Customer Reviews

All 'N All

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let me start by saying that I've never heard an Earth, Wind & Fire album like their 1977 album, All 'N All. It's beautiful, diverse, exotic, mystical, and mind-blowing. With All 'N All, Earth, Wind & Fire mixed brazilian-influenced rhythms with pop, jazz, funk, and R&B. From start to finish, the songs are diverse, different, and consistent. The opening, "Serpentine Fire" is a smoking, latin-funk jam with some killer horn work. It is a dynamic classic. Next, there's "Fantasy", which is a soaring, spiritual tune with great and rich harmonies. It's probably one of EW&F's most famous tunes. "In The Marketplace" is a exotic interlude with Maurice playing his kalimba and humming a tune. That is followed by the mystical, but jumpy, "Jupiter". The song has some great horn and powerful bass lines. Then, there's the sexy ballad, "Love's Holiday", which is another EW&F classic. "Beijo", which is credited as the interlude, "Brazilian Rhyme", is probably their most excellent and famous interlude, by far. What can I say about the brilliant love song, "I'll Write A Song For You". Philip Bailey's vocals sound fresh and clear than ever. "Magic Mind" is a catchy funk jam with great vocal arrangements and mind-blowing horns. Then, there's the fusion-jazz instrumental, "Runnin'", with its complex and tight instrumentation. It also has some outstanding horn arrangements. The second "Brazilian Rhyme" interlude is diverse and beautiful. "Be Ever Wonderful" is a beautiful slow jam with some great vocal arrangements. The remastered version of All 'N All has 3 bonus cuts including a rare demo version of "Love's Holiday", the alternate mix of "Runnin'", and the 1980 concert version of "Beijo", which is called "Brazilian Rhyme". The album, "All 'N All", is probably the apex of Earth, Wind, & Fire's career. This was where Earth, Wind & Fire was more diverse with music styles. You could see the diversity on the beautiul album art with the pyramids, Egyptian statues, and even the cosmic spaceships. All 'N All tops all of the other EW&F classics like That's The Way Of The World and the live album, Gratitude becuase it's a concept landmark. This is probably EW&F's most popular works. The remastered version of this album sounds great and believe me, this is one album that will never leave your disc player. A+

EWF's 70s' LPs were just outstanding, and this may be the best (aside from I Am -- I'm indifferent on the two personally). Leading off with "Serpentine Fire," the band segues into "Fantasy," which may be the best ever EWF tune. "Fantasy" is a musical masterpiece, combining harmonious vocals, funk, and horns into one of the most thoroughly enjoyable refrains of all time. After that, it continues to please -- "Jupiter" moves and moves and MOVES, and then evolves into the slower "Love's Holiday" and then to the wonderfully brilliant Philip Bailey vocaled "I'll Write a Song For You." "Runnin'" is easily one of the best instrumental contributions I've ever heard, with outstanding trumpet and saxophone solos.

I was only 9 yrs. Old when this album was released and even then I felt it's power! The Album cover alone was awe-inspiring! It was because of that cover, I began a life long fascination with Ancient Egyptian history. Anyway, who understood the meaning of "Serpentine Fire"? We just knew it was one of the tightest jams we had ever heard! "Fantasy" brings back very special memories and my favorite, which should've been a hit, "Love's Holiday". This was when EWF was at their zenith! I just wish I could've seen them live during this tour and felt that power first hand.This album is a classic. For someone who is not familiar with EWF, this album is a good place to start!

all 'n all is the second earth,wind & fire album 2 feature pyramids from the original black egyptians.'spirit'was the first album that featured pyramids on their album covers by the original black egyptians.brother maurice white's genius idea 2 put these positive images on the cover of earth,wind&fire albums is 2 remind black people of our true greatness from our gods and goddesess. my mother bought this album 4 me which was recorded on a bootleg 8 track tape in 1977 when i was 13 going on 14 years old.the 1st single released from this album was 'serpentine fire'-(a song that describes the beauty and powerful love from a black woman... the true regal beauty of the earth)and from there the album hit like an explosive powerful wildfire.'fantasy'and 'i'll write a song for you'were my favorites at the time this album was released.as i listened 2 it more-i also became hooked on the funk track 'jupiter'-'the beautiful 'be ever wonderful'-the interlude of'brazilian rhyme'of which i wish could be 6 minutes long-but nontheless is still classic.another one of my favorite cuts on this album is the track 'runnin'with phillip bailey's ad-libs over the top alongside this jazzfunk masterpiece.this album is one of many classics by the maestro maurice white and his musical brothers...

This was one of those times when everything fell into place. From the songs to production to performance to packaging-- a PERFECT album! "Serpentine Fire", "Fantasy", "Jupiter", "I'll Write A Song For You", "Be Ever Wonderful"--one incredible piece after another. And being big on ancient Egypt, the cover painting that combines an intact Abu Simbel temple with sci-fi elements is one of my all-time faves! Like ELO's "Out Of the Blue", Steve Miller's "Book Of Dreams" and BOC's "Spectres" (which ALL came out the same year!) EWF's "All 'N All" may be the BEST thing they ever did, and encapsulates what it is that made the band GREAT! (Now scroll down and read all the other reviews-- for once, I'm in agreement with every word said about a record!)

Although Earth Wind & Fire has been around for ever, from the mid to late 70's they created masterpiece after masterpiece. From "That's the way of the World", the live set "Gratitude", "Spirit", to the end of the 70's with "I Am" but in 1977 they did (in my opinion) their best studio work "All 'N All"

So many great, great songs, that when I worked as a DJ I could have played entire dances with just my EW&F albums and most people would not have complained a bit, (and if I didn't play one every five songs or so they did!) that's how good this stuff is. And as to this album... You could have put it on and come back to turn it over and called it a 45 minute set. That's how good this album is all by itself, the best work from the best overall dance band of the time.

Do yourself a favor, and get this CD, because although you can't fit into those "Angel Flight's" any more, (or Chemins De Fer) for you ladies. If this was a favorite of yours back in the day, you deserve it to yourself to float back to the times when you were too cool for words, when people tried to look nice, and there was music so good that will never be duplicated

This is the best album EWF has ever made, and one of the best albums ever. This music elevates your soul to another dimension. A fussion of funk, rock, r&b, jazz, world music (years before the term even existed), even disco. All the right elements were there in the right balance. Today, if you listen to "Fantasy", you realize it really was not disco after all, same with ultra-funk "Jupiter", (you wont't hear those horns today in pop music). The best is "Brazilian Ryme Interlude I" a minute and 20 seconds of sheer audio joy. This album was EWF at it's peak, and the best album from the great musical period that span from "That's The Way Of The World" to "Faces". All N' All's influence can be heard in albums from Phil Collins to Jamiroquai.

I was a 16 years old boy, browsing in a Virgin Record store in London's West End when I first heard this album in full. I listened in stunned awe at this amazing recording by EW&F, the production by Maurice White & engineering by George Massenburg left me breathless. The musicianship was beyond belief, the fat chunky rhythm guitar work of Al McKay was infectious, Larry Dunn's piano & Moog spell-binding, Verdine White's lyrical bass, Johnny Graham straight to the heart blues guitar, the crisp drum sound & in the pocket chops of Ralph Johnson, Maurice & Fred White, the angelic & ethereal voices of Philip Bailey & Maurice White. The impossible horn arrangements throughout ALL N' ALL set the standard & have'nt been equalled since.

There is'nt a weak song to be found anywhere on this album that fuses everything from African rhythms, funk, jazz, samba, soul, folk, blues & even classical. Brotherly affirmations of love, tenderness & devotion. Embrace this blessed work!

To this day EW&F have shown themselves to be complete musical professionals. This is a fun cd that gets a 5 star rating for the stellar brass section and just overall clever and tight musicianship. These guys could hang with anyone back in the day and I assume they are just as hot live if you catch them today. You'll immediately recognize a lot of these songs because they were made for FM radio. Also, every pop cover band with a horn section has to cover at least 2 or 3 songs from EW&F.

All 'N All represents the band during one of their strongest periods. I highly recommend getting this first and then picking up others from their collection.

From "Head to The Sky" days the R&B fan could play all--track to track, no interruptions--of any EWF album up to and especially "Spirit" and this production, "All N All". This is extraordinary in that no moment is wasted, no expense spared and Maurice White with the various engineers achieve some kind of sound quality perfection. Kudos to White for keeping the flame going for "Spirit" and this production after the loss of mentor/producer Charles Stepney...all players were in fine form in this one. Larry Dunn was innovating with the key board work, Al and Ralph did great guitar work, Phillip Bailey, Brothers White, et al, et al--great work from "Serpentine Fire" to "Magic Mind" (which almost sounds like a Michael Jackson tune) to "Be ever Wonderful".... But, alas, this is the last of the great EWF albums. Akin to the Beatles "Abbey Road". I couldn't even tell you what came after this, in fact. EWF did their work so well and consistently well from "Last Days and Times" to this point in time, whatever else came after "All N All" definitely was anticlimatic and to a certain degree "anti-funky" to me. But don't take my word for it, play the original albums/CDs yourself, in order, and see for yourself.