''Smooth Sailin is an album by the American musical group

the Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American soul group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

, released in 1987 on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. It was the first album that the group released as a duo of Rudolph and

Ronald Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'',#H2, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; #H1, Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English ''Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised ...

after the untimely death of eldest brother

O'Kelly O'Kelly or Kelly is an Irish surname. It derives from the Kings of Uí Maine. Notable people with the surname include: * Aloysius O'Kelly (1853–1936), Irish painter, brother of James Joseph O'Kelly * Auguste O'Kelly (1829–1900), music publ ...

, who died in 1986 due to occlusive coronary artery disease. Hooking up with R&B singer-songwriter

Angela Winbush Angela Lisa Winbush (born January 18, 1955) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist. To date, Winbush has sold over ...

, the Isleys scored with the top 10 R&B title track and "I Wish", also an R&B top 40 hit.

Critical reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote that the album is close "to the old Isley style-slow, sensuous R&B."

Track listing

Personnel

;The Isley Brothers *

Ronald Isley Ronald Isley ( ; born May 21, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Early life Born in 1941 to Sallye Bernice (née Bell) and O ...

– lead & background vocals *

Rudolph Isley Rudolph "Rudy" Bernard Isley (April 1, 1939 – October 11, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter and Christian minister and one of the founding members of The Isley Brothers. Life and career Rudolph "Rudy" Bernard Isley was born on April 1, ...

– lead & background vocals ;with *Tony Maiden – guitar (tracks 1–6) *

– keyboards (tracks 2–8),

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

(track 7); bass synthesizer (tracks 1, 2), drum machine (track 5), additional background vocals (tracks 2, 3, 7) *

Jeff Lorber Jeffrey H. Lorber (born November 4, 1952) is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer. After six previous nominations, Lorber won his first Grammy Award on January 28, 2018 for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for ''Prototype'' ...

– additional synthesizers (tracks 1, 3–6) *Raymond Reeder – synthesizer (tracks 7); string line guitar synthesizer & drum machine (track 8) *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...

– bass (tracks 1, 3–6) * Louis Johnson – bass (track 2) * Gregory Phillinganes – bass synthesizer (track 2) *Rayford Griffin – drums (tracks 1, 2, 6) *Andre Fischer – drums (tracks 4, 7) *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion (tracks 1–3, 5) ;Technical personnel & arrangements *Produced by

*Recorded & mixed by Steve Sykes *Additional engineer (Conway Studios): Czaba Petocz *Assistant engineer (Ocean Way Recording): Bob Loftus, Joe Schiff, Mike Ross *Assistant engineer (Westlake Studios): Debbie Johnson *Mastered by

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance-p ...

*Art direction & design by Janet Levinson *Photography by

Jeff Katz Jeff Katz is an American film producer and comic book author, best known for genre movies such as ''The Pope's Exorcist'', '' Snakes On A Plane'' and ''Freddy vs. Jason''. Early life Katz is from Franklin, Michigan. He started a pen-pal relat ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

The Isley Brothers - ''Smooth Sailin (1987) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control The Isley Brothers albums 1987 albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Ronald Isley Albums produced by Angela Winbush