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Harvest for the World

The Isley Brothers - Harvest for the World Audio CD

A fair review of the The Isley Brothers "Harvest for the World" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Isley Brothers reviews here, or go back to the The Isley Brothers tabs.

Band: The Isley Brothers
Title: Harvest for the World
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-02-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Harvest for the World (Prelude) 2: Harvest for the World 3: People of Today 4: Who Loves You Better 5: (At Your Best) You Are Love 6: Let Me Down Easy 7: So You Wanna Stay Down 8: You Still Feel the Need 9: Summer Breeze [Live][#][*]

A TRUE HARVEST OF LIFE AND LOVE!!
From matters of the heart to the challenges of humanity,this album is SOLID!!. This is another masterpiece from the Isleys, this album is life itself!!. Check out songs like "harvest for the world" and "people of today", they are a direct wake up call to us all, then the praising, "at your best you are love" so flowing and mellow, then the greiving and painful,"let me down easy" , sad and beautiful at the same time!!. Topping off this great effort is two more bouncy pieces, "so you wanna stay down" and "you still feel the need". A bonus live recording of "summer breeze" is included here as well. As long as life last, and civilisation is intact, this album will endure. I recomend this one to all who love strong, effective music, fan of the Isleys or otherwise. It is a worthy addition to any music collection!!!. .

"Conscious and Lovely"
The title track told it like it is, while " (At Your Best) You Are Love" and "Let Me Down Easy" are crazy classic slow jams.
The Isley's cooled it a bit with this on, but it is still an essential record. Don't worry, "Who Loves You Better" still has that funk and roll vibe going, with Ernie's guitar just blazin' the track. It's nothing like the last 3 albums, but I think that's the point.

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The Isley's Lay It On The Line
com name I wrote a review to this but upon hearing the remaster and understanding this album from a new perspective there's a lot more I have to say about it. Under my "old" Amazon. In many ways of all the 3+3 era Isley albums that they made during the 70's,this is probably the most unique. For many of the truest lovers of soul and funk out there it's hard to deny that as far as funk was concerned 1976 was a big landmark year. Everything in the kitchen sink musically had entered successfully into the mix and it was producing not only huge commercial and critical results,but was influencing every jazz and rock musician who was hearing it. This album could not be anymore of a product of Ricky Vincent's "united funk" era than you could possibly ask for. The main difference between this and other items in the Isley's catalog from this time is that there's more of a gentle overtone to lot of this music,even the funky stuff doesn't throw itself at you and tends to be more penetrating than forceful. The title track really has to merrit a lot of discussion. Musically this song is probably one of the greatest examples of two generations of music they ever did,and that isn't a huge surprise since the group features two generations of brothers. On the one hand it has this strong gospel/soul type melodicism and folksy acoustic guitar of early styles of R&B plus this modern funk groove too. Lyrically it is something I've dubbed "people music",a certain type of communally centered message song that speaks from first hand experience and/or observation about topical issues that effect them and everyone else. In this case you get one of the more heartfelt and genuine pleas for global harmony and humanitarianism that lays easily aside John Lennon's Imagine in terms of being one of the great social anthems of the day. Not that it gets hardly any credit of course but it really is. "People Of Today",with it's heavy TONTO touch and vocorderized "My world is fine" is. . . well another message song dealing with people's selfishness in general. "Who Loves You Better" is the rocker on the album and has a more involved melody than most of Ernie Isley tunes on the albums. The two slow songs on the album "Let Me Down Easy" and "(At Your Best) You Are Love" are strangely enough good enough songs but not among the stronger of the Isley's ballads at this point compositionally;kind of by-the-numbers by most standards. Much more interesting is "So You Wanna Stay Down",with a similar feeling to the title track and some rapid fire vocal turns from Ron. "You Still Feel The Need" is a great stop and start funk breakdown;has a similar feeling to some of the style and production on Steely Dan's The Royal Scam only with a far more open end and far less of a feel of musical perfectionism over mood flavor. One of the great features of this is the bonus cut,a live in the studio version of "Summer Breeze" which,unlike the also great studio version on 3 + 3 is extended out to an 8+ minute lengh with an extended,Marvin Gaye-like breakdown in the middle that really allows the mood to be extended along with the song. It's a really good thing that this and Live It Up [EXTRA TRACKS],two Isley albums that were long neglected on CD are in print because they both represent key transitional elements in their developement during the era. Not to mention being key musical experiences of mid 70's funk/rock/soul/pop.
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Real Isleys
This is the real Isley Brothers that we all back in the day know and love. What happened to the Isley Brothers of old? Bring back the sound from yesturday! The Isley Brothers of today need to take a cue from some of their old school jams and forsake that junk that they put out as music today.

A Bounty Of Soul For All Souls!
Sure, it packs just as much soul power & passion as the I. Of the many stellar albums the Isley Brothers put out during their 3+3 era (1973 to 1984), Harvest For The World, in my opinion, is a slightly deeper album. B. albums that came before or after it, but on this one, I think the Isleys were reaching for something more - and achieved it.

The album opens with the "Harvest For The World Prelude" - a slower, more expressive version of the album's theme with Ron Isley vocalizing pleas for healing, to "Gather every man & woman. . . Give thanks for your children. " This is soul from the soul.

Both the title track & "People Of Today" speak out about the social fustrations of the early 70's - Watergate, Poverty, Racism, Nixon, Unemployment - many of the same issues we face today, but above all, they express the need for healing - the "Harvest".

"Who Loves You Better" is a fuzz-guitar/clavinet funkfest with Chris Jasper doing some Stevie Wonder-ish clavinet work and Ernie Isley churning out one of his trademark extended a-la-Hendrix guitar solos.

Next, you get 2(of the many)classic Isley slow jams - "(At Your Best) You Are Love" & "Let Me Down Easy". "At Your Best. . . " remains a staple of quiet storm radio and was beautifully covered by Aaliyah(R. I. P. ).

The album closes with the funk/rock of "So You Wanna Stay Down" & "You Still Feel the Need".

With "Harvest For The World", you get the Pride & Passion the Isley Brothers are famous for. . . and a little bit more.

You can see a complete list of all The Isley Brothers discography, or go back to the The Isley Brothers tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.