The Early Years

Album review

Years before the Isley Brothers evolved into creators of smooth urban ballads smothered in silk, prior to their protest years of the '70s, and the period of redoing rock into soul material (i.e., "Summer Breeze," "Spill the Wine," "Love the One You're With"), and preceding a Motown showcase where they proved able deliverers of Hitsville, U.S.A.'s Sound of Young America, the Isley's came out of a whole different bag. Frat rock is an excellent style description for these tracks cut during a stint with Wand Records from 1962-1963 where they cut "Twist & Shout" (not included), their second chart-busting hit. "Spanish Twist" -- an instrumental of "Twist & Shout" and its B-side -- did make the cut; maybe they inadvertently omitted the Top Ten smash. Included among the lean CD, only 10 tracks, is the brothers' first Wand single, "The Snake," two more twisters, "Let's Twist Again" and "Rubber Leg Twist," and a few heartache sagas sung in Ron Isley's rough and ready natural tenor. This is a pull-'em-out-of-a-hat compilation, that doesn't properly represent their skimpy Wand output.

© Andrew Hamilton /TiVo