We need some feel good music and
we have that in a body of work that spans 60 years of easy swaying sounds from
the good old Isley Brothers. Everything in the news is downright depressing
from hurricane disasters to mass shootings followed by threats of nuclear war
or the demise of healthcare. Pick any subject and you could probably find
something going wrong. Music heals. The
Isley Brothers heal.
You know them because you have
heard their song called Shout at every Wedding celebration that gets every
drunk who can’t dance out on that dance floor. Or bop and weave to the song
called It ‘s Your Thing do what you want to do. Then slow dance to their smooth
hit called Between The Sheets or For The Love of You. You can’t be angry about anything after you
hear their stuff. There has to be generations of babies that were conceived while
those songs were playing. What other band can you think of that has been on the
top of the charts for six decades?
Ron Isley is now over 75 years
old and has been performing since childhood. The key to their success is that
they were capable to sing it all and they did. From Gospel to R & B to
Country Western and Pop Music. Now there are just Ron and his brother Ernie who
are the last remaining group members. Throughout the years they played with the
best. At one time they asked then an unknown guitar player Jimmy Hendricks to
play with the band. He played and lived
with them for 2 years. The brothers noticed and was in awe of Jimmy’s style of
playing using his giant hand to play the guitar frets with 4 fingers while
using his thumb to play the lowest thickest G string. Every string moved simultaneously on his guitar. The
brothers had an eye for talent.
In 1962 they released the song
called Twist & Shout that inspired a whole new way of dancing and one year
later their song became a huge hit for the Beatles. Paul McCartney says that if
it wasn’t for that song the Beatles would have probably been an unknown band in
England. The Isley Brothers helped to promote the career and talent of the
famous guitar player Carlos Santana. Carlos brought to us all that fusion of Latin,
African and Pop Music to audiences everywhere with his amazing guitar lead
riffs. His wife drummer Cindy Blackman Santana proved that women are great
spiders at the drums too. Listen to the new album called the Power of Peace
where the Isley Brothers and Santana collaborate. This album has lots of great
old songs done now with new arrangements that are refreshing. What could be
better than the church song called Let There Be Peace on Earth this time set to
a Latin beat? It makes you think of the deported families, the earthquake
victims in Mexico and the people of Puerto Rico who just love to dance to their
rhythms.
This album is truly a family
affair with a wife on drums and other wives doing vocals while their famous
husbands do what they do best too. Get lost in the music. You will feel better.
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