Song Of The Day 8/24/2012: The Isley Brothers - "Ohio/Machine Gun"

The Isley Brothers, who still score Top 5 albums when they feel like it, are a lot of things to a lot of people. I personally think, among other superlatives, that they may be the greatest cover band that ever existed. This judgment is based on their ability to turn songs where the original versions were -- well, don't want to step on toes here -- let's just say, decidedly not of the funky persuasion, into something more than just palatable. Seriously, the incline between Seals & Crofts' recording of "Summer Breeze" and the Isleys' cover is steeper than K2, which is also not of the funky persuasion but makes up for it in nosebleeds. This combined cover of CSNY's "Ohio" and Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys' "Machine Gun" shows how they also mastered the daylights out of good source material.