3+3

I thought that 3 + 3 was a pretty good album. When i first saw the album cover, part of me thought this was gonna be a hard rock album but as it turned out, it leaned pretty heavily into funk R&B, almost feeling like an early version of Jamiroquai in some spots. For the most part i enjoyed this album, The music was very enjoyable as it had that funky groove to it i always enjoy and the vocals generally worked well for each song. There are some downsides though. I feel that a lot of the songs sound a bit too similar to each other making them fairly forgettable and there were points where the singer got a bit too into it. Other than that, its a pretty good album.
Best Song: Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
Worst Song: That Lady Pts. 1 & 2

Great soul album banging tunes with great guitars

A little repetitive, but could be down to Spotify adding other versions at the end

Decent interpretations of standards and, at the time, fairly modern covers. Drags a bit?

This was so good I really want to go back and listen to it again. I shall do it as soon as possible.

Composed super well, but does not strike me any particular way where I am impacted beyond finding the experience of listening pleasant

Middling good lp. Two towering tracks surrounded by disco slop.

Their 50’s rnb & mid 60’s Motown eras were better.

Soulful and funky, very enjoyable. The guitar solos in "That Lady" and "Summer Breeze" elevate those already great songs to the next level - I love the guitar tone in particular in both of those. The rest of the tracks are not quite at that level but still very good. I think the inclusion of those two songs pushes into a 5/5

Summer Breeze was pretty good. That Lady kinda sucks. The rest was toe-tappable but not all that memorable.

As well giving them a chance to rock some frankly incredible outfits on the cover, this funky, soulful album shows off the Isley Brothers' writing, singing, musicianship and their ability to make other people's songs their own. Sorry Seals & Crofts, Summer Breeze is theirs now and they are not giving it back.

Pretty good, nothing mind blowing and it doesn't have my fave Isley Brothers songs.

3/5.

This perfectly encapsulates the black 70s sound in more ways I can say. It was so good I listened to it twice before writing this.

I thought this was fine. The covers were interesting, not sure they're better than the originals, but at least interesting to listen to. Decent funk stuff going on, but nothing that knocked me over.

This is more a flavor of soul I can get behind. Funky fresh with some criiiispy guitar work.

I’m struggling with whether to call this Disco or Diet Funk. This one feels like it was engineered to be a pop success, and the sound has been sampled (and copied) countless times. It’s the kinda feel good album you want to play on a sunny day.

Funk is fun with an extra letter! Very enjoyable listening.

Better than Coldplay

On 3+3 The Isley Brothers assemble a pretty spectacular funk and soul album, with a little psych. What struck me first while listening to this is how good it *sounds*, the guitar tone, the synth tone, the vocals: all super rich and unique. There are also tons of amazing songs here, and while I know several are covers, I listened to the originals, and these interpretations are almost completely unrecognizable as their source material at times. And honestly, it is usually for the better. The originals here are also great. That Lady is a fantastic opener, and an amazing funk song. The rest of side one is also very good, but I do think this really takes it up a notch in its second half. What It Comes Down To and The Highways Of My Life are both originals, and they are incredible. And the two covers between them are among the greatest songs here. Sunshine (Go Away Today) is interpreted as a really odd, kind of unusually dark sounding funk song. And The Isley Brothers' interpretation of Summer Breeze may be the single greatest achievement here. We have the original folk song, covered as a soul song, with incredibly epic guitar solos and this super cool synth work. This was a pretty great listen, I just didn't get as much out of the first side, and the fact that many of my favorite tracks are covers kind of made my more hyperbolic praise pull back a little. Still amazing!

Es ist kein gutes Album. Wenn man kein Freund des ausufernden „Schum Schum“ ist – dieser funkig-soulige Überschwang, der sich durch viele Tracks zieht. Zwar zeigen Songs wie That Lady das technische Können und die neue kreative Richtung der Band, doch die Produktion wirkt stellenweise überladen, die Arrangements neigen zu Selbstverliebtheit.

Besides 'That Lady' being one of the greatest funk soul records of all time, an improbably rugged yet smooth package of spirit, w/ perhaps one of the more underrated guitar solos in popular music history, this album is a true classic of 70s soul. It's peculiar too. Ronald Isley doesn't have the most recognizable voice, he's not a luminous talent in the way Smokey Robinson or Stevie Wonder are, but together w/ his brothers, he brews a stunningly memorable sound. I think it has something to do w/ the fact that they are nearly sans genre, somehow and somewhere between soul, funk, gospel, and, most evocatively, 'rock.' W/o the Isley Bros, you'd'n't have p-funk or g-funk, but you'd also be w/o arena rock: up-close-and-impersonal magic.

3.78