The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol.1 [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Earth Wind & Fire

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 1999)
• Original Release Date: November 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000JQFI
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,088 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Like a lot of second-wave funk bands, Earth, Wind & Fire were adept at balancing slickness and rawness. While their albums were occasionally spotty, the outfit achieved truly miraculous moments like the rocking "Shining Star" and the gloriously syncopated "September." (Come to think of it, the screaming guitar of the former was also nicely set off by its rhythmic flow.) In a have-you-never-been-mellow decade, their positivity seemed mostly realistic. With something like their powerhouse transformation of "Got to Get You into My Life"--pulling one of the great Beatles covers out of the awful Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie--they could make even the most churlish listener believe anything was possible. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good sampler of EWF; not the best single CD collection , December 2, 2004

By	moviemusicbuff (Walnut, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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.

24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YAWN - WHY BOTHER?, August 31, 2001

By	M. R. ZOGLIO (CROFTON, MD) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I BOUGHT THIS CD BACK IN THE DAY AS AN 8-TRACK TAPE (YEAH, I KNOW, I'M OLD). AT THE TIME I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHY THEY LEFT OFF SERPENTINE FIRE. NOW THAT THEY'VE RERELEASED THIS ALBUM I'M ASKING MYSELF THE SAME QUESTION. YES, I KNOW THAT IT APPEARED ON VOLUME 2 (ALONG WITH A LOT OF FILLER). SO, WHY DIDN'T THEY MAKE THIS INCOMPLETE RECORD BETTER? I GUESS THEY FIGURED BY ADDING SOMETHING DIFFERENT THEY'D GET YOU TO BUY IT AGAIN. WHAT'S MY POINT? MY POINT IS THAT FOR A COUPLE OF BUCKS MORE YOU CAN GET ALL OF THE ORIGINAL VOLUME 1, THE BEST OF VOLUME 2 (MINUS THE FILLER), AND GET IT ALL ON ONE DISC AS EWF's GREATEST HITS. HAVING SAID ALL THAT, WHY DID I RATE THIS WITH 5 STARS? BECAUSE, AT THE TIME OF IT'S ORIGINAL RELEASE, THIS WAS (AND STILL IS) A GREAT ALBUM THAT CAME STRONG EVEN WITHOUT SERPENTINE FIRE. I'M JUST HERE TO HELP YOU DO THE RIGHT THING.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOO SHORT-- but ohhh so sweet!, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

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!