Song Of The Day 6/25/2014: The Isley Brothers - "Take Some Time Out For Love"

Black Music Month/Motown Week: The Isley Brothers -- who, unlike everybody who's ever disappointed you, any car that's broken down on you, any cult TV show you loved or any fly-by-night new age movement you briefly considered researching in the '90s are still in freaking existence -- were briefly on Motown's Tamla label in the mid-60's, after their guitar player Hendrix-something-or-another had flown the coop. It seemed a stretch to try and mold the Isleys who wrote "Twist And Shout" into the Motown hit-making process, and indeed it was except for the hit "This Old Heart Of Mine."

You can hear Ronald Isley trying to break out of the slick on "Take Some Time Out For Love. There's also this odd little horn note in the fourth quadrant of the verse - you'll hear it first when Ronald sings "way across town..." -- that had no business being in Motown. It throws all of your expectations for how the melody is supposed to progress off. That's not Motown. It is, however, entirely Isley, and if Motown could resist it, I sure can't. These are the guys who regularly gave adult contemporary musicians of the '70s credibility by, not just covering, but freaking owning their compositions. Seriously, Seals & Crofts should have given them silent benediction every time they bought a freaking cup of herbal tea.

Sorry. The Isley Brothers bring out the italics in me.