"Hurry Up and Wait" by The Isley Brothers

Song#:  0570
Date:  04/18/1981
Debut:  85
Peak:  58
Weeks:  7
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  The Isley's had a hot streak throughout the 70s with continuous platinum and gold-selling albums. Their second effort in the 80s, "Grand Slam," continued that streak going gold, but it was not as successful on the chart as their previous LPs and marked a decline for the group. Although they continued to rack up R&B hits, their pop entries became less frequent. This first single from the album couldn't get them back into the Top 40 and even missed the Top 10 at R&B.

ReduxReview:  The group seemed to be struggling and I've read a lot where around this time they were becoming repetitive and/or stale - basically almost just phoning it in. I'd have to agree. This song just sounds listless. There is no excitement to it. It think if their hearts were really in it, this might have been much better. It's not a terrific song, but it seems like it could have been pretty solid. But with the way they did it, I'm not surprised it didn't fare well. After being a group for almost 20 years by this point, I'm sure finding inspiration was getting more difficult. Unfortunately, it kind of showed.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  In 1964 and 1965 when the group was struggling a bit trying to get a hit and moving labels, they hired a lead guitarist for their band who would also do a couple of studio sessions with them. But since nothing panned out with the singles, the guy left. The guitarist they had hired was Jimi Hendrix. I'm not 100% sure, but everything I've read seems to indicate that Hendrix's first time on record was the session for the Isley's "Testify" single in 1964.

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