The Isley Brothers (with some obscure sideman)

Listen/Download – The Isley Brothers – Testify Pt1 MP3

Listen/Download – The Isley Brothers – Testify Pt2 MP3

Greetings all.

I feel secure telling you that the 45 I bring you today is undisputably one of the most mind-bendingly, blazing soul 45s of all time.

As much as I thought I knew the Isley Brothers, I was for a long time largely ignorant of their earlier, pre-funky work.

I found my way to their 1964 45 ‘Testify Pts 1&2’ via two similar paths, those being the eary work of Jimi Hendrix (who wails on this record) and the work of one of his most prominent disciples, Stevie Ray Vaughn.

I was lucky enough to have seen Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble in the early days of their national renown, including one ear-shredding performance at a local night club.

One of the tunes Stevie did on his first album was a cover version of ‘Testify’, which I had no idea was a cover version for literally decades.

It was only researching the early soul/R&B work of Jimi Hendrix that I found out that ‘Testify’ had originally been done as a vocal by the mighty Isley Brothers.

To say that the Isley Brothers version of ‘Testify’ is amazing is to damn it with faint praise.

Their performance amounts to six minutes of amen corner cum Apollo Theater wildness in which the Isley’s perform their asses off, all the while tipping their hats to Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Jackie Wilson, James Brown, and even themselves.

The band is ON FIRE, and you can almost see the Isley Brothers moving around the stage.

‘Testify’ is one of the live-est sounding 45s I have ever heard, and moves at a breakneck pace from start to finish.

I hope you dig it as much as I do, and I’ll see you all next week.

Happy New Year!

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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