This was the power of the Isleys. It was party music best listened to loud as it grooved and moved your ass no matter who was watching. But exactly how does a band that broke its first hit over 40 years ago, and has released 27 albums since, still manage to score big among today’s fickle young audiences while also appealing to their core supporters?

The Isleys approached a seemingly impossible challenge with a simple formula. Take a signature style and combine it with the production skills of today’s contemporaries — who grew up on the Isleys’ music — to create a new twist on the legacy. Before you can say, "Oh, why?" hits are flowing like water: their latest album, after all, went to the Billboard No.1 spot this year, 42 years after "Shout."

Ernie Isley attributes the group’s longevity and popularity to the simple urge to remain competitive. Not many can say nonchalantly, "We compete with whoever’s at the top of the charts. One week it might be Fabian or Bobby Rydell; the next week it might be the Temptations or Sam and Dave, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix or Sly and the Family Stone; and now it’s Jay-Z or Lil’ Bow Wow."

Saying it without so much as a hitch in his voice or any recognition of the history lesson he’s giving the interviewer, it’s obvious Ernie’s used to being on the top of the heap, or used to fighting to get there.

It’s not like the Isleys ever disappeared. Their music still gets major airplay on different stations appealing to a wide assortment of people. Their church-bred R&B;/funk-rock fusion is the sound of America, and it keeps snowballing and grabbing new listeners. Think about it: With that large a catalog to choose from, you can hear something from the Isleys at any given time depending on the location of your radio dial. "Shout" or "It’s Your Thing" for oldies; "Caravan of Love" for easy listening; a sample of "Between the Sheets" in Notorious B.I.G.’s "Big Poppa" for the heads. Not to mention their foray into television commercials. Remember hearing "That Lady" for a shampoo spot? How’s that for hitting all demographics?

Gone are the trademark futuristic rhinestone jumpsuits, traded in for gangsta glam. Custom tailor-made suits, matching gators, diamond-encrusted walking stick and a little ice make the upgrade complete. Kids who don’t even know 3 + 3 now recognize Ronald as the unforgiving, baller-godfather type, his alter ego "Mr. Biggs," in R. Kelly’s mini-movie Down Low, a role he reprised for the radio-worn tale of adultery, "Contagious." The falsetto, however, hasn’t changed, and neither has Ernie’s Jimi-like screaming guitar solos — both staples of the Isley sound.

Ernie explains, "We didn’t lose the vocal or guitar identity; if anything we enhanced it." Their latest, Eternal (Dreamworks) sounds like everything else they ever did, and then it doesn’t. As familiar as an ex-girlfriend, just a li’l friendlier, these songs stand as strong as their predecessors because of an unwillingness to succumb to today’s trends coupled with a willingness to work with today’s artists. That helps to leave the Isley thumbprint on yet another decade of music.

The contributors of the album reads like a who’s-who in R&B.; Minneapolis dynamic duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; slow-jam heir apparent R. Kelly; Lucy Pearl/Tony!Toni!Tone! frontman Raphael Saadiq; Steve "Stone" Huff; R&B; newcomer Avant; and "Mrs. Biggs," Angela Winbush-Isley. All lick their collective chops at the opportunity to put their individual spin on the Isley sound.

"We challenged them to come up with their best stuff, everybody did," Ernie says. "Once they came up with it, it was up to us all collectively to pull it off in a creative sense and for it to sound like it was the Isley Brothers.

"When we went out there to meet them, the first thing it turned into was a Isley Brothers seminar," Ernie continues. "They wanted to know how did ‘Footsteps in the Dark’ come together. ‘Voyage to Atlantis.’ ‘It’s Your Thing.’ And we played some songs, and explained what the guitars did in certain areas, and where the drums came in other areas. They said ‘OK, yeah. Now we know the secret.’ Then they felt more comfortable doing what we were trying to capture."

In a bit of added irony, the Isleys got the opportunity to work with one of the leaders of the neo-soul movement, Philly songstress Jill Scott, who brought her unique brand of soul poetry. So they define the "new" soul movement based on their old soul background on "Said Enough." And it’s like déjà vu all over again.

All told, the collaborations yield 14 Eternal tracks of contemporary R&B; that sound better than most of today’s hits, and stand as a welcome addition to Isley history.

So how do they keep groovin’ after all these years? "Just keep punching and keep running," says Ernie Isley. "And the next thing you know, maybe you’ll be able to go further than anyone else."