Isley Brothers Underscore Excess

The Isley Brothers have scored dozens of R&B; and pop hits over the past four decades, and at times during their performance Friday at the Universal Amphitheatre it felt as if they were trying to cram in every single one.

Led by singer Ronald Isley, 60, and his guitarist brother Ernie, 49, the group featured nine musicians, several scantily-clad dancers and a briefcase-carrying man who apparently was Ronald’s valet. The 90-minute set underscored the Isleys’ musical adaptability with classics ranging from raw rock ‘n’ roll (“Shout”) to smooth bedroom soul (“Between the Sheets”) to raucous, conscious funk (“Fight the Power”).

The Isleys’ style has evolved, and their membership has shifted over the years as various siblings and others have died or departed. But their main focus on romantic triumphs and travails has always been fashionable. Indeed, such neo-soul sex machines as Maxwell and D’Angelo carry on similarly with their heady brews of love and lasciviousness. In turn, the Isleys showed the savvy to join forces with such younger sensations as Raphael Saadiq, R. Kelly and Jill Scott on their recent album “Eternal,” a pop and R&B; hit.

On Friday the band acknowledged that success, with Ronald slipping into his “Eternal” alter-ego, “Mr. Biggs,” for the hit R&B; betrayal ballad “Contagious.” The singer’s party holler and persuasive, tomcat purr were still pretty commanding, but despite such potent moments as the free-thinking get-down “It’s Your Thing,” too often the show skimmed through song snippets that were as fleeting (and unsatisfying) as a one-night stand.

Consequently, Ernie only occasionally cut loose with his precision-molded, Hendrix-influenced guitar work. True, excess can be a turn-off, but the Isleys would have been better off giving things more of a chance to develop.