The Isley Brothers Story, Volume 2: The T-Neck Years (1969-85)

The Isley Brothers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B0000032QN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,841 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This 2 CD set is an out of print collectible!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the Greatest, Though Others Have Tried, September 18, 2011

By 

Jonathan Schult "Musicman" (Mass. Park, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Isley Brothers Story, Volume 2: The T-Neck Years (1969-85) (Audio CD)

Together, the two volumes of Rhino's "The Isley Brothers Story" paint a fascinating picture of a group who may have had their share of downs with the ups, but when they finally clicked, they clicked big time. The story, told in 48 tracks on three CDs, is all the more fascinating because, even though they had help along the way, they largely did it themselves.

The two-disc second volume, subtitled "The T-Neck Years (1969-85)" is a first rate collection of the group's music from the time they re-formed T-Neck (they'd had a stab at it in the early 60s), signed a distribution deal with Buddah Records, and began hitting the charts with much more force and frequency.

Since they'd been covered many times in the 60s, they began covering rock songs, reworking them in their own style, and began hitting with the rock audience as well as their R&B holdouts.

Shifting distribution to CBS in 1973, they finally hit the ground running with the 3+3 album, which included the song "That Lady". A reworking of a song they'd done at United Artists in the 60s, "Who's That Lady?", it shot to the top of the R&B chart, as well as becoming their first Top Ten Pop hit in four years (only their second overall).

The Volume Two contains 28 huge hits on two discs, seven from the Buddah years, the rest from the CBS years, in which they began regularly going platinum. All of their huge chart hits are here, in their complete versions, including "Caravan of Love", the R&B Number One by Isley-Jasper-Isley (Inexplicably, the compilers make sure that all the Top Ten R&B hits are here, but are hit-or-miss with the ones that "only" went Top 20. This leaves out such hits as ""Keep On Doin'", "Warpath", "Freedom", "Here We Go Again", "Hurry Up and Wait", "The Real Deal", and a few others - but their inclusion would have not only made this a three disc set, they don't add much to the "story").

This makes for a better compilation than the subsequent tries by CBS/Sony, the three CD box "It's Your Thing: The Story of the Isley Brothers" (which includes a lot of material but loses out by including "alternate takes" of several classics and by not being chronological) or the two disc "The Essential Isley Brothers", which also is not chronological, contains way too much non-essential material, such as the groups' take on Carole King's "Brother Brother", and the song "Brown-Eyed Girl".

The Rhino set, especially this volume two, cuts out all the inessential chaff and gives all the meat of the Isleys' T-Neck years in two suprememly entertaining discs. Since it's now out of print, I would advise anyone who wants a great Isleys collection to snap this one up ASAP. And add to the Rhino discs Hip-O's 2007 "The Definitive Collection", and you've got, in just four discs, a great, career-spanning overview of one of the great group in the history of Rock and R&B.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In a word: Phat!, July 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Isley Brothers Story, Volume 2: The T-Neck Years (1969-85) (Audio CD)

The Isley are the chameleons of music. These guys have been makink hits for decades, decades. This album, while excellent, is just a tip of what they have done. For the novice collector, this a good starter Isley album. For the more seasoned collector, shame on you if you don't have these recordings already. Ronald Isley puts all these new new jack, hip-hop, r&b singers(and I use the term loosely)to shame. He is the ultimate falsetto. Can anyone touch him on "for the love of you"? "coolin me out"? "don't say goodnight"? I think not.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, November 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Isley Brothers Story, Volume 2: The T-Neck Years (1969-85) (Audio CD)

I wanted to buy an Isley Bros. Greatest Hits package and had this recommended to me. It is brilliant. Superb music and a great pair of CDs. I can't recommend this highly enough -- every track is outstanding.