Earth Wind and Fire - Classic or Dud? [UPDATE Feb 2016: RIP Maurice White]

oh man every day is a good day to think about the righteousness of EWF

Other severely underrated '80s EWF jams: "Wanna Be With You," "Lady Sun," "Side By Side," "Win or Lose."

Was your ipod on shuffle? Those are the exact four best EWF songs. "Serpentine Fire" is almost as good.

Also cosign with Eric above me: Raise (the whole album) is fucking slept on. I have half a dozen late 70s/early eighties EWF albums, and none of them is less than very good. Taken together, they're a pretty good argument for not fucking with a good formula. Which is not to say they're all the same, not hardly. Some of the canniest pop of its era - Michael J and Quincy J certainly took a lesson or two from Maurice White's playbook when they were concocting Thriller.

Why has no one done a supercut of Maurice White going Yeowwww?

I was a fool for letting Mom get rid of her near-mind copy of Raise!

I like the early stuff ok. Got bits of the s/t popping up on my walkman from time to time.
Meant to get all that pre-disco stuff, maybe need to check out some of the later stuff?

Didn't see any mention of their appearance behind Melvin van Peebles on Sweet Sweetback's Sweetback song. You used to be able to get the s/track with the book with the script/film history in. Not sure if you still can.

Need to find the 2cd of his solo stuff too, RAted X By AN All White Jury. Has some great stuff on it with an unfortunately uncredited band shining in most places. Not sure who that is on the 1st 3 lps , don't think it's EW&F members after the s/trk.

picked up raise and powerlight a month or so ago and was surprised how damn great the both of them actually are
xpost

"Spread Your Love" is awesome. "Lady Sun" is awesome. God I love these guys.

I think the first album is probably my favourite album of theirs these days, just ahead of That's The Way of The World. Such a great band.

I keep thinking I need this box.

Other severely underrated '80s EWF jams: "Wanna Be With You," "Lady Sun," "Side By Side," "Win or Lose."
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:57 PM (9 months ago)

Not just severely underrated. They are all among their very best songs, too.

listening to their 1990 album heritage right now and it's maurice white doing an impeccable jam/lewis approximation and i am basically loving it

that's encouraging. I actually like 1987's "System of Survival."

YOU'RE MY
YOU'RE MY
LADY SUN

EW&F are my reason for living.
And they light up my day.

After Charles Stepney died in 1976, Maurice took over the reins of producing the Emotions and it was with this combo that the album Rejoice was released in 1977. Rejoice peaked at number 7 and number 1 on the pop and R&B charts and spawned the singles "Best of My Love" and "Don't Ask My Neighbors" which reached number 1 on the Pop and R&B charts and number 7 on the R&B charts respectively.

Best of My Love won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals, and an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single. "Best Of My Love" was also the third biggest pop single of 1977, and has been certified platinum. Rejoice was also the third biggest R&B album of 1977 has been certified platinum.

In 1978, The Emotions released their third Columbia album, Sunbeam in 1978. Sunbeam reached number 12 on the top R&B album charts and spawned the number 6 R&B single "Smile". Sunbeam has been certified gold by the RIAA... Maurice produced two more albums for the Emotions until they departed Columbia to record under Motown.

loved "Best of My Love" so much as a child, but never looked further into the group -- now I need to hear it all, they got three albums out of Maurice White when he was totally in the pocket!

Listening to Powerlight, I could swear M. White had studied his ABBA, what with the crazy harmonies, butter-light beat, and expert horns ("Freedom of Choice"). But for all the lightness there's a hysterical streak too.

i was working on a taping for PSAs the other day and Maurice, Verdine and Philip came in and it was cool to see them work together on a non-musical thing, just the way they took turns with lines and then did things in perfect unison and the way their speaking voices sounded right together, exactly like you'd expect with guys who've been singing together for 40 years.

wow! Good to know they're still civil.

man that story has made my day

GODDAMMIT

https://twitter.com/AP/status/695374050168733696

RIP Maurice White

The crap year continues. RIP Maurice. Incredible singer from one of the most underrated groups ever.

Oh no. RIP Maurice. This year sucks.

sad stuff. rip.

who doesn't like some EW&F.

:((((((((((((

Aw. This band was on-point. I always thought they were like the black Steely Dan, making really hard stuff sound super smooth.

Goddamn if you haven't seen this live in Oakland show from the end of the year in 1981 -- remember seeing it a few months later on HBO, IIRC -- you haven't lived. If you have an hour, take the time.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2e14xh_earth-wind-fire-in-concert-live-oakland-coliseum-1981_people

A quick and simple muttering.

http://nedraggett.tumblr.com/post/138693940327/back-in-2010-scott-woods-was-kind-enough-to

RIP - so much music that lifted so many spirits. you can't really stay in a bad mood when earth wind and fire comes on the radio.

David Stubbs on fb: "To listen to EWF anytime is to be temporarily levitated."

otm.

any EW&F comp you own is among the greatest albums in pop history

Damn right re Stubbs. The full quote is even better:

Robert Wyatt once talked about how he was complimented backstage by some student types after one of his gigs, the geezer complaining that the previous week they'd had to endure Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band and their comparatively non-cerebral music, and how good it was to have experienced something more elevated. Wyatt, alive to this sort of bollocks as he creditably ever was, responded that dear God, if they could have moved a crowd a tenth of a degree Geno could, they'd have been more than happy. Critics privilege the morbid, the broody, the gloomy, over the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire; dumb critics, that is. It's fucking hard to create the sort of popular joy they serially did, the physical, spiritual uplift, the perennial high. Many try and fail desperately, counterproductively. A great deal of other worthy culture weighs us down. To listen to EWF anytime is to be temporarily levitated. My god, 2016 can fuck off with its scythe.

EW&F are ripe RIPE for a Deep Album Cuts-type reappraisal.

he did some great work w/ ramsey lewis too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUgNGJj7O_U

RIP

Don't all y'all forget all the great Checker/Cadet/Chess sides he drummed on in the '60s ("Rescue Me", "Soulful Dress" etc.)!

ha didn't know he was drumming on "rescue me", that is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0w8YcyLPmE

RIP

Aw, RIP.

EWF was one of those bands I heard many times without really knowing while I was growing up. A singles band for many, but their best albums listen as well as any comp. They all follow a distinct formula, but what a formula it was. And they set the template for a decade or so of LA pop - just for starters, Off the Wall or Thriller don't exist without Maurice White and EWF's efforts.

Didn't make that connection -- true!

Dave Marsh says something to that effect in his singles book, describing EWF as an R & B equivalent to Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86YiGNGCxvI

They were mostly a hit singles band for me, but After The Love is Gone is in my all time songs pantheon, so good.

Anybody else ever see the "That's The Way of The World" movie? A fun mix of '70s cheese and grit, with some fantastic live EWF footage.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C59DUe0G3Gc/VW6XBGKi7dI/AAAAAAAAnyQ/_NXN4tLe4xA/s1600/p422_p_v7_aa.jpg

RIP. Blared "September" on the way home from class tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VjgGIS4yo4&list=PLrrWWJCP6a4h5o0EkGTCC0GlTLU27_wtJ&index=4

Did George Clinton really hate them (per the op)? I find that hard to believe.

man, MW played on, wrote, and produced a hell of a lot of good music

always impressed by how goddam busy those EWF hits are. there's a lot going on. busy, but not cluttered.

danced in the kitchen to Boogie Wonderland, such a great jam

prob my fave from them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoI1XPqXQ90