The Isley Brothers - Eternal

The platinum success of 1997's Mission to Please and frequent sampling of the likes of "Between the Sheets" speak to the ongoing viability of the Isley Brothers' name. Despite a 40-plus-year discography including church-bred R&B, proto-Latin soul, Motown hits, and blinding funk rock (the three-CD It's Your Thing box is a terrific crash history course, an instant-party kit, and the best buy for newcomers), leader Ronald is considered first and foremost a quiet-storm seduction master. Eternal aims to unite both factions with a steady midtempo flow, undiminished vocal power, and guest shots by admirers on the order of R. Kelly and Jill Scott. Though the unvaried approach ignores a number of their strengths, such as guitarist Ernie's Hendrix-like screams, it's a success on its terms. More tuneful than the average early 21st-century soul make-out session, Eternal scores even with a sweaty remake of Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now." Ronald Isley's lyric references to his popular video alter ego, "Mr. Biggs," rub the wrong way, but such missteps are few here. --Rickey Wright Amazon.com

Simply the best (Sorry Tina)!

This is the third purchase of this CD. Everyone who listens to it (male or female) wants their own copy. It's just that great!
The Isley Brothers can sing their behinds off..and over any other group that I can think of in their class. The entire CD
paints a vivid picture of any man and any woman in various situations. Just put yourself there! And learn from the experience. A glass of wine and you're in the moment. August 27, 2005

A LONG TIME COMING

THIS ALBUM MARKED A RETURN OF SORTS TO THE OLD TRADEMARK ISLEY BROTHERS SOUND,AND IT'S OFF THE HOOK.JAM AND TERRY,STEVE HUFF,RAFEAL SADDIQ,KELLY AND ANGELA WINBUSH ALL TOOK THEIR TURNS PUTTIN' IT DOWN,AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID.FROM THE TIME MOVE YOUR BODY KICKS IN UNTIL THE VERY END THIS ALBUM IS ABSOLUTELY SLAMMIN'.HIGHLIGHTS IN MY OPINION ARE YOU DESREVE BETTER,JUST LIKE THIS,WARM SUMMER NIGHT AND MOVE YOUR BODY.BUT THE ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT AND(in my opinion)ONE OF THE MOST SLEPT ON SONGS OF ALL TIMES IS THE TITLE CUT ETERNAL.THAT IS ONE OF MY TOP TEN ISLEY BROTHERS FAVORITES OF ALL TIMES.THE SONG KIND OF REMINDS ME OF MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN,AND EARNIE SHOWED ALL THE WAY OUT ON THE GUITAR SOLO ON THAT SONG.CONTAGIOUS EVEN HAD A BIT OF THE ISLEYS SOUND AND PROBABLY INTRODUCED THEM TO A WHOLE NEW AUDIENCE.AS A WHOLE,I AM EXTREMELY FOND OF THIS ALBUM. May 8, 2005

Ronald & Ernie you don't need R. Kelly! Get rid of him!

I've been a huge fan of the Isleys for over 30 years, and stuck by them through the early Motown soul and their golden groove-funk period of the 1970s, through to the later stuff right up to the excellent Mission To Please album. But that's when they should have dumped R. Kelly, because it's the last album that had any really decent hook to it. And when you have a blistering guitarist like Ernie Isley, why bury him so far in the mix that his licks sound like they're being played through cotton wool?

R. Kelly's plodding grooves just grind from one indistinguishable track to another, which is pretty much the case on the even more disappointing follow-up to this, Body Kiss. The only track that kicks any ass here is the opener, Move Your Body, which fools you into thinking this might be a return to former glories for our heroes. Sadly, the leaden funk of R. Kelly then comes crashing in like a tidal wave of sludge and we get a whole turgid mess of leaden walking-pace 'grooves' that might sound all right in the background when you're getting it on with the partner of your dreams, but as listening music just gets you all exasperated and reaching for the 3+3 album again.

Come on, Isleys, dump the Kelly glop and get back to what you can do best! January 1, 2005

Listening to it right now!!!!!

The Isley Brothers are timeless. Their music is enjoyable to every generation. To come all these years and have devoted fans is not luck, it's talent.

Ronald Isley a. k. a. Mr. Biggs is just a Kool Kat. His songs are about relationships of today but portrayed in a tasterful way. He is not ashamed to admit that men get played too and he does this well with the help of my boy R. Kelly.

All the tracks on this album are a treat to listen too. I find myself repeating most of them. This album should be in anyone's collection that enjoys R & B.

Later..... March 16, 2004

Is' good, but not what I look for in an Isleys album...

Look, I love the Isley Brothers; I grew up with 'em, an' I respect them for bringin' new meaning to the term longevity, so for that reason there ain't much bad I can say 'bout this album. I love Ron Isley's voice an' I love smoothed-out R&B, nice hooks, atmospheric an' romantic background music an' this album has ALL of those things. So why is this not an essential album to me? Simple. These lyrics, while charming, sound like they comin' from a young, thuggish R&B loverboy, NOT a mature, elder statesman who knows the game well. I do like the groove on 'Warm Summer Night' an' there are some even more solid songs on the set like the funky, guitar-fueled opener 'Move Your Body' an' the hypnotically soulful 'You Didn't See Me', both produced by the mos' underrated talent in R&B Raphael Saadiq, an' there are some hidden gems throughout like the monumental title track which owes the mos' to their classic '70s ballads, but overall there's jus' not enough of that real, raw emotive grown-folks' music I was in search of.

Maybe Ron is tryin'ta relive his youth with this Mr. Biggs persona, maybe R. Kelly (who, don't get me wrong, I love as a singer) HAS in some ways corrupted them, an' then again maybe I jus' don't get it, but this style jus' don't work for me when it comes to the Isleys' music. I'll admit I like the bluesy flow of 'Contagious', an' I'm a sucker for this whole cinematic 'Down Low' drama that Ron an' Kelly have been playin' out in song for the past few years, but they shoulda stayed on the musical path they were on from their '97 disc 'Mission to Please'. THAT was grown-folks' music, an' THAS' what I'm lookin' for in them; I need my game to be backed up with some serious, uninhibited, classy romantic RELATIONSHIP music, not a cartoon character named Mr. Biggs feedin' his ego an' his appetite for sex.

This album is the main reason, I'm hesitant about pickin' up their most recent album 'Body Kiss', 'cause from what I've heard is' all that this is an' more (or less dependin' on how you look at it), so I guess if you gave this five stars, then you can't go wrong with it. But, me personally, I'm'a stick with their more substantial older stuff. June 9, 2003

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