The Isley Brothers

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风格: #平静风暴　#灵魂乐　#放克　#都市音乐　#迷幻灵魂乐　#节奏布鲁斯
地区: United States of America 美国

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早在五零年代早期就已经成军的The Isley Brothers可说是史上少数能同时横跨流行音乐、灵魂歌曲、摩城音乐，甚至是放客音乐的先驱重量级团体。尤其是自他们出道以来直到现在就一直是最具影响力的黑人灵魂团体之一。不仅后来披头四亦翻唱他们的歌曲〈Twist And Shout〉，就连现今还是有许多灵魂、节奏蓝调的歌手均是受到他们颇深的影响。

艾斯里兄弟原本出身自美国俄亥俄州的音乐家庭里，由於父母亲均从事与音乐演唱有关的行业，因此自小四兄弟就一直受到家里的鼓励与支持，此外早年因多年浸淫在教堂福音歌曲的薰陶下，所以在一开始四兄弟Ronald、Rudolph、O’Kelly和Vernon Isley便是以浓厚的福音歌曲风格起家，然而不幸的在1955年小弟Vernon Isley却因车祸意外死亡后，原本四人组就只好改成三人组的型态继续演唱下去。

冠军专辑的首发单曲〝What Would You Do?〞一出，理所当然成为热门电台点播单曲，更於Billboard R&B/Hip-hop、流行单曲榜上迅速窜昇。这首单曲连同多数专辑金曲皆由节奏蓝调创作全才R.Kelly包办词曲创作、编曲、製作工作，更献声合声，烘托著Ronald Isley历久弥坚的詮释功力更添动感声韵。而老搭挡Tim And Bob、嘻哈大老Sonnp Dogg也分别援製作、嘻哈新声女将Lil' Kim悍声应援专辑同名单曲〝Body Kiss〞。另外，於前作中担任合音的Johnson Sisters则正式收Ronald Isley旗下成军JS，献声一曲〝Busted〞，为专辑更添新意。而屹立於流行音乐潮流多年而历久弥新的Isley Brothers也正是以如此揉合古今旋律节奏声线的恢弘音乐观点，方能在音乐上屡创新格局、再攀高峰。

by Jason AnkenyFirst formed in the early 50s, the Isley Brothers enjoyed one of the longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music — over the course of nearly a half century of performing, the groups distinguished history spanned not only two generations of Isley siblings but also massive cultural shifts which heralded their musics transformation from gritty R&B to Motown soul to blistering funk. The first generation of Isley siblings was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, where they were encouraged to begin a singing career by their father, himself a professional vocalist, and their mother, a church pianist who provided musical accompaniment at their early performances. Initially a gospel quartet, the group was comprised of Ronald, Rudolph, OKelly, and Vernon Isley; after Vernons 1955 death in a bicycling accident, tenor Ronald was tapped as the remaining trios lead vocalist. In 1957, the brothers went to New York City to record a string of failed doo wop singles; while performing a spirited reading of the song Lonely Teardrops in Washington, D.C., two years later, they interjected the line You know you make me want to shout, which inspired frenzied audience feedback. An RCA executive in the audience saw the concert, and when he signed the Isleys soon after, he instructed that their first single be constructed around their crowd-pleasing catch phrase; while the call-and-response classic Shout failed to reach the pop Top 40 on its initial release, it eventually became a frequently covered classic.Still, success eluded the Isleys, and only after they left RCA in 1962 did they again have another hit, this time with their seminal cover of the Top Notes Twist and Shout. Like so many of the brothers early R&B records, Twist and Shout earned greater commercial success when later rendered by a white group — in this case, the Beatles; other acts who notched hits by closely following the Isleys blueprint were the Yardbirds (Respectable, also covered by the Outsiders), the Human Beinz (Nobody but Me), and Lulu (Shout). During a 1964 tour, they recruited a young guitarist named Jimmy James to play in their backing band; James — who later shot to fame under his given name, Jimi Hendrix — made his first recordings with the Isleys, including the single Testify, issued on the brothers own T-Neck label. They signed to the Motown subsidiary Tamla in 1965, where they joined forces with the famed Holland-Dozier-Holland writing and production team. Their first single, the shimmering This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You), was their finest moment yet, and barely missed the pop Top Ten.This Old Heart of Mine was their only hit on Motown, however, and when the song hit number three in Britain in 1967, the Isleys relocated to England in order to sustain their flagging career; after years of writing their own material, they felt straitjacketed by the Motown assembly-line production formula, and by the time they returned stateside in 1969, they had exited Tamla to resuscitate the T-Bone label. Their next release, the muscular and funky Its Your Thing, hit number two on the U.S. charts in 1969, and became their most successful record. That year, the Isleys also welcomed a number of new members as younger brothers Ernie and Marvin, brother-in-law Chris Jasper, and family friend Everett Collins became the trios new backing unit. Spearheaded by Ernies hard-edged guitar leads, the group began incorporating more and more rock material into its repertoire as the 1970s dawned, and scored hits with covers of Stephen Stills Love the One Youre With, Eric Burdon & Wars Spill the Wine, and Bob Dylans Lay Lady Lay. In 1973, the Isleys scored a massive hit with their rock-funk fusion cover of their own earlier single Whos That Lady, retitled That Lady, Pt. 1; the album 3 + 3 also proved highly successful, as did 1975s The Heat Is On, which spawned the smash Fight the Power, Pt. 1. As the decade wore on, the group again altered its sound to fit into the booming disco market; while their success on pop radio ran dry, they frequently topped the R&B charts with singles like 1977s The Pride, 1978s Take Me to the Next Phase, Pt. 1, 1979s I Wanna Be With You, Pt. 1, and 1980s Dont Say Goodnight. While the Isleys popularity continued into the 1980s, Ernie and Marvin, along with Chris Jasper, defected in 1984 to form their own group, Isley/Jasper/Isley; a year later, they topped the R&B charts with Caravan of Love. On March 31, 1986, OKelly died of a heart attack; Rudolph soon left to join the ministry, but the group reunited in 1990. Although the individual members continued with solo work and side projects, the Isley Brothers forged on in one form or another throughout the decade; in 1996, now consisting of Ronald, Marvin, and Ernie, they released the album Mission to Please. Ronald and Ernie hooked up several years later for Eternal (2001), a brand-new selection of R&B cuts featuring collaborative efforts with Jill Scott, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Raphael Saadiq. On that particular release, Ronald also introduced the alter ego Mr. Biggs. Body Kiss (2003) and Baby Makin Music (2006) followed.

The Isley Brothers

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