Live It Up
Studio album by
the Isley Brothers
ReleasedSeptember 7, 1974
Recorded1974
StudioThe Record Plant, Los Angeles, California
Genre
Length38:29
LabelT-Neck Records
ProducerThe Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers chronology
3 + 3
(1973)		 Live It Up
(1974)		 The Heat Is On
(1975)
Singles from Live It Up
  1. "Live it Up"
    Released: July 1974
  2. "Midnight Sky"
    Released: November 1974

Live It Up is the twelfth album by the Isley Brothers, released on September 7, 1974. It was their second major-distributed album with Epic Records under their T-Neck subsidiary.

The album was remastered and expanded for inclusion in the 2015 released CD box set The RCA Victor & T-Neck Album Masters, 1959–1983.

Recording

Like their previous recording, their breakthrough 1973 album, 3 + 3, the album was assisted by the team of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. The album also continued their growing trademark of funky dance songs mixed with softer soul ballads, which set the precedent for their landmark 1975 release, The Heat Is On.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideB[2]
Pitchfork8.8/10[3]

The album spawned hit singles such as the title track, which topped at number eight on the US R&B charts, while another single, "Midnight Sky", was also a top ten R&B success, while both songs received some modest play on the pop and rock stations. The album's ballads including their slower rendition of Todd Rundgren's hit, "Hello It's Me", which was their only cover on the album, became popular alongside the folk rock influenced ballad, "Brown Eyed Girl" (not to be confused with Van Morrison's song of the same title).

The album track, "Need a Little Taste of Love", was later covered by The Doobie Brothers, while their version of "Hello It's Me" was covered by neo soul duo Groove Theory and was partially interpolated in Whitney Houston's single, "One of Those Days". Another track, "Ain't I Been Good to You", would be sampled by UGK on the track "One Day". On the album charts, Live It Up peaked at number 14 on the US pop albums chart and peaked at number-one on the R&B albums chart, certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling a million copies, making it their first number-one R&B album ever in their career.

Track listing

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

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Live It Up (Part 1 & 2)"6:14
2."Brown Eyed Girl"4:14
3."Need a Little Taste of Love"3:03
4."Lover's Eve"4:40
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Midnight Sky (Part 1 & 2)" 6:56
6."Hello It's Me"Todd Rundgren5:32
7."Ain't I Been Good to You (Part 1 & 2)" 8:29
2004 reissue bonus track
No.TitleLength
8."Live It Up" (Live on the Dinah Shore Show, 1974)3:29

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1974) Peak
position
US Billboard Pop Albums[4] 14
US Billboard Top Soul Albums[4] 1

Singles

Year Single Chart positions[5]
US
Pop		 US
R&B
1974 "Live It Up" 52 4
"Midnight Sky" 73 8

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lytle, Craig. The Isley Brothers – Live It Up at AllMusic. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (September 11, 2015). "The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "The Isley Brothers US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  5. ↑ "The Isley Brothers US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
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