Harvest for the World
| Harvest For The World | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 29, 1976[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1975–1976 | |||
| Studio | The Record Plant (Los Angeles, California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:54 | |||
| Label | T-Neck Records | |||
| Producer | The Isley Brothers | |||
| The Isley Brothers chronology | ||||
| ||||
Harvest for the World is the fourteenth studio album released by The Isley Brothers on their T-Neck imprint on May 29, 1976.
The album was remastered and expanded for inclusion in the 2015 released CD box set The RCA Victor & T-Neck Album Masters, 1959–1983.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[5] |
| Pitchfork | 9.0/10[3] |
The album included the successful socially conscious title track and the top three R&B record, "Who Loves You Better?" While not released as singles, the ballads "(At Your Best) You Are Love" and "Let Me Down Easy" were also hits. The album sold over 500,000 copies in the first three weeks of release, making it one of the fastest-selling records ever (it passed the million sales mark in the early 2000s). It topped the Billboard R&B Albums chart; the Isleys third straight album to do so.
Track listing
Unless otherwise noted, Information is based on Liner notes[6]
All tracks are written by Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley, Chris Jasper, Rudolph Isley, O'Kelly Isley and Ronald Isley
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Harvest for the World (Prelude)" | 2:11 |
| 2. | "Harvest for the World" | 3:51 |
| 3. | "People of Today" | 4:42 |
| 4. | "Who Loves You Better" | 5:31 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 5. | "(At Your Best) You Are Love" | 5:23 |
| 6. | "Let Me Down Easy" | 6:30 |
| 7. | "So You Wanna Stay Down" | 3:51 |
| 8. | "You Still Feel the Need" | 4:50 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Summer Breeze" (Live at Bearsville Studios) | Jim Seals, Dash Crofts | 8:43 |
Personnel
- Performance
- Ronald Isley – lead vocals (1-8, except 6)[7]
- O'Kelly Isley Jr.[1] background vocals (Lead vocal on 6)
- Rudolph Isley[8] background vocals
- Ernie Isley – congas, other percussion (2, 5),[9][10] timbales, maracas,[1] electric guitar, six-string acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, drums, background vocals
- Marvin Isley – bass, cowbell, percussion, background vocals
- Chris Jasper – tambourine, other percussion (2, 5),[9][10] acoustic piano, electric piano, ARP synthesizer, clavinet, background vocals
- Production
- The Isley Brothers - producers
- Malcolm Cecil - recording engineer (1-8), producer, music programming
- John Holbrook - live recording engineer (9)
Later samples and covers
- Later Samples
- Paul Johnson sampled "Harvest for the World" for his song “4 the World”, from the 1995 album Bump Talkin’[11]
- Mo Kolours also sampled "Harvest for the World" for his song “Harvest”, which first appeared on the 2015 album Texture Like Sun[12]
- Tracey Lee sampled "Let Me Down Easy" on his song “On the Edge”, from the 1997 album Many Facez
- Devin the Dude also reused "Let Me Down Easy" on the song “I Can’t Handle It”, from his 2010 album Suite 420
- Sevyn Streeter sampled the song on the track "Before I Do" from her 2017 debut album Girl Disrupted.
- Cover Versions
- Power Station covered "Harvest for the World" on their album The Power Station in 1985.
- The Christians covered "Harvest for the World" in 1988. The song reached #8 in the UK Singles chart[13]
- Ronnie Laws first recorded the song "Harvest for the World" with the Isley Brothers themselves for his 1992 album Deep Soul,[14] then later covered the entire album of "Harvest for the World" titled Portrait of the Isley Brothers' Harvest for the World in 1998.[15]
- Aaliyah covered "(At Your Best) You Are Love" on her album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number in 1994.
- Jewell covered "Harvest for the World" on the soundtrack album Murder Was the Case in 1994.
- Christine Collister covered "Harvest for the World" on her album Blue Aconite in 1996.
- Mike Francis covered "Harvest for the World" in both English and Italian. The Italian version, known as "Il Mio Amore Libero per Te", first appeared on his 1998 album Misteria.[16][17]
- Vanessa Williams covered "Harvest for the World" on her album Everlasting Love in 2005.
- Frank Ocean covered “At Your Best (You Are Love)” in early 2015,[18] later appearing on his 2016 video album Endless.
- Sinéad Harnett covered “At Your Best (You Are Love)” on the deluxe release of her album Ready Is Always Too Late in 2022.
Charts
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Pop Albums[19] | 9 |
| Billboard Top Soul Albums[19] | 1 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions[20] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop |
US R&B |
US Dance | ||
| 1976 | "Who Loves You Better" | 47 | 3 | 2 |
| "Harvest for the World" | 63 | 9 | – | |
| "People of Today" | – | – | 3 | |
See also
External links
References
- ^ a b c ”Albums Recorded by The Isley Brothers”. The Isley Brothers. http://www.softshoe-slim.com/lists/i/isley.html#16
- ^ Martin, Bill (1998). Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968-1978. Open Court Publishing. p. 239. ISBN 081269368X.
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (September 11, 2015). "The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ Lytle, Craig. The Isley Brothers: Harvest For The World > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: I". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 27, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ The Isley Brothers. “Harvest for the World” (Album notes). T-Neck / Epic. 1976.
- ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir (2003). All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-87930-744-8.
- ^ Disco, Soul, Gold. “Happy Birthday, Rudolph Isley”. Facebook. 2 April 2015. https://m.facebook.com/DiscoSoulGold/posts/998121983534342
- ^ a b ”Harvest for the World”. YouTube: The Isley Brothers - Topic. 9 February 2017. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0OOvVN8TcA
- ^ a b ”(At Your Best) You Are Love”. YouTube: The Isley Brothers - Topic. 17 February 2017. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CSGMkGHty6o
- ^ Johnson, Paul. “Bump Talkin’” (Album notes). Peacefrog Records. 1995.
- ^ McDermott, Matt. “Mo Kolours announces Texture Like Sun LP”. Resident Advisor. 15 September 2015. https://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=31342
- ^ The Christians. “Harvest...FLAC”. YouTube: A-Music. 26 November 2016. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KYuN1sz3TFQ
- ^ Laws, Ronnie. “Deep Soul”. Par Records. 1992. https://www.allmusic.com/album/deep-soul-mw0000096056
- ^ Laws, Ronnie. “Portrait of The Isley Brothers’ Harvest...”. Blue Note. 24 March 1998. https://www.allmusic.com/album/portrait-of-the-isley-brothers-harvest-for-the-world-mw0000597443
- ^ “It’s a Sony”. Mike Francis Archives. Updated 7 March 2001. http://wohnort.org/francis/archive.html
- ^ Francis, Mark. “Misteria”. Spotify / Lungomare S.r.l. 1998. https://open.spotify.com/album/0qyH2J7H3rnLEP0cEhwB7Z
- ^ Kreps, Daniel. “Frank Ocean Shares Soulful Aaliyah Tribute...”. Rolling Stone. 17 January 2015. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/frank-ocean-shares-soulful-aaliyah-tribute-at-your-best-you-are-love-20150117
- ^ a b "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.
