eMusic Review 0
Though it’s rarely mentioned in the same breath as Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly, Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On, or anything Stevie Wonder waxed in the first half of the decade, the Isley Brothers’ 3 + 3 deserves to be included in any discussion of great soul and funk albums of the 1970s.
Like all the aforementioned albums, 1973′s 3 + 3 held a mirror up to the turbulent times that birthed it. But the reflection it captured had less to do with the difficulties of urban life than the challenges facing adult Americans as they grappled with the changes wrought by the social upheavals of the 1960s. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the U.S. divorce rate went up nearly 40 percent between 1970-75; taken in that context, it’s not surprising that four of 3 + 3‘s five original songs — the exception being the album’s summery leadoff hit, “That Lady (Part 1&2)” — take a distinctly adult look at romantic relationships, most notably “You Walk Your Way,” which sweetly lays out the breakup of a long-term love thang with a clarity that’s as… read more »
