The Isley Brothers
3+3

THE REVIEW

In my constant desire to be elsewhere (or rather, in my numerous daydreams), I find myself, from time to time, imagining some open gap in the multiverse, and I really think that in one of the possible parallel universes, I could have a beautiful afro hair, flashy bell-bottom trousers, and a shiny satin shirt while bouncing along in the “Line Dance” of Soul Train. Few doubts about the music accompanying me: something like “That Lady” by the Isley Brothers.

Soft funky, that is, not as radical as Funkadelic or Sly and the Family Stone, warm and elegant vocal lines, irresistible rhythm, and a great display of superfuzz solo guitar, between Hendrix and Hazel, capable of dragging the song into rock territory. One might talk about crossover, but upon closer thought, the term is really wrong: “crossover” requires that there are boundaries to cross, but these are the wonderful (musically, at least) '70s, and pop-rock is still a fluid and exquisitely free world, in which drawing freely from any source of inspiration is the most normal thing possible.

You can clearly hear it from the covers that, alongside their original tracks (including, indeed, “That Lady”), the Isley Brothers include in “3+3,” their 1973 album. The delicate singer-songwriter style of James Taylor's “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” is transformed into a soulful, solar blues, while the late-hippy hit “Summer Breeze” is stripped of the '60s reminiscences still present in the original and surpasses itself, enriched with vocal harmonies and adorned with stunning guitar solos. Even the classic “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers, already lively in itself, undergoes a genuine electroacoustic funky boost with the indispensable clavinet highlighting a truly happy arrangement.

Results that Ronald, Rudy, and O’Kelly, the original vocal nucleus of the Isley Brothers, manage to obtain after almost fifteen years of honorable career from the initial doo-wop and rhythm'n'blues by including in their lineup brothers Ernie (guitars) and Marvin (bass) along with brother-in-law Chris Jasper on keyboards. Thus, the Isley family prepares to enjoy a second youth, likely the best season of its endless career.

The best results? Definitely in the band's original tracks rich with the wonderful musical language of those years. The Isley Brothers shared recording studios with Stevie Wonder while he was working on his Innervisions, and the shared atmosphere can be felt, for example, in the bright chords of the danceable soul “If You Were There” (the harmonies of the chorus are irresistible), as well as in “The Highways of My Life,” an emotional slow track, almost a ballad, where the piano and the evocative synthesizer theme stand out (yes, it's T.O.N.T.O., the same used by Wonder). And while “You Walk Your Way” evokes the gospel roots of the group's music, showcasing its more adventurous and eclectic, albeit absolutely balanced, soul, is “What It Comes Down To”: the passionate love letter sung by Ronald is punctuated by the relentless rhythm of guitar and bass in unison that seems to wink (one would say) at Yes's Roundabout.

The choice of a substantial and sober production, far removed from, for example, the grandeur that Charles Stepney would teach Earth Wind & Fire, makes “3+3” even fresher, more direct, the start of an exciting season for the Isleys (I think of subsequent tracks always capable of making me feel like I'm wearing those fairytale red shoes, like “Midnight Sky” from '74 and, two years later, the intense and moving “Harvest for the World”).

All that's left for me is to attempt a step into my parallel universe: surely I can find a pair of bell-bottom (or “lion’s paw,” as one of my professors once said) trousers, for the rest… what does it cost to daydream?