Take Me In Your Arms (Rock me a Little While) - the Isley Brothers
While we're on the subject of Motown records that rolled off the machine, weren't hits of any note, but were terrific tracks (see last post the Contours) there are no better examples of this than the handful of tracks that the Isley Brothers cut during their short stay with Tamla from 1966 - 69. Although having written and recorded the fabulous "Shout" and recorded "Twist and Shout" the Isley Brothers felt that they had been messed around by RCA so then formed their own T-Neck label but had struggled with the marketing side of things, so when Berry Gordy invited them to join Motown the chance to record with the label's top songwriting production teams plus the Detroit musicians must have been irrestistable. And, so far as the Motown team was concerned, the feeling was mutual. The Isley Brothers were an act who were revered for their gospel-inspired live performances, the energy of which was most successfully replicated on "Shout" but which is mostly absent on "Twist and Shout". Motown captured this excitement and energy- and the reason for this is the they really liked working with them - you can feel the enthusiasm of the Funk Brothers as the bass kicks in on "Take Me in your Arms" and it is maintained right through to the end. With these tracks, more than any other Motown tracks, everyone is having a good time which is infectious and the volume goes UP and you just can't sit still:
Baby, baby PLEASE!......