 1950s, The Isley Brothers scored some
modest regional chart successes before their fourth single (and first for RCA
Victor), "Shout"--written by O'Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald--catapulted
them into the pantheon of pop immortality in 1959. One of the most immediately identifiable and
infectious party anthems ever written or recorded, The Isley Brothers
"Shout"--with its irresistible call-and-response structure--combined
gospel heat and doo-wop soul with a high-powered rock 'n' roll energy. The much-covered "Shout" was
inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame in 1999 and placed No. 118 on Rolling
Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Isleys
followed up "Shout" with a variety of tracks (including their Top 20
single, "Twist & Shout," a song later famously covered by The
Beatles).
Perhaps the
most musically adventurous vocal ensemble in American pop history, The Isley
Brothers were adding rock, funk, R&B, soul and ballad elements into the
gospel and doo-wop music at the foundation of their sound.
In the
1960s, while The Isley Brothers bounced between various labels (including
Atlantic, United Artists and Motown), they briefly employed a then-unknown Jimi
Hendrix (aka Jimmy James) as their lead guitarist, buying him a white Fender
Stratocaster guitar and moving him into the Isley home. Though Jimi's stint with the Isley Brothers
was brief, his musical sensibilities remained in the group, with younger
brother Ernie Isley carrying the fiery experimental rock 'n' soul guitar sound
they shared into the Isley Brothers future.
Tired of
labels that didn't fully understand or support their R&B/rock fusion
musical vision, The Isley Brothers launched their independent T-Neck imprint
with distribution through Buddah Records. At T-Neck, the Isleys finally enjoyed
the freedom to make music the way they wanted, recording and producing their
own material as well as assisting in the distribution and promotion process.
The T-Neck label's lead single, the irresistible Grammy Award®-winning funk hit
"It's Your Thing," instantly established the band and label as a
commercial powerhouse, its lyric a mantra for the trail The Isley Brothers
would blaze in the next decade.
The Isleys'
ever-expanding musical repertoire in the 1970s included funky covers of
pop/rock favorites ("Love The One You're With," "Lay, Lady,
Lay") that helped spread these songs through urban markets. The group
would hit a new peak with the album 3+3 and single "That Lady" in
1973.
They added
younger brothers Ernie Isley (lead guitar, drums) and Marvin Isley (bass
guitar) and Rudolph's brother-in-law Chris Jasper (keyboards, synthesizers)
into the mix, turning The Isley Brothers vocal trio into a self-contained
pop/rock/R&B/funk ensemble, writing, producing, performing, arranging,
distributing their own works on T-Neck Records throughout the 1970s into the
early 1980s.
With Ernie,
Chris and Marvin leading the way creatively, the group pushed the barriers of
soul music, bringing funk and laid-back quiet storm into the mainstream and
earning the band three gold and seven platinum or multi-platinum
albums--including 3+3 (1973), the #1 chart-topping The Heat Is On (1975) and
1983's Between The Sheets--and 14 Top 10 R&B albums (seven of which hit No.
1). In the world of R&B, only Parliament-Funkadelic and Earth, Wind &
Fire have achieved success rivaling the Isley Brothers.
The Isley
Brothers have had 19 Top 10 singles (7 of those at #1) in the US Billboard
R&B chart, with 16 Isley albums hitting the Top 40. 13 of their albums have achieved RIAA gold,
platinum or multi-platinum status. The
Isley Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. They got their star on the Hollywood Rockwalk
in 1997 and were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Isley
Brothers, through an unprecedented seven decades, have remained one of the most
consistently successful groups of all time. The Isleys were present at the
birth of rock and roll, their biggest hits have influenced R&B, rock and
roll and funk music from the 1950s onward while their deep grooves helped form
the rhythmic backbone of hip-hop, a sound the Isleys would embrace in the 1990s
and 2000s.
Still active
as a duo of Ronald and Ernie Isley, The Isley Brothers earned a Grammy®
Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. The
Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) brings all
of their works for the Sony Music family into one impressive package.
The Isley
Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) (* includes bonus
tracks):
- Shout! (RCA Victor, 1959)*
- It's Our Thing (T-Neck, 1969)*
- The Brothers: Isley (T-Neck, 1969)*
- The Isley Brothers Live At Yankee Stadium (T-Neck, 1969)
- Get Into Something (T-Neck, 1970)*
- In The Beginning...The Isley Brothers & Jimi Hendrix (T-Neck, recorded 1964-1965; remixed/released 1971)*
- Givin' It Back (T-Neck, 1971)*
- Brother, Brother, Brother (T-Neck, 1972)*
- The Isleys Live (T-Neck, 1973)
- 3+3 (T-Neck, 1973)*
- Live It Up (T-Neck, 1974)*
- The Heat Is On (T-Neck, 1975)*
- Harvest For The World (T-Neck, 1976)*
- Go For Your Guns (T-Neck, 1977)*
- Showdown (T-Neck, 1978)*
- Winner Takes All (T-Neck, 1979—2 CDs)*
- Go All The Way (T-Neck, 1980)*
- Wild In Woodstock: The Isley Brothers Live At Bearsville Studios 1980 (previously unreleased)*
- Grand Slam (T-Neck, 1981)*
- Inside You (T-Neck, 1981)*
- The Real Deal (T-Neck, 1982)*
- Between The Sheets (T-Neck, 1983)*
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