HIGH WIRE (1990)

You have to admire this guy. As an Isley, he's young (the Isley Brothers started in 1959; he joined them in 1969), but in pop music terms he's a grizzled pro.

And still he's optimistic, almost painstakingly so. He calls one of his songs here ''Rising from the Ashes.'' And in the title cut he says he's changing from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Meanwhile, in his better songs, the rhythm bubbles and the voice and guitar soar. The trouble is that the better songs are relatively few. And the transparent sincerity gets to be a bit much.

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