(August 6, 2025) When I first heard the Isley Brothers’ cover versions of rock ‘n’ roll songs, particularly the tunes included on 3+3 and Live it Up – the last of their albums from the classic period to include a cover – two thoughts came to my young mind. I thought The Isley Brothers remade songs that they liked, or they hoped to broaden their audience by covering tunes by “rock” artists.
“ Isley Brothers’ 3+3,” the accessible but well-researched book by Darrell McNeill, passionately and persuasively makes the point that while The Isley Brothers sought to use tunes such as Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” to reach a wider audience, the covers songs also served as the band’s critique of the racial politics and economics of the recording industry at that time (and now).
McNeill, a musician, producer, and director of operations for the Black Rock Coalition, writes that while record stores and streaming services classify The Isley Brothers as a funk band or an R&B band, the band is a rock group that also plays funk and R&B. The White music establishment’s decision to exclude The Isley Brothers (and other Black groups) from the rock music canon is bitterly ironic since what is known as rock ‘n roll evolved from spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, and R&B.
Sister Rosetta Thorpe, a guitar player and evangelist in the Church of God in Christ, influenced the first generation of rock guitarists, regardless of race. McNeill notes that The Isley Brothers’ career began in the 1950s, which makes the three eldest Isleys – O’Kelly, Rudolph, and Ronald Isley – contemporaries of artists like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Ike Turner – three Black performers clearly considered to be rock musicians.
McNeill says that by the 1970s, when the adult orientated rock format and FM radio became popular, the racial balkanization of music led to the exclusion of Black artists other than Jimi Hendrix (who played guitar for the Isley Brothers in the 60s) from rock music. This racial segmentation had real artistic and commercial implications. Mainstream music magazines and journalists marginalized R&B and funk while elevating the artistry of White musicians.
This happened as radio formatting became increasingly segmented by genre and race and the major record labels signed R&B and funk acts or signed distribution deals with independent labels like Stax, Atlantic and Philadelphia International. The Isley Brothers owned an independent label, T-Neck, which had a distribution deal with Columbia.
These arrangements gave the major labels rosters of Black artists who had hit records and loyal fan bases. However, this also meant that music fans who listened to AOR music stations rarely heard the music of Black artists, unless a band had crossover hits. As McNeill shows, Isley Brothers had their share of crossover hits and platinum albums. Still, having most of their music played on R&B stations meant the Isley Brothers and other Black artists missed sales they could have had if their works had wider exposure.
Seen from that light, making Giving It Back, an album of rock covers and putting cover songs on their next three albums, stood as a statement that made clear that the band’s musical range, as well as a critique of industry’s willful ignorance of their prowess as a rock band.
That becomes even more clear as McNeill reviews the albums the band released between 1973’s 3+3 and Between the Sheets, which dropped in 1983 and marked the end of the classic six-member lineup. McNeill uses his musician’s ear to analyze those albums, and he dives deep into the Ernie Isley’s guitar work, making the compelling case that Ernie, a classically trained musician, is every bit the guitar god as his “rock” contemporaries.
“ Isley Brothers’ 3+3” is 160 pages, and that includes 43 pages of notes and citations. That means “3+3 ½” is about as long as a graduate thesis, and the book is as well-researched as a master’s thesis, and a whole lot more fun to read.
By Howard Dukes
