First experience

This album came out when I was bout 15/16 years old. Side one of this cd is incredible. I still love it after all these years (I'm 35 now)and have good memories everytime I hear it. It needs to be rated better than 5.

My favorite Isley Brothers album

This album is a true classic. I don't even know where to start. I was turned on to this LP after hearing Notorious BIG's "Big Poppa", which sampled the title track "Between the Sheets". Since "Between the Sheets" was great I decided to get the whole album. I was amazed.

Between the Sheets is the perfect title for this music because it's most convinient when you're in the mood to get "Between the Sheets". Though every track on this album is great, my favorites have to be "Choosey Lover", "I Need Your Body", and "Ballad For the Fallen Soldier". Those are the ones I play most often. Great production along with great vocals by lead vocalist Ron Isley make this album a masterpiece. If you're a hip-hop fan like myself then you'll find that many artists have used samples from this album. Nas used "Choosey Lover" for his "Street Dreams Remix", Jay-Z & Too Short used "Ballad For the Fallen Soldier" for "A Week Ago", and of course BIG used "Between the Sheets" for "Big Poppa". The latter of those was more along the lines of copying/biting rather than actual sampling. I blame that on Puffy.

I recommend you purchase this album as soon as possible. $9.98 is an excellent price for an album this good. It's easily worth 5 times that much. This, in my opinion is the Isley Brothers greatest work. You'll enjoy this much more than one of their collection albums.

Some Way Out Music!

After releasing some lackluster albums in the early 80's (The Real Deal, Inside You and Grand Slam) the Isleys came back with this, their last #1 R&B Album for 18 years. The best thing about this album is that everyone in the group is front and center. Rudolph's and O'Kelly's backing vocals are the best they've ever been. Too often in the previous albums they would be drowned out by the burning funk cooked up by the younger 3. This is a nice change as the Isleys once again sounded like a vocal group while still being a band. The first side is all love songs. "Choosey Lover" and "I Need Your Body" are the best of the bunch, the latter just being just short of perfection as Ronald provides stellar lead vocals, Chris goes into Barry White mode as he does a little "rap" at the end, Ernie's guitar and the backing vocals convey the urgency of the song and Marvin's bass keeps rumbling along as usual. But the second side is filled with killer funk and protest songs. "Slow Down Children" and "Ballad For The Fallen Soldier" burn with as much anger as "Fight The Power", "The Pride" and "Livin' In The Life". They cap things off with the rockin' instrumental "Rock You Good".



This album was the most cohesive the Isleys put out in their 3+3 era. It seemed they had finally recaptured their sound and updated it for the 80's. Too bad this was to be their swan song as the younger 3 bolted to form Isely Jasper Isley. This album only makes you wonder what could have been.