Consumer Guide Album

Isis: Ain't No Backin' Up Now [Buddah, 1975]
On their Shadow Morton-produced debut this brassy ten-woman ensemble sounded like a cross between Vanilla Fudge and the Mount St. Mary's College Lab Band, but here Allen Toussaint's horn arrangements cut a channel for their melodrama. As is usual on Toussaint albums, the side that features his songs is a lot stronger than the side that features the band's. Now if only he could describe lesbian life as knowledgeably as Carol MacDonald in "Bobbie and Maria" or Jeanie Fineberger in "Eat the Root." But that would be a lot to ask. B