Body Kiss

It’s icky enough hearing R. Kelly purr his slithering musical come-ons, but now imagine those same sex-me-up moans delivered by 62-year-old Ronald Isley. Don’t get us wrong, Isley can sing. He’s demonstrated that over the course of a remarkable 40-plus-year career. But Body Kiss, featuring Ronald fronting a band—which may or may not contain a few other guys with the last name Isley—through a dozen tunes written and produced by R. Kelly, lacks dignity. It’s not that old folks can’t sing about sex—Barry White, Isaac Hayes, Etta James, and about a thousand blues singers have long proved otherwise. But on Body Kiss, Isley tries too hard to be contemporary, hooking up with the likes of Lil’ Kim and Snoop Dogg, and singing things like “We’re about to play this game/This freaky, freaky game,” over Kelly’s superslick, bedroom-soul production. “Superstar” crawls along with a distinctly Curtis Mayfield-ish funk, avoiding such embarrassment, as does the old-school “Keep It Flowin’.” Mostly though, Body Kiss just brings to mind the image of grandparents fucking. And nobody wants that. Especially your grandfather.