Illumination

Earth Wind & Fire | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 20, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sanctuary Urban
• ASIN: B000B5QWK6
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,881 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lovely People feat. Will-I-Am of the Black Eyed Peas

2. Pure Gold

3. A Talking Voice Interlude

4. Love's Dance

5. Show Me the Way feat. Raphael Saadiq

6. This Is How I Feel feat. Big Boi, Kelly Rowland and Sleepy Brown

7. Work it Out

8. Pass You By

9. The One

10. Elevated feat. Floetry

11. Liberation

12. To You feat. Brian McKnight

13. Bonus Track: The Way You Move feat. Kenny G

Editorial Reviews

On Illumination, the 23rd record of their extraordinary career, Earth, Wind & Fire collaborate with generations of appreciative artists that have gleaned profound inspiration from their work. The influence is crystal-clear when Black Eyed Peas leader Will. I. Am shouts "Jump up, freak or hustle/Do what you want, just move every muscle," then mimics EWF's peppery horn and kalimba lines on his rousing "Lovely People." The reverence is sun-gold in crooner Brian McKnight's fusion of key elements from EWF's ballads "You," "Love's Holiday," and "After the Love is Gone" to create his own epic, "To You." And the quality is as strong as ever, proven by the album's first single "Show Me the Way," which earned a 2004 Grammy nomination.

For Illumination's star-studded new single, EWF bounces to the ATL for the hip hop-laced party joint "This Is How I Feel," produced by Organized Noize, featuring rapper Big Boi of OutKast and singers Sleepy Brown and Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child in a duet with EWF lead singer Philip Bailey. Elsewhere, super producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, former members of the band the Time, tip their trademark hats in tribute to the horn-laced ensemble sound of the Fire with the gently uplifting "Pure Gold" plus the sexy flirtation "Love Dance." Acclaimed female poetry/soul duo Floetry bring their conscience cleansing balm to the soothing motivator "Elevated." R&B futurist Vikter Duplaix laces the joyously tropical instrumental "Liberation," which features tantalizing bursts of EWF's wondrous wordless vocal melodies. As a bonus, the pied piper of soprano sax Kenny G guests on a cover of OutKast's infectious, instant club classic, "The Way You Move." Finally, Raphael Saadiq, the producer/songwriter who is also the leader of Tony Toni Toné and Lucy Pearl, produced four songs on Illumination, including "Show Me the Way"--a duet he sings with EWF leader Maurice White. He also contributes the samba-rooted "Work it Out," a lovely showcase for Philip's falsetto titled "Pass You By," and the vibrant opening track "Love Together".

The seeds of Illumination's origin sprang from an idea Philip Bailey had of collaborating with a new generation of soul artists for his next solo album. However, reflecting on the success Santana had in collaborating with today's artists on his award-winning Supernatural album, it became clear that this was a golden opportunity to fortify Earth Wind & Fire's position in today's marketplace. "I was 22 when I joined Earth Wind & Fire in 1973," Philip shares. "I'm 53 now. It's the 22 year-olds' time now...Usher's time! What Santana did was a masterpiece, but it would not have gotten played the way it did without the guest artists that he had. Superstars are coupling with other artists because the playing field is so competitive now. Earth Wind & Fire collaborating with the new soul movement made sense because the thrust of their music is still about playing instruments and utilizing vintage sounds, only in today's setting."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Show Me The Way" and much more; EWF still has it in 2005, October 5, 2005

By 

J. Highsmith (Mitchellville, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illumination (Audio CD)

As I was growing up, I wasn't introduced to Earth, Wind & Fire like most people were. My uncle was a DJ so he always had alot of old school LPs. One day he played "Let's Groove" and "Boogie Wonderland" for me and I was hooked. However, I was still listening to Boogie Down Productions, EPMD and others so I wasn't really listening to too much old school r&b at the time. One day I was over my friends house playing video games and he played this slow jam mix that he had recorded on a cassette. I heard "After The Love Is Gone" and that was one of the first reasons why I started listening to old school r&b and shortly my Smooth Grooves and old school r&b collection was started. The majority of my Earth, Wind & Fire collection includes greatest hits CDs but I had to purchase "Open Our Eyes" becasuse it had my jam "Feelin' Blue" on there and unless you buy the "Eternal Dance" greatest hits CD then that track is hard to find otherwise. My favorite Earth, Wind & Fire songs of all time include "After The Love Is Gone", "Can't Hide Love", "That's The Way Of The World", "Fantasy", "Reasons",
"Feelin' Blue", "Love's Holiday", "All About Love", "September" and "Devotion".

Around March of 2005, my old roomate downloaded some music for me and one of the tracks was a song with Earth, Wind & Fire and Raphael Saadiq. Instantly, the song became a favorite song of mine and went searching on amazon to see when Earth, Wind & Fire would release another CD. I soon learned that "Illumination" would be coming soon. Although, the release date was changed often, the CD finally came out a couple of weeks ago. Now, I understand if diehard Earth, Wind & Fire fans may not enjoy the entire CD. Earth, Wind & Fore definitely made an effore with the guest appearances by Will I Am, Big Boi, Kelly Rowland, Floetry and Brian McKnight to make a CD that younger listeners would be able to relate to. However, when I listen to my "Illumination" CD, I hear a sound that compares to the Earth, Wind & Fire sound that I have come to enjoy over the years.

The CD starts off right with Will I Am from the Black Eye Peas producing and featuring on "Lovely People". Now I will admit that I am not a big Black Eye Peas fan but Will I Am produces a nice funky jam to please Earth, Wind & Fire fans. It's just nice to hear Maurice White get back to the swing of things after everything that he has been through. "Pure Gold" is vintage Earth, Wind & Fire as the combination of Maurice White and Phillip Bailey on the vocals still sounds as strong as when they originally started. This song has a very positive vibe and Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and the other prodcers should be commended for a job well done. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also produce "Love's Dance" which still stays true to their original sound. The difference in my opinion is that everything matches up to a current sound. You hear the references of old Earth, Wind & Fire with the producers and the sound of r&b currently. This is clearly evident on "This Is How I Feel". You have Earth, Wind & Fire matched up with Big Boi from Outkast, Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child and Sleepy Brown. Now when I first heard this song on the Hitch soundtrack, I wasn't clearly convinced until I gave the song a couple of listens. A song will not "hit" you everytime the first time you listen to it. After a couple of listens, I found myself liking the song. Big Boi starts off the track with a nice verse, Earth, Wind & Fire keep the party going on the verses and Kelly Rowland and Sleepy Brown assist on the chorus and on the bridge.

Raphael Saadiq, known from Tony Toni Tone, Lucy Pearl and his two solo CDs, the stellar "Instant Vintage" and "Ray Ray", which also was pretty good, clearly composes one of the best songs that I have ever heard in "Show Me The Way". The song takes you back to the age when Earth, Wind & Fire was performing songs like "After The Love Is Gone", "Can't Hide Love" and "Reasons" and puts you to how in the year 2005, Earth, Wind & Fire can still hang with the groups of today. This song is clearly the best song on the CD. Maurice White and Raphael Saadiq trade vocals on the verses and as always Phillip Bailey does his thing with the adlibs. "Show Me The Way" and "Pure Gold" alone gives this CD atleast a 3 star rating. On "Work It Out", Raphael Saadiq speeds things up some as Earth, Wind & Fire make one of their feel good songs just like they did with "Shining Star" in the past. "Pass You By" is a nice midtempo song that Raphael Saadiq produced as well. Phillip Bailey clearly shows that he can carry a song by himself just as he did on "songs like "Reasons" and "I'll Write A Song For You" in the past. Floetry shows up on "Elevated".
The combination of the two groups works well together even with the rap verses of the song. It will be hard for core Earth, Wind & Fire fans to relate to the hip hop verses and the fact that it seems that Earth, Wind & Fire are trying to match their sound with the sounds of hip hop and r&b artists of today but as long as the quality of the songs are there, that's all that matters in my opinion. Organized Noize, who worked with Outkast during their earlier days and even sometimes now produced "This Is How I Feel" and they also do a good job on "The One". Maurice White is still able to belt the vocals over the uptempo jam. This is another classic motivational song from Earth, Wind & Fire. "To You" features Brian Mcknight on vocals and he also co-produced the song. "To You" matches classic Earth, Wind & Fire sounds to compose a pretty good slow jam. The only problem that people will have with this song is that too many of the sounds remind you of "After The Love Is Gone" and other slow jams that they have had instead of having better originality on the track. "Liberation" is a nice,uptempo instrumental jam and "The Way You Move" has Kenny G belting the Big Boi jam and Earth, Wind & fire singing just the chorus and the bridge of the song.

Overall, I think Earth, Wind & Fire did a good job on "Illumination". It is hard for well respected groups of the past to try and make a CD in 2005 and still have everything sound good. Although Beyonce's dad Matthew Knowles could use some help in the marketing department, Earth, Wind & Fire's "Illumination, The O' Jays "Imagination" and Jon B's "Stronger Everyday" were all CDs that I enjoyed and they were all on the Sanctuary Urban label. If you are a fan of Earth, Wind & Fire you should be able to enjoy this CD if you can deal with them using influnces and artists from the hip hop and r&b scene of today.

James' Top 5

1) Show Me The Way w/Raphael Saadiq
2) Pure Gold
3) Pass You By
4) Elevated w/Floetry
5) This Is How I Feel w/Big Boi, Kelly Rowland & Sleepy Brown

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Elements Are Indeed 'Illuminated', October 1, 2005

By 

chakasworld "chakasworld" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illumination (Audio CD)

EWF's new 'Illumination' is a nice CD for avid fans & new ones alike. The group updated their sound with contemporary elements, and while I also enjoyed the previous CD ('The Promise', which featured The Emotions & Angie Stone in 2003), 'Illumination' features guests who also seem to complement Maurice White's vision for the legendary band. This approach works well for the most part in that EWF doesn't sacrifice musicianship for an attempt at sales (like the 1990 EWF dud titled 'Heritage'!!).

'Illumination' has several quality tracks which 'got me' at first play including 'Love's Dance', 'Pure Gold', 'Show Me The Way' (ft.Raphael Saadiq), 'This Is How I Feel', 'To You'(ft.Brian McKnight), and the awesome 'Liberation', which is a tight instrumental showcase for Verdine White's skills on Bass. 'The Way You Move' is merely so-so, but I can't really accept this 2 year old song as a true bonus track (and then there's the issue of Kenny G..yuck!). Jimmy Jam / Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq, Brian McKnight, and the great Maurice White did an outstanding job with production. It's always special having Maurice White conribute as active member, and he sounds great considering his condition.

In closing, there are probably other editions of 'Illumination', but getting the original 13 track edition is fine for starters. HOWEVER, if you're a serious EWF fan, consider adding 5 BONUS TRACKS to create an EXPANDED EDITION of 'Illumination'.

Here's the tracklisting for my own special CD...

1. Love Together (ft.Roots Manuva & Raphael Saadiq)*
2. Lovely People (ft.Will.i.am)
3. Pure Gold
4. A Talking Voice - Interlude
5. Love's Dance
6. Show Me The Way (ft.Raphael Saadiq)
7. Autumn (ft.Musiq Soulchild)*
8. Let Me Love You (ft.Floetry)*
9. This Is How I Feel (ft.Big Boi,
Kelly Rowland, and Sleepy Brown)
10. Work It Out
11. Pass You By
12. The One
13. Elevated (ft.Floetry)
14. Liberation - Instrumental
15. To You (ft.Brian McKnight)
16. The Way You Move (Kenny G ft.EWF)
17. Love Together (Aletrnate Mix 2005)*
18. Gather Round*

This is MUCH BETTER than ANY Japanese Import Edition (sorry, I refuse to pay for those overpriced CDs...W.T.F.!!).
My actual rating for the USA edition of 'Illumination' is 4.5 (round it off to 5!!) stars...failure to include the bonus tracks cost it a star.
Peace, SD
(of Chakas World)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Album for 2005 and 2006, January 17, 2006

By 

L. J. Kay - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illumination (Audio CD)

This is one of the best albums for the year period hands down. They have so many wonderful songs on the CD that reminds me how they made music back in the day. I knew this was gonna be a great CD when I heard "Pure Gold" I could tell EW&F was back and real strong with the music. You will be delighted wholeheartily with this purchase. I listen to it just about every single day. They're music has always been uplifting to the Spirit. All I can say is right out EW&F and keep bringing us the good music!