Can't Wait No More!
Alright, there's no putting it off any longer. I've been gettin' my learn on to make a series of great posts here. My newest musical obsession is The Isley Brothers. I've dug them since I first heard "This Old Heart," which is still one of my favorite songs ever. But way back in the 80s, I couldn't have known just how deep this group ran. It wasn't until recently that I delved in a bit. I've been wanting to highlight them here, but the more I heard and read, the more I didn't know here to start.
The Isleys hold some kind of record as the longest charting group in history. They've had hits in every decade since the 50s. As far as I know nobody else has ever done this.
Just think about that for a second. They predated Elvis and James Brown, and in 2006 Ronald Isley is STILL scoring hits. That's just hard to wrap your mind around. But The Isleys stand out for so many things it's hard to keep track fo them. Ronald was blessed with one of the all-time great voices in popular music. He could do practically any style - Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Sam Cooke, you name it. I don't know if one could say The Isleys pushed musical boundaries, but they were certainly a part of the evolution from Gospel to Doo-Wop to Rhythm & Blues to Motown to Soul to Funk. When funk began growing in prminence, they weren't just singers. They were an amazing band that could match up with the Family Stones and Funkadelic of the day. Hell, they wrote the songs, too. Oh - and The Isley Brothers also introduced the world to Jimi Hendrix. Hell, that alone is enough to get them in the history books.
It's just too much to cover properly, and really I'm not that big on exact details. I have to be at my 9-to-5er, so in my play time, I just don't care too much, as you can see by my very accurate description above of "some kind of record." The way I see it, you guys can Google just the same as me. I have no magic tome of musical history to read from, and the facts sure as hell ain't in my brain. So this is gonna be a very loose telling of the Isley story.
The story started in Cincinnati in the early 50s, when papa Sallye Isley told his four sons, O'Kelly, Ronald, Rudolph and Vernon to get to makin' some Gospel music - vocal quartet style. Sadly, they became a trio in 1954 when Vernon was hit and killed by a truck. In '56 they found their way to New York and began recording.
Now, here's where the fuzz comes in. I don't know if any of these recordings are available. I haven't found them yet if they are. From what I've read they're more in a doo-wop style, which I really want to hear. In the meantime, the closest I can come up with to what they might have sounded like in 1957 is this, a track they recorded for RCA in 1959 called, Yes Indeed.
The Gospel influence is unmistakable, but you can definitely hear the Rn'B/soul direction they're heading. And it was exactly that mix which got them on the charts for the first time, with Shout, a song I think everyone on the planet has heard. "Shout" is just one of those monumental songs whose influence has echoed through the decades, and that will forever be a part of our culture. It was, of course, resurrected for Animal House in the 70s, and I just heard someone sing it on American Idol last week. If there was ever a more rousing, heartfelt, feel-good song, I haven't heard it.
Shout only reached #47 on the charts, but it set The Isleys on their way to...well, to all kinds of stuff. All kinds of stuff I'll get to next time.
P.S. These tracks are in AAC (iTunes) format. I try to post the more widely-compatible MP3s when possible here, but I rip my own personal stuff to AAC because it sounds better and it's a smaller file. If you're using iTunes (Mac or PC) you can play them. And if you're not using iTunes you should be; it's the best PC Jukebox software on the planet.
The Isleys hold some kind of record as the longest charting group in history. They've had hits in every decade since the 50s. As far as I know nobody else has ever done this.
Just think about that for a second. They predated Elvis and James Brown, and in 2006 Ronald Isley is STILL scoring hits. That's just hard to wrap your mind around. But The Isleys stand out for so many things it's hard to keep track fo them. Ronald was blessed with one of the all-time great voices in popular music. He could do practically any style - Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Sam Cooke, you name it. I don't know if one could say The Isleys pushed musical boundaries, but they were certainly a part of the evolution from Gospel to Doo-Wop to Rhythm & Blues to Motown to Soul to Funk. When funk began growing in prminence, they weren't just singers. They were an amazing band that could match up with the Family Stones and Funkadelic of the day. Hell, they wrote the songs, too. Oh - and The Isley Brothers also introduced the world to Jimi Hendrix. Hell, that alone is enough to get them in the history books.
It's just too much to cover properly, and really I'm not that big on exact details. I have to be at my 9-to-5er, so in my play time, I just don't care too much, as you can see by my very accurate description above of "some kind of record." The way I see it, you guys can Google just the same as me. I have no magic tome of musical history to read from, and the facts sure as hell ain't in my brain. So this is gonna be a very loose telling of the Isley story.
The story started in Cincinnati in the early 50s, when papa Sallye Isley told his four sons, O'Kelly, Ronald, Rudolph and Vernon to get to makin' some Gospel music - vocal quartet style. Sadly, they became a trio in 1954 when Vernon was hit and killed by a truck. In '56 they found their way to New York and began recording.
Now, here's where the fuzz comes in. I don't know if any of these recordings are available. I haven't found them yet if they are. From what I've read they're more in a doo-wop style, which I really want to hear. In the meantime, the closest I can come up with to what they might have sounded like in 1957 is this, a track they recorded for RCA in 1959 called, Yes Indeed.
The Gospel influence is unmistakable, but you can definitely hear the Rn'B/soul direction they're heading. And it was exactly that mix which got them on the charts for the first time, with Shout, a song I think everyone on the planet has heard. "Shout" is just one of those monumental songs whose influence has echoed through the decades, and that will forever be a part of our culture. It was, of course, resurrected for Animal House in the 70s, and I just heard someone sing it on American Idol last week. If there was ever a more rousing, heartfelt, feel-good song, I haven't heard it.
Shout only reached #47 on the charts, but it set The Isleys on their way to...well, to all kinds of stuff. All kinds of stuff I'll get to next time.
P.S. These tracks are in AAC (iTunes) format. I try to post the more widely-compatible MP3s when possible here, but I rip my own personal stuff to AAC because it sounds better and it's a smaller file. If you're using iTunes (Mac or PC) you can play them. And if you're not using iTunes you should be; it's the best PC Jukebox software on the planet.
posted by Billy K at 11:24 AM
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