My love for The Isley Brothers ironically began in 1985 two years after the 3 + 3 lineup formed in 1973 were split into two groups: The Isley Brothers in which only O'Kelly, Ron and Rudolph Isley remained; and Isley-Jasper-Isley, consisting of Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper and Marvin Isley. The latter trio's most popular album, Caravan of Love (1985), stood out in my memory for three reasons: 1) out of all the records in my dad's extensive collection at the time, the Sahara-inspired cover was the most indelible; 2) their biggest hit, "Caravan of Love," was in constant rotation on the radio and their follow-up single, "Insatiable Woman," captured my attention even more; and 3) as the opening act for Luther Vandross in a 1986 concert at the Capital Centre, they were the first act that I recall seeing live. (Mind you, Luther never showed, but we won't go there.) The most memorable part of that concert was the tribute to O'Kelly, who had passed away from a heart attack not long before the show. From there, I just kept discovering more and more songs to love from all six of the Teaneck, New Jersey implants by way of Cincinnati because their sound was truly their sound. It's rock...it's funk...it's soul...it's just a little bit of everything that I love from my favorite bands. Now here's an honest moment: it took me at least a decade to warm up more to their uptempo stuff because I felt like their strength as a band were their ballads--and I still strongly feel that way. So let's dig into the five songs that resonate with me the most from my third favorite R&B band of all time...
