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The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire [Columbia/Legacy] [Limited]

Earth, Wind & Fire
2 discs

0. DISC 1:
1. Mighty Mighty
2. Evil
3. Devotion
4. Keep Your Head to the Sky
5. Kalimba Story
6. Shining Star
7. That's the Way of the World
8. Yearnin' Learnin'
9. All About Love
10. Reasons
11. Sing a Song
12. Can't Hide Love
13. Getaway
14. Saturday Nite
15. Ponta De Areia (Brazilian Rhyme) / Be Ever Wonderful
16. Open Our Eyes
17. Got to Get You Into My Life
0. DISC 2:
1. September
2. Serpentine Fire
3. Fantasy
4. I'll Write a Song For You
5. Drum Song
6. In the Stone
7. Can't Let Go
8. After the Love Has Gone
9. Wait
10. You and I
11. Let Me Talk
12. And Love Goes On
13. You
14. Let's Groove
15. Fall in Love With Me
16. Side by Side
17. Boogie Wonderland
0. DISC 3:
1. Serpentine Fire
2. Boogie Wonderland
3. September
4. Let Me Talk
5. Let's Groove
6. Magnetic
7. Fall in Love with Me
8. System of Survival
9. Thinking of You
10. Evil Roy
11. Heritage
12. September '99 (mix)
13. Fantasy (live)
14. Reasons (live)
15. Sing a Song (live)
16. I've Had Enough (live)
17. After the Love Has Gone (live)
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 96488
Credits

Producer
Engineer
Earth, Wind & Fire: Maurice White (vocals, kalimba, timbales, drums); Verdine White (vocals, bass, percussion); Philip Bailey (vocals, congas, percussion); Larry Dunn (piano, organ, synthesizer, programming).
Additional personnel includes: Ken Yerke, Harris Goldman (violin); Rollice Dale (viola); Dennis Karmazyn Harry Schultz (cello); Fred Jackson Jr., Herman Riley, Jerome Richardson (saxophone); Tommy Johnson (tuba); Harvey Mason, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Beloyd Taylor (background vocals).
Producers: Maurice White, Joe Wissert, Charles Stepney, Al McKay.
Compilation producers: Leo Sacks, Maurice White.
Recorded between 1973 & 1983. Includes liner notes by Leo Sacks, Virginia Prescott, and William C, Rhoden.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
"These songs are as close as we came to perfection," says group founder and leader Maurice White in the liner notes to THE ESSENTIAL EARTH, WIND & FIRE. Given the quality of the music in this double-disc package, it's hard to argue. Remarkable for both its commercial success and its inventive hybrid of funk, soul, jazz, and African folk music (White's kalimba is featured as a solo instrument on "Evil," for example), Earth, Wind & Fire are deservedly regarded as one of the finest ensembles of the 1970s.
A thorough retrospective of the band's evolution and multiple stylistic directions (often achieved within one song), ESSENTIAL spans from the early, earthy funk of "Mighty Mighty" to the disco-flavored "Boogie Wonderland" (with the Emotions). In between are all of the group's smash hits--the infectious "Shining Star," the feel-good "Sing a Song," their jazzy interpretation of Lennon/McCartney's "Got to Get You Into My Life," and the early '80s dance-floor favorite "Let's Groove," to name a few. Throughout, complex horn parts, rich vocal harmonies, and the formidable chops of the band's instrumentalists dazzle on ballads, heady improvisations, and funk workouts alike. This is the definitive compilation of one soul's mightiest groups.
Critic Reviews

Q (1/03, p.132) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...There's still loads to savour..."