Go for Your Guns

Untitled

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 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. 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
Robert Christgau	B
Pitchfork	8.7/10

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

Unless otherwise indicated, information is taken from Allmusic.com and is based on Liner notes

All tracks are written by Rudolph Isley, O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley and Chris Jasper

Side one

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

The Isley Brothers

• Ronald Isley - lead vocals (1-6), background vocals
• Rudolph Isley - background vocals
• O'Kelly Isley - background vocals
• Ernie Isley - background vocals (2, 5), congas (2, 5), 12-String guitar (2, 5), electric guitar (1-2, 5), rhythm guitar, drums
• Marvin Isley - background vocals (2, 5), bass played by
• Chris Jasper - background vocals (2, 5), tambourine (2, 5), piano (2, 5), synthesizer (2, 5), keyboards

Guest Musician

• Everett Collins - congas (3)

Charts

Chart (1977)	Peak position
Billboard Pop Albums	6
Billboard Top Soul Albums	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions
		US Pop	US R&B
1977	"The Pride"	63	1
	"Livin' in the Life"	40	4
	"Voyage to Atlantis"	-	50

See also

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1977 (U.S.)

External links

• The Isley Brothers-Go For Your Guns at Discogs
• Go For Your Guns 2012