You can make the argument that the Isley Brothers are the greatest R&B group of all time. In 1957, the teenage siblings moved to New York from Ohio to start their career in R&B music. They struggled with initial recordings in the doo-wop subgenre until the release of the gospel-inflected “Shout” in 1959. They would release a total of nine albums before they earned their first platinum album. In 1973, they released their 3 + 3 album, and it’s ranked at 464 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. The Isley Brothers released albums every year from 1973 to 1981, and they all went at least gold. They released their 20th album called Inside You, which was their second album of the year. It failed to go gold along with their next album called The Real Deal.
In 1983, they released one of my favorite albums ever in Between the Sheets. Between the Sheets is arguably one of the greatest love songs to ever be recorded. After their Between the Sheets album, the Isley Brothers would sign with Warner Brothers. From 1985 to 1992, the group would release four albums and none of them went at least gold. In 1996, the Isley Brothers released their 28th album on Island Records and group’s own label, T-Neck Records. Mission to Please was the name of the album and it turns 30 years old today. This last Isley Brothers album to feature youngest brother Marvin Isley. Marvin left the group in 1997 because of complications from diabetes and died in June 2010. It was a return to commercial glory for the group in the years following their platinum-certified album Between the Sheets (1983).
The album went platinum based on the strength of the charted singles Let’s Lay Together. It was a new duet with R. Kelly after the success of “Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)” (1995). Mission to Please debuted and peaked at number 31 US Billboard 200 in the week of June 1, 1996. It marked the Isley Brothers’ highest-charting project since their 1983 album Between the Sheets. The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on July 16, 1996, and reached Platinum status on January 23, 1997. Billboard ranked Mission to Please 13th on its 1996 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums year-end chart. R. Kelly, Keith Sweat, Babyface, and Angela Winbush helped write and made this album a classic. Check out my top 5 songs from the Mission to Please album below. Peep the track listing and stream link to Mission to Please after that.
Top 5 Songs: Let’s Lay Together, Mission to Please, Floatin’ on Your Love, Tears, and Holding Back the Years
Mission to Please Track Listing
- Floatin’ on Your Love ft. Angela Winbush
- Whenever You’re Ready
- Let’s Lay Together
- Tears
- Can I Have a Kiss (For Old Time’s Sake)?
- Mission to Please You
- Holding Back the Tears
- Make Your Body Sing
- Let’s Get Intimate
- Slow is the Way
