Customer Reviews

Open Our Eyes

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Of course Earth Wind and Fire have tons of hits, spanning a couple decades, but the gems on this release are the non-single tracks. While both hits "Mighty Mighty" and "Devotion" are great, this CD is simply full of music from beginning to end that is funky, soulful, and fun. The title track "Open Our Eyes" is a wonderful gospel song, and the minor hit "Feeling Blue" is a great ballad which you may remember, but the highlights are the added tracks including the funky "Fair But So Uncool" and the gospel inspired soul in "Ain't No Harm to Moan". You will love the improvised jamming in "Drum Song" and the African inspired "Kalimba Story".

This is a wonderful collection of music and you can tell they had a lot of fun recording it. The music sounds fresh and alive, which is remarkable considering it has been nearly 30 years since it was recorded. A great and underrated release from one of the most talented recording groups of all time.

Whoa! Even with the enlightening evolution of EW&F's fourth release, Head To The Sky, nobody could have seen this coming. This album is nothing short of bold and brilliant. It is an all-out assault on several musical genres, as well as the full emergence of a newly refined and crystalized EW&F sound.

"Mighty Mighty" is an eyebrow-raising funk experience in under 3 minutes, that boldly uplifts those of African descent, completes with fierce guitar licks, a snaky bassline, and confident vocals that all overflow with attitude. I hope that soundproof booth wasn't made of glass, because Phillip Bailey certainly would have shattered it. Other immediate standouts are the arm-waving anthem "Devotion", the much too funky "Kalimba Story" and the wordless "Drum Song" and "Caribou". You must love "Tee Nine Chee Bit" for it's lowdown Ohio Players-like feel. An album like this could have very easily taken a wrong turn, but the fact is that this one doesn't. It is random perfection. The only possible thing you could criticize is the somewhat lazy sounding vocals on "Caribou", and still this is overshadowed by the fact that you can't get this sound anywhere else.

This album crosses pop, funk, gospel, jazz, R&B and African music barriers full-stride without missing a step. It's also saturated with musical, vocal, spiritual and commercial prowess without being preachy. How can you even call yourself an Earth, Wind & Fire fan without owning this musical goldmine???!!! Even the bonus tracks are really bonus. Get it while the gettin' is good, my mellow.

When this album was released in mid 1974 it was the first major turning point in the incredible career of Earth Wind & Fire. "Open Our Eyes" was the first album to feature the line up that would vault them into superstardom, first top 40 single("Mighty, Mighty"), first million selling album, and their first album to crack the top 20. Recorded at Chicago producer James William Guerico's Caribou Ranch, this album is the first to demonstrate what Earth Wind & Fire was capable of. The funky, hard driving "Mighty, Mighty", and fan favorites like "Devotion", "Kalimba Story", and the cool Brazilian influenced "Caribou" are included here. This reissue contains some interesting outtakes from the album recording sessions, including the gospel influenced "Ain't No Harm To Moan", an instrumental version of "Fair But So Uncool", the percussive latin flavored "Step's Tune" and the extended interlude "Dreams". A great sounding remaster, reprinted lyrics, and excellent liner notes about the making of this great album make this one a keeper.

this is the Album that Got EWF on there Road to Higher Places.this Album Contains alot of Wonderful Musical Elements that further took EWF to Higher Musical Heights than ever before."Open Our Eyes" is the kind of song that stops me in my tracks every time."Mighty,Mighty" is straight up Funky."Feelin Blue" is a Nice Mellow Jam.I always say it&I'll Say it again this is the Best Band I've Ever Heard.The Greatest Band Ever.

I was a Teenager when this Album was released on "Vinyl" (for those of you from the CD Age ask your Grandparents). Back then I loved every Song on the Album, and that love stands pat today as Earth, Wind & Fire's Music from those days Song just as Beautiful Today as it did then, and there'll never be another Band like them. I have every E.W.F. Album made in the 70"s on CD now. Some of the best purchases I ever made.

Mighty,Mighty, Kalimba Story, Devotion, Feelin' Blue, Caribou and open our eyes make this a breakthrough album for earth wind and fire. this is a collector's item.

An excellent album! Great music by a great band! If you want to hear 70's music at its best, this is the album for you.

During this period EWF were developing musically at such a rapid pace that it seemed difficult to follow their progression. Here everything from the bands logo to the full fledged presense of Charles Stepney as musical collaborator really served to pull together all the different things that would be part of the entire Earth Wind & Fire experience during the big period of their career. Arriving just before their breakthrough That's the Way of the World this album has the destinction of being the bands first huge hit album. One thing that should be understood however is that this album did so without the presense of any huge charting pop single. Frankly their sound at this period still wasn't quite "comfortable" with everything else on the pop charts in that day with all of heavy polyrhythmic African-styled percussion,themes and psychedelic funk effects throughout this album. For that and the mixture of variety and cohesiveness this album provides make it one of my favorite EWF albums on a personal note. Their sound wasn't 100% polished yet but as Maurice White himself pointed out they were heading in the right direction. "Mighty Mighty",a very no-hold-barred funk jam is the closest thing to a big hit this album had and it isn't one of EWF's more remembered tunes in many circles. Even though it wasn't even as well known as that "Devotion" has a lot more to say about where the band were going,with it's sophisticated production and Bailey's sparkling inspirational vocal than much of what is here. Over the coming years it became an important staple of EWF's live shows,becoming as important if not more in that context than many of their bigger future hits. Stepney really shines here on the both hard hitting afro-funk-by-way-of-Chi-Town sound of "Fair But So Uncool" with it's great Chicago style piano parts and on the all around edgy blues/funk of "Tee Nine Chee Bit",featuring some of the most aggressive lyrics EWF ever delivered and from that there's some dark humor involved as well. "Kalimba Story" keeps Maurice White's African connection involved as the chunky funk arrangement,mildly reminiscant of "Shinning Star" speaks of Maurice's first experiences with the thumb piano. "Feelin' Blue" is a very emotionally involved song with a catchy latin-funk groove that asks the question is being down in the dumps a condition onto itself or made up of different distinct feelings. Therefore it's very emotionally explorative. The afro-latin flavor is bought again to the front with the mystical flavor of "Drum Song" (one of my favorites here) playful "Caribou",named for the Colorado mountain studio this was recorded in and where the front cover photo was
taken. "Spasmodic Movements" presents one of the first and only times EWF actually put a full one jazz song on one of their albums,the melody and interaction of which isn't dissimilar to John Coltrane's Giant Steps. The title song is a traditional gospel rendering with some appealing harmonic use of synthesizer by Larry Dunn. The bonus songs on this addition account for the remainder of the Caribou studio sessions including the pointed historically relevent ballad "Ain't No Harm O Moan (Slave Song)" as well as "Fair But So Uncool (Walkin' To N'Awlins Mix)" which for the most part ammounts to a looser early instrumental take of the album version. Likewise is "Step's Tune" an early take on "Caribou",again with a far looser flavor. "Dreams" is an interesting sort of anchor song,not really represented in any form on the album but a great showcase for Bailey multi tracking some dynamite vocal harmonies,probably with Maurice White right along with him. This is definately EWF's transitional album but at the same time musically it has more to say about where EWF were going than were they'd come from. That might be one of the reasons why this album was reissued in 2001 along with the bands other blockbuster 70's releases because even the bonus selections and informative liner notes of this album provide an important education on Earth Wind & Fire and their musical virtues as they neared the beginning of thir peak.

This is a classic album by Earth, Wind and Fire and was the one were the memebers that we would come to know and love were finally all in place. You can see that they had settled into a comfort zone and were really beginning to display all the genre's of music that influenced them. At this time, they were already one of the most respected and copied bands in music. Michael Jackson & his brothers, Stevie Wonder, the Commordores, Parliament & Funkadelic, Prince, Rick James, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and many others where regulars at their lives shows.

This is also the year that the were a part of the Original California Jam line up! Several rock acts took notice of them too after that awesome performance and began to recognize what most already knew, this band was a force to be reckoned with. The ledgendary producer, Charles Stepney, began to take on a more active role in production as the group phased out it's Warner Brothers ties including their original producer, Joseph Wissert. What they were able to achieve with this album was some of their most daring songs to date as well as truly feature a lot of the Afrikan symbolism they would become world famous for including the mighty Kalimba.

You have the pure funk of "Mighty Mighty", "Fair but So Uncool" and "Kalimba Story" the raw blues of "Tee Nine Chee Bit", amazing Jazz instrumentals "Spasmodic Movements" & "Caribou" and of course what would an Earth, Wind and Fire album be without the soulful ballads like "Devotion" and "Open Our Eyes". You can really feel the Stepney influence on these songs as the band began to truly take advantage of the wide range of musical knowledge they possessed and really producing music we just hadn't heard up to that point in time.

This was a very important album as the Elements were going through a transition along with the rest of the music industry. This album is were they really nailed down the sound that would become "theirs". This is easily the greatest band ever and with this album they began to set the stage for the most important album of their careers, one of the most important of that decade and of all time, "That's the Way of The World", which would be the one to bring them world wide fame and begin to lay down a groove that was unmatched before or sense. From 1975 to 1980 the would release 7 albums that would change the face of music, both the way it was recorded and performed.

It's also important to remember that this was the album where legendary producer, Charles Stepney, came on board and slowly he and Maurice began to experimennt with recording techniques that would define the band. Things like the use of interludes and 2 drummers, guitarists and having a full horn section who not only recorded, but toured with the band full time. These were exciting times for the band as they were finally getting the backing from the record company to realize the fullness of their potential.

People who've read my EWF reviews know that I have a preference for their EARLIER material. Of those pre-Sprit, pre-1976 albums, THIS is my favorite. I got into EWF during my teens in the late 80s, and this was one of the last albums I found. Why? Because as the band gained more crossover success the early albums got pushed into the background. By the late 80s, you had to search near and far for the early albums (or hope that you had some hip relatives that had the albums)

This album contains the hallmarks of the early-EWF albums: uplifting messages throughout, punishing grooves, diversity (FUNK, inspirational ballads, instrumental funk-fusion), and RAWNESS. That's some thing you'll notice I harp on a lot. I've become more critical of EWF as I've gotten older, but the truth is the band's rawness gave way to POLISH once Charles Stepney died and Maurice White assumed full control of the production reigns. As I've said elsewhere, funk was meant to be RAW (but I can't pigeon-hole EWF as simply a funk band, I know).

Like I said, I've become more critical of the band--I still LOVE them, though--because as they got bigger and "crossed over", it seemed like they turned their backs on this early music. I mean "MIGHTY, MIGHTY" was their first HIT, and it's been relegated to footnote status in their history. I mean, it wasn't even included on the first BEST OF album.[Come to think of it, NOTHING from their first 3 CBS albums is on the first BEST OF album]. The casual EWF listener "don't know nothin' 'bout this album."
Highlights? Well, for me it would be "Mighty, Mighty", "Kalimba Story" and "The Drum Song". The studio version of "Devotion" (which you RARELY hear on the radio) is here, too.

It's all about "Mighty, Mighty", though, if I had to name one tune. It's a MONSTER of a groove from the opening drum pickup notes. It's got a powerful, uplifting, and empowering message. "We are the mighty people of the sun." This is the type of song that first endeared EWF to its black audience. It's a JAM, my favorite EWF vocal tune. There was a clip of the Soul Train line done to this song on YouTube, and it showed just how much of a groove the guys had.