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The Isley Brothers

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Take Two
Released: Jan 1, 2001
Label: N\A

This {@Sony} budget release alternates songs by {$the Isley Brothers} with songs by {$the O'Jays}, and the result is an extremely short CD that seems largely arbitrary. Better to get single- disc... Continue[+]

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Ultimate Isley Brothers
Released: Oct 17, 2000
Label: N\A

In effect, {^The Ultimate Isley Brothers} is the definitive single-disc compilation of {$the Isleys}' {@T-Neck} years -- when they reinvented themselves for the '70s as a jam-happy funk-rock... Continue[+]

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The Early Years
Released: Jun 6, 2000
Label: N\A

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Classic: The Universal Masters Collection
Released: May 29, 2000
Label: N\A

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Early Classics
Released: Apr 25, 2000
Label: N\A

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Shake It Up, Baby: Shout, Twist and Shout
Released: Mar 21, 2000
Label: N\A

If you've been collecting {$Isley Brothers} compilations over the years, you might not be enthused at the prospect of getting {&"Shout,"} {&"Twist and Shout,"} {&"Nobody But Me,"} {&"Respectable,"}... Continue[+]

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Crazy Love - ECLIPSE
Released: Mar 21, 2000
Label: N\A

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It's Your Thing: The Story of the Isley Brothers
Released: Aug 24, 1999
Label: N\A

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Seldom do compilations, best-of collections, or even box sets capture the big picture on an artist in a way that's as definitive as the music they are attempting to chronicle. There's always something missing: a tape that didn't turn up and no decent vinyl copies around to copy from, or the licensing of a couple of essential tracks from another company fell through the legal cracks and didn't make the final lineup. Bottom line, definitive collections or box sets seldom are.
But this one is.
The {$Isley Brothers} have been part of the musical landscape for such a long time, it's almost as if they had existed forever. Their musical history runs the gamut from early {~doo-wop} to proto-{~soul} to {~funk} to present-day {~R&B}. Their reputation as a house-wrecking live act is superceded only by {$James Brown} and a handful of other {~R&B} performers. Their influence extends to the {$Beatles} and to {$Jimi Hendrix}, who served time in the {$Isley Brothers} band when he was still a scuffling youngster. They brought church music to the street and infused it with a {~pop} sensibility that never lost its soulfulness. On this three-disc box set, we hear the story of that music and see an innovative group finally getting its due.
Although the music on this set is cross-licensed from numerous companies and runs the entire scope of the {$Isley Brothers}' career, it is not sequenced chronologically, or at least not on the opening disc. The earliest {~doo-wop} sides cut for a series of labels owned by {$George Goldner} show up late in the game on disc one, which opens with the brothers building up to a live version of {&"Shout"} recorded at Yankee Stadium, followed by the original studio version of the classic. But nice examples of their work from their stints with {@RCA Victor}, {@Wand}, {@Motown}, {@Atlantic}, {@Cindy}, {@Mark X}, and {@Teenage} set the stage perfectly for their own label masterworks on {@T-Neck}. The true bonus of the early tracks on disc one are two tracks featuring {$Jimi Hendrix} on guitar. Hearing 1965's {&"Move Over and Let Me Dance"} is not unlike hearing {$Elvis Presley}'s Memphis Recording Service demos; the man is not yet a star, yet all the pieces are in place, waiting to happen.
Disc two -- covering 1971-1975 -- is where the brothers hit their stride. They still crank out hits and take on unlikely tunes, truly making them their own. That the {$Isleys} could take on honky material like the {$Seals & Crofts} weenie {&"Summer Breeze"} and make an {~R&B} masterpiece out of it is still a marvel of creativity over form. Likewise what they do with material from {$James Taylor}, {$Todd Rundgren}, and {$Stephen Stills} is utterly transforming; they don't cover these songs so much as totally reinvent them in their style. 
The third disc picks up the story from 1976-1996, chock full of great original material and loads of devastating guitar from {$Ernie Isley}, a {$Hendrix} disciple who learned it first hand and almost single-handedly kept the style alive after {$Hendrix}'s death.
As great and influential as the {$Isleys} and their music have been these many decades, they have unfortunately never achieved the crossover success of {@Motown} artists and other lesser lights of {~R&B}. Their contribution to American music and to African-American culture is writ on this deluxe set, a box that should end up in every serious American music collection out there. Even if you already have some {$Isley Brothers} in the stack, trade 'em in, because this one is the set you really need. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide

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Super Hits - SONY
Released: May 4, 1999
Label: N\A

{$The Isley Brothers} have had a number of greatest-hits compilations over the years, highlighted by {@Rhino}'s exhaustive two-volume retrospective {^The Isley Brothers Story}. Since it's a... Continue[+]

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Smooth Love
Released: Feb 16, 1999
Label: N\A

The creative minds at {@AMW Records} know how to compile albums better than most. They obviously put serious thought into the themes and the titles selected. {^Smooth Love} by {$the Isleys}'... Continue[+]

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