Vanessa Williams featuring Black Sheep "Work To Do"

Album: The Comfort Zone (Wing; 1991)
Songwriters: O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley and Rudolph Isley
R&B Peak Position: #3

"You might as well get used to me coming home a little late"

Two years after raising brows with their 1971 covers set Givin' It Back (home to some amazing reconfigurations of tunes by James Taylor, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, amongst other surprising sources), The Isley Brothers capped off their four-year tenure at Buddah Records with Brother, Brother, Brother, an eight-track release that continued their satisfying soul/ rock/ funk fusion and appreciation for other artists' catalogue (Carole King was covered here thrice!!!).

One of three Top 20 R&B singles to emerge from the project was the original entry "Work To Do", a defiant "Woman, leave me alone!!" cry by an ever-working husband towards his nagging stay-at-home wife. Ronald Isley's gritty tenor boils with annoyance over a restless bed of piano-dominant soul as he tirelessly explains why he isn't being seen enough at the crib. "I'm taking care of business/ Woman can't you see?" he seethes in response to her endless sighs. He's just after the American dream, and if she would just be a little more understanding about the long hours he must toil at the office to grasp it (and "keep a little food hot in my plate"), he'll eventually have all the free time she craves.

It didn't take long for the longtime Isleys' live favorite to be tapped by other acts; a year after it's initial release, "Work To Do" emerged as a Top 10 disco hit, thanks to a solid cover from the American R&B-obsessed Scottish boys Average White Band while The Main Ingrdient buffed it into a seducing charmer with an embedding of their lush vocals for their Stevie Wonder-helmed '73 album, Afrodisiac...



DL: "Work To Do (Isley Brothers)" (YFH)

...but "Work" would enjoy it's biggest chart success when former Miss America-turned-singer Vanessa Williams took it all the way to #3 as a single from her triple-platinum 1991 disc, The Comfort Zone.

Despite it's Euro-soul-baked slickness, Williams' version still retained some of the original's spunk thanks to some jazzy-cool live instrument additives and a forceful vocal that perfectly conveyed a woman with business first on her mind (It would have cool, and timely, for Vanessa to keep in that line about her partner keeping dinner hot, but she instead replaced it with the less rousing "Oh, you gotta have a little faith"). She also welcomed in a little hip hop energy with a cameo drop from Black Sheep's Dres, who sweetly supported her ambition for the big checks.

Williams' final Top 10 hit, "Work To Do" would also sadly signal an end to most of her upbeat output as succeeding albums opted on focusing more on sophisticated adult contemporary-pop/ jazz type records that were making her a major star within the MOR-loving sect.

Best Moment: While nothing could top Ron's falsetto-peaking hook in the original, the whirly flute accents stand out the best in Vanessa's version.



DL: "Work To Do (Vanessa Williams)" (YFH)