A undervalued classic

While other Isley Albums get better notice, this is a hot album. I wanna be with you, winner takes all, liquid love, and Disco night are tunes that made people move back in the days!!!

Truly A Winner

This album is underrated, plain and simple. Back in the day people must have been turned off because it was a double album and it was the height of disco. Well even the tracks that have some disco nuances are still funky. The first 3 songs, 'I Wanna Be With You', 'Liquid Love' and 'Winner Takes All' are pure funk while 'Life In The City' clocks in at 8 minutes and has an extended breakdown with some serious guitar riffs from Ernie. The album slows down with the mid-tempo groove of '(Can't You See) What You Do To Me?' and slows down even further with 'Let's Fall In Love' one of their best slow jams. This isn't one of their more well-remembered albums but it's just as good as '3+3' or 'Go For Your Guns'.

Underrated greatness...

I hate to throw the word 'underrated' around, but it applies here.

I'll go further.

This is one of THE underrated double albums of the 70s.

People will now shower praise on Songs in the Key of Life and Here, My Dear, but Winner Takes All tends to be unmentioned or passed over.

Maybe it is the few disco-esque dance jams that throw people off. Era biases aside, the uptempo songs on this album are generally winners.

And the Isleys don't lose when it comes to their 70s ballads and midtempo jams. This may be the smoothest set of those songs to appear on any Isley album even if they aren't the most celebrated.

The 1-2 punch that is the loosely-combined "You're the Key to My Heart" and "You're Beside Me" is undeniable goodness.

And "Let's Fall in Love" is one their second-tier beloved jams that is only on the second-tier because there was no room on the first one!

"Let Me In Your Life" is such a solid but unknown song that I want to tie people up and make them listen to it so that they can appreciate it (and being untied afterwards).

"How Lucky I Am" is another underloved slow piece.

Most double albums from any era are slagged for one of the following reasons:

- Too much of a departure from the artist's normal sound
- Too many songs/too long/too self-indulgent/etc
- The album gets boring
- Bad sequencing

IMO, Winner Takes All suffers from none of those problems.

In addition, buying this album will introduce most casual Isley fans to several good songs that they probably didn't know of before.

It is 2nd or 3rd on my list of favorite Isley albums. (I sometimes think Harvest for the World is better and Heat is On is my choice for THE best)

AP