Customer Reviews

The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol.1

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This CD offers a lot of their famous hits and is a good sampler. However, it is not complete enough (hence Vol. 1) because it does not contain great songs/hits like "Saturday Nite" (1976), "Boogie Wonderland" (1979), and "Let's Groove" (1981). All of these songs are included in the single CD collection Earth Wind & Fire: Greatest Hits, which is a much more complete collection on 1 CD (plus, it has remastered sound). I would highly recommend that collection over this one, especially for casual fans like myself.

This reminds me of CHICAGO IX-- every single song worth hearing over and over-- but it could stand to be longer. In addition to the obvious hits ("Shining Star", "Getaway", "Fantasy"-- the 45 edit is included here) were 3 "new" songs-- "September", "Love Music" and "Got To Get You Into My Life" (from the Peter Frampton / Bee Gees SGT. PEPPER movie-- EWF's version must rate as one of the most AUDACIOUS reinventions of any Beatles cover!). GREAT disc! But, if you want more, try the recent EWF'S GREATEST HITS, or maybe better, the import EWF: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION. Any way, this stuff is SO GOOD you can't lose!

There never was and never will be a better and more versatile band than EWF! From slow to medium to fast, they could truly play it all and with such flare and class! I don't believe they ever recieved their due during the time they were at their peak (1975-82?)and probably never will except by those of us who were and always be touched by their tunes! What we need now is a DVD of one of their early concerts, say about 1976-8!

Earth,Wind & Fire made spotty albums,huh?Well I MUST be dreaming because I have ALL of EWF's 1970's albums (including
their two legendary Warner Brothers CD's) and can't find a bad moment on ANY of them so guys-PLEASE speak to your critics!
This isn't bad either since you can't find the classic "September" or the simmering "Love Music" on any other
album.So don't listen to critics! (and see my other EWF reviews).

This album is a great way to start your collection . If you want the true artistic and creative aspects of this group try "all n' all" and "i am". I also highly reccomend "Raise" a very underated album. Listen to the horn arrangements, no one group did it better. When are these guys gonna get their due. The Hall of Fame is screaming for these guys.

I forgot how great this CD is. I used to have it in my player a long time ago and lost it in a move. Every track just makes you smile and sing....a must have.

I've always loved this album ever since it's initial release in 1978, however, i've always felt they should have added more songs, especially from their early 70's period when the group was 1st formed. They produced some outstanding early material while radio was trying to milk spotty works from bands like the Beatles who had fallen apart never to mend again. That being said, it has wonderful material that just puts a smile on my face each time i hear it!

A lot of the classics are here: Fantasy, Can't Hide Love, Shining Star, That's The Way of The World & Reasons. It also has, what was then, 2 incredible new songs, Love Music (check out the incredible harmonies on this one) & the hit September. It also has an outstanding cover of Got to Get You into My Life that won them a grammy award and showed how great this band was as they were able to take a song by the Beatles and make it more of a hit than they did. Robert Stigwood, who was the manager of the Bee Gees and also an employee of the Beatles managers Brian Epstein's production company, loved their music asked Earth, Wind and Fire to do a cover of one of their songs on his upcoming tribute film for Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band.

Maurice and the band agreed and were given a choice of 3 songs, Verdine suggested that they do Got To Get You Into My Life. Maurice listened to the song, reworked it with an R&B, Jazz arrangement and went into the studio with the band to record it. It's considered to this day as the best song off of the film and one of the best covers to one of the Beatles songs. The production was so incredible that many first thought the great Sir George Martin had done it, however, it was confirmed to the masses that it was the genius of Maurice White that transformed the song from a minor hit for the Beatles to a grammy award winning hit for the Elements!

Earth, Wind and Fire were band that made you experience every type of emotion & had deep and powerful lyrics that really made the listener think. That's why it's so confusing for "reviewers" like Ricky Wright to deal with or try to explain their music cause you couldn't always just throw it on & listen to the groove (which were incredible on their own). Their songs were well crafted sermons that reached down into your soul and sadly that's so lacking in the majority of today's music. This is a great buy and a true witness to the marvel that was & is Earth, Wind and Fire.

This was the 5th of a string of 7 albums released from 1975 to 1980 that helped to establish Earth, Wind and Fire's musical legacy, change how music was performed and recorded and allow for freedom of thought and expression in the music world as a whole. Gone were the "drill teams" as Maurice put it and now you had a band that made music that truly "turned them on" and brought to their millions of fans a new and refreshing way of how music could be enjoyed and perceived. That truly is a lasting legacy and that truly is the wonder that is Earth, Wind and Fire.

This is a rough guess, but I'd say there are about a trillion EWF comps on the market, mostly either generic hit collections or tacky theme roundups. This is actually one of their better comps, as it contains MOST of their best songs up until 1978. Not all, though. I won't even get into the sorely missed deep cuts, because some obvious ones were skipped: Head to the Sky, Devotion (especially that great live version off of Gratitude), Kalimba Story, Serpintine Fire, Mighty Mighty, I'll Write a Song for You and It's All About Love are just radio staples, why aren't they included? (I would've complained about lacking After the Love is Gone, but it turns out that came out a year after this comp was released, so I can't really). Yes, I understand vinyl was restrictive at the time, but in these days of CD those songs could've been tacked on as bonus tracks (one of the few instances I'd support the use of bonus tracks), but instead they tack on these stupid, useless Megamix things... yeah. Fact is, you can't sum up the career of a band at the height of their powers in ten tracks, no matter how good nine of those ten are. I could've done without Love Music - it's certainly not BAD, and they could've picked far worse. But I don't see what it has over It's All About Love, Head to the Sky, Devotion, Serpintine Fire, Mighty Mighty or Kalimba Story.
But hey... this has September! September's a classic, man! And this was the first time it was put on a studio album, for whatever that's worth. Same with their great cover of The Beatles' Got to Get You Into My Life - I'm a Beatle freak, but I must say, this cover beats even their original. And there's plenty of fine funk stuff: Shining Star, the aforementioned September and Got to Get You Into My Life, Singasong and Getaway, as well as some wonderfully amazing ballads like Reasons, Fantasy, Can't Hide Love and That's the Way of the World, so this makes for a fitting intro for the group. But don't make the mistake I did in thinking this is all you need - it was about three years after buying this before I finally picked up an EWF studio album, and of course I had waited about three years too long. Don't stop here - I recommend That's the Way of the World, Gratitude, All in All, Open Our Eyes and Spirit as well - but this is good.

This is one classy collection of hits. Whether you like funk, R&B, pop or the 70's there is something here for you. Vocalist/ producer/ songwriter/ percussionist and kalimba player, Maurice White, leads this classic group who's music spans several genres and three decades. Backed with an entire brass section- you just don't hear music as full bodied and well developed as this anymore. EW&F is one the world's most successful groups and has a permanent place in the history of popular music.
This collection is their first Greatest Hits release and includes the mega classics "That's The Way Of The World", "Shining Star", their rendition of the Beatles' "Got To Get You Into My Life" and several other classic hits.
This hits package is a definite must have for any collector of GOOD music!

Earth, Wind & Fire were a large ensemble that incorporate, jazz, soul and funk into their music. Their first volume of greatest hits contains their brightest and best and shows the various stylings that they could get into. "Got To Get You Into My Life" is a funkified cover of the Beatles' hit, "Fantasy" is soaring, uplifting number with great harmonies and "Can't Hide Love" is sensual ballad. "Getaway" is a percolating number with a blazing horn riff, "That The Way Of The World" moves on smooth tip and "September" is bright bouncy and catchy ear candy. "Shining Star" was their lone number one pop single, "Reasons" has a torch song quality with Philip Bailey hitting some extremely high notes and "Sing A Song" sums up the band's positive attitude.