"Earth Wind And Fire/The Need Of Love" by EARTH, WIND AND FIRE (October 2018 Beat Goes On Reissue - 2LPs Remastered Onto 1CD) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Fan The Fire..."

Most folks know Maurice White's mighty Soul and Funk machine EARTH, WIND & FIRE through their Columbia Records output which almost immediately made huge inroads into the US R&B charts - "Last Days And Time" and "Head To The Sky" hit No. 15 and No 3 in 1973 whilst their 1974 platter "Open Our Eyes" went all the way to number one. Later in 1975, 1977 and 1979 they hit those top slots again and again – massive sales, global hits. You could safely say then that EWF were huge right from the get go...

But spare a thought for their other big label beginnings because that's what you're getting here - their first two American albums on Warners Brothers issued in the spring and winter of 1971 (no UK variants of either). And what utter musical blasts they are – righteous Soul and Funk and Fusion before the big hair, the big offices and the big limos. All this and a killer cover of a Donny Hathaway classic - you could say I'm a convert. Let's get to the 'everything is everything' details...

UK released Friday, 12 October 2018 (19 October 2018 in the USA) - "Earth, Wind And Fire/The Need For Love" by EARTH, WIND AND FIRE on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1358 (Barcode 5017261213587) offers 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD that plays out as follows (61:56 minutes):

1. Help Somebody [Side 1]

2. Moment Of Truth

3. Love Is Life

4. Fan The Fire

5. C'mon Children [Side 2]

6. This World Today

7. Bad Tune

Tracks 1 to 7 are their self-titled debut album in full "Earth, Wind And Fire" - released March 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1905 (no UK issue). It peaked on the US R&B LP chart at No. 24 (17 week stay).

8. Energy [Side 1]

9. Beauty

10. I Can Feel It In My Bones [Side 2]

11. I Think About Lovin' You

12. Everything Is Everything

Tracks 8 to 12 are their second studio album "The Need Of Love" - released November 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1958 (no UK issue). It peaked at No. 35 in the USA.

You get the usual classy card slipcase (jewel case within), a 20-page booklet that repros all the original artwork and has typically in-depth new liner notes from Mojo Magazine's main Soul and Jazz contributor - CHARLES WARING. The nine-ten piece ensemble are pictured and you get platter-by-platter analysis of their extraordinary career - right up to the sad passing of their Memphis founder Maurice White in 2016 aged 74. But of course the big news for fans is the availability of both albums and presented here in High Def with new Remasters from BGO’s long-standing Audio Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON. This CD sounds fantastic as befits the original Joe Wissert Productions. Let’s get to the flames...

The moment the funky opener "Help Somebody" hits the speakers, I can hear the uplight from the mid Nineties euro CD - the ten-piece bopping and jabbing with real power. "Moments Of Truth" feels like Kool & The Gang giving it some y'all with a James Brown backing beat. Smooch-city comes at ya with "Love Is Life", a tune that feels a tad forced despite its positivity message. "Fan The Flame" features some Isley Brothers wild guitar soloing while "C'mon Children" is full-on Sly & The Family Stone 1971 Funk. "Bad Tune" ends a good opening album gambit well, but there's still a feeling that the group hasn't hit on that winning hook just yet.

Album number two opens with nine-minutes of "Energy" - a very Jazz Fusion number with Oscar Brashear providing the wild Miles Davis trumpeting. For sure it's going to be an acquired taste as a girly voice tells us "...as we float through time as energy, seeking no place, filling all space..." - you may want to light that Joss Stick and slap that Prana slipmat on your Garrard. "Beauty" feels far better - a pretty little blossom of Soul-Funky optimism - nice vocal breaks throughout as the 'open up your heart' choruses build. Harmonica opens "I Can Feel It In My Bones" - the kind of fuzzed-up guitar Funk that shows up on those "Funk Drops" CD compilations where someone smarter than you or I reminds us that we missed a 'What It Is' moment on Earth, Wind & Fire's second album. While the six minutes of "I Think About Lovin' You" benefits from Sherry Scott's lovely vocal turn, the tune feels a little too dangerously close to pastiche and the album is saved by a spirited cover version of that fabulous Donny Hathaway song "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)" - here shortened to "Everything Is Everything".

You wouldn't call these two albums masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination - EWF feeling for a direction more than finding one. But there's good to savour on here, and presented in such a classy way and with such top Audio, is going to make fans very happy indeed...