The Isley Brothers had a productive 1969, releasing a live album and two studio albums including this, their second post-Motown set. It’s an album of progression, with the band starting to assemble and refine the musical elements that would define their mid-70s peak, beginning to incorporate country and folk rock elements into their raw funk and sentimental soul style. The slow-paced, chugging swamp-funk of “Vacuum Cleaner” and “I Turned You On” further refine their bluesy-piano-riff /chicken-scratch guitar template, “My Little Girl” is the sweetest of soaring funk-soul with joyous horn lines to match, while “Holding On” ups the tempo into almost big-band soul. The album almost feels like the Isleys were working through various different variations and forms of R’n’B, soul and funk in their journey towards nailing their final sound.