Isley Brothers – Get Into Something Pts 1&2
The Isley Brothers
Listen/Download – Isley Brothers – Get Into Something Pt1
Listen/Download – Isley Brothers – Get Into Something Pt2
Greetings all.
Welcome back to the Funky16Corners Blogradiowebadelicament thang, where we have now convened for another week wherein all things funky and soulful are massaged, perused and digested.
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The tune I bring you today is one that I am utterly ashamed to admit that I was unaware of until a night last year, when I was sharing the DJ booth at Marvin in Washington DC with the mighty DJ Birdman.
He was in the midst of a typically smoking set, when I hear some voices that I recognize as the Isley Brothers, and then, like stepping off of a curb and in front of a crosstown bus, got smacked square in the face with a lengthy drum break.
Naturally I approached the bench and inquired as to the identity and provenance of said record, only to be informed that it was in fact the Isley Brothers, and the tune in question was ‘Get Into Something’.
As luck would have it, the following day we set out into DC and the surrounding areas to do a little digging, and I was lucky enough to pick myself up a copy of that very same 45.
Released in 1970, as a single and as part of the album of the same name (which, if you’re keeping score also includes the monster ‘Keep On Doin’’) ‘Get Into Something’ is a fast moving number with a chugging guitar line and prominent piano backing (which I dig a lot).
It’s fast enough for the dance floor, but things get really interesting when you flip the record over for part two. Things fade in from what is obviously a quick edit from side one, and then after about 30 seconds, you get a proper invitation to give the drummer some (and a guitar riff lifted from King Curtis’s ‘Memphis Soul Stew’) after which he takes some (drums) and keeps taking for another 40 seconds, after which, for reasons I cannot explain the whole things slows down to a plodding pace.
I mean it was 1970, and people were letting their freak flag fly, and it’s entirely possible that the Isleys, having provided the dancers with almost five minutes of moving and grooving, decided to get a little far out. The horns stretch out, the reverb gets turned up a little, and the band settles down into a jam of sorts, from which they do not emerge for the rest of side two.
This is not necessarily a bad thing either, since the Isleys were an honest to goodness band, and if they wanted to take a break from the get down to work it out a little bit, I can’t complain. If you’re going to DJ with the record you can stick to side one, but if you have the headphones on, and a snifter of brandy in your hand, you can let the whole thing unravel in your ears so that you might get the benefit of the whole Isley Brothers experience.
I hope you dig both sides, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
This tune is a full-on corker I love mixing from this (at the drum breakdown) into Ananda Shankar’s Jumping Jack Flash. Check here
I wasn’t expecting much from side 2 after the fun of part 1, I don’t dig solo drums hardly ever, but 40 seconds wasn’t too long before that slow motion chugging breakdown kicked in. So glad sites like yours exist so people like me don’t have to listen to the lame-o same-o stuff that’s getting pumped out these days.