Go for Your Guns
Go for Your Guns | ||||
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Studio album by The Isley Brothers | ||||
Released | April 16, 1977 | |||
Recorded | 1976-77 at Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York | |||
Genre | Soul, R&B, funk, funk rock, rock, hard rock, smooth soul | |||
Length | 33:25 | |||
Label | T-Neck Records | |||
Producer | The Isley Brothers | |||
The Isley Brothers chronology | ||||
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Go for Your Guns is the fifteenth album by The Isley Brothers. Released on April 16, 1977 on their T-Neck label, it was also the band's fifth album to be distributed by their deal with Epic. The album is considered by most Isley fans as their best effort overall.
The album was remastered and expanded for inclusion in the 2015 released CD box set "The RCA Victor & T-Neck Album Masters, 1959-1983".
Overview
Recording
After four records that were assisted by producers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, the Isley Brothers decided to stay in the East Coast choosing to record at upstate New York's Bearsville Studios, not too far from the brothers' T-Neck label in neighboring New Jersey. The album was engineered by John Holbrook assisted by Tom Mark.[1] It was mixed at Media Sound in NYC with Holbrook as mix engineer.
The album also noted Ron Isley's growing transition into singing more ballads, though he still performed lead on some of the band's funkier recordings on the album. Though they had changed their location and had some minor changes during production, most of the direction of the album remained the same as it had for other albums, with stronger emphasis on rock music as evident in the songs "Climbing Up the Ladder" and "Livin' in the Life" than they had on previous albums.
Reception
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Robert Christgau | B [3] |
Pitchfork | 8.7/10[4] |
Released in 1977, the album became one of their longest-running chart successes on the album chart staying on the charts for 40 weeks and spawning several singles including "The Pride", "Livin' in the Life" and the ballad "Voyage to Atlantis" while the funk ballad "Footsteps in the Dark", which was never released as a single, became one of the brothers' most popular songs in their repertoire and would be sampled constantly, most famously by rapper Ice Cube in his hit, "It Was a Good Day". Selling over two million copies, it eventually went double platinum and also hit number-one on the R&B albums chart.
Track listing
All tracks written by Rudolph Isley, O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley and Chris Jasper.
Side one | ||
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No. | Title | Length |
1. | "The Pride (Part 1 & 2)" | 5:33 |
2. | "Footsteps in the Dark (Part 1 & 2)" | 5:07 |
3. | "Tell Me When You Need It Again (Part 1 & 2)" | 5:06 |
Side two | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
4. | "Climbin' Up the Ladder (Part 1 & 2)" | 6:39 |
5. | "Voyage to Atlantis" | 4:32 |
6. | "Livin' in the Life" | 4:15 |
7. | "Go for Your Guns" | 2:16 |
2011 reissue bonus tracks | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
8. | "Voyage to Atlantis" (Alternate Version) | 6:33 |
9. | "The Pride (Part 1)" (Single Version) | 3:25 |
10. | "Voyage to Atlantis" (Single Version) | 3:53 |
2016 reissue bonus tracks | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
8. | "The Pride (Disco Mix)" (Bonus Track) | 5:29 |
9. | "Voyage to Atlantis (Mono Single Version)" (Bonus Track) | 3:54 |
10. | "Livin' in the Life/Go for Your Guns (Disco Version)" (Bonus Track) | 6:29 |
Personnel
- Ronald Isley: lead vocals
- Rudolph Isley: background vocals
- O'Kelly Isley: background vocals
- Ernie Isley: electric guitar, rhythm guitar and drums
- Marvin Isley: bass
- Chris Jasper: electric piano, ARP synthesizers and keyboards
- Everett Collins: congas
Charts
Chart (1977) | Peak position |
---|---|
Billboard Pop Albums[5] | 6 |
Billboard Top Soul Albums[5] | 1 |
Singles
Year | Single | Chart positions[6] | |
---|---|---|---|
US Pop |
US R&B | ||
1977 | "The Pride" | 63 | 1 |
"Livin' in the Life" | 40 | 4 | |
"Voyage to Atlantis" | - | 50 | |
Samples & Covers
- Ice Cube sampled "Footsteps In The Dark" on his song "It Was A Good Day" on his album The Predator in 1992.
- J Dilla sampled "Footsteps In The Dark" on his song "Won't Do" on his album The Shining in 2006.
- Thundercat sampled "Footsteps In The Dark" on his song "Them Changes" on his mini-album The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam in 2015.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/go-for-your-guns-mw0000653379/credits
- ↑ Hamilton, Andrew. The Isley Brothers: Go For Your Guns > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 03 September 2011.
- ↑ "Robert Christgau review". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (September 11, 2015). "The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- 1 2 "The Isley Brothers US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
- ↑ "The Isley Brothers US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-03.