The history of black American music is a story of self-reinvention, and nobody but James Brown has started afresh as many times and as successfully as the Isley Brothers. It’s Your Thing is the first time their entire 40-year career has been surveyed in one place, including 29 (!) chart hits. It spills over with innovation: rock & roll ("Twist and Shout"), tough R&B ("Shout"), rich Motown soul ("This Old Heart of Mine"), furious, hard funk (the original "Fight the Power"), and even the mellower lover-man crooning that occupies a lot of the third disc. They integrated guitar into their soul like few others, and not only on the tracks here featuring Jimi Hendrix–after brother Ernie comes into his own as a guitarist on disc two, he gives the Brothers’ singles a distinctive, prickly edge. And the gospel singing traditions they inherited come out in their fraternal harmonies, in the very spiritual hope that powers their songs from the rawest to the sweetest. –Doug