I always found it a coincidence that earth, wind & fire had two
songs called you and i. They had a song called you and I from
their classic album I am of 1979 and a you and i on the touch the
world album of 1987. I like both versions. I would have to give
the nod to the you and i from the i am album over the latter although
phillip bailey sounds excellent vocally on the latter.

For me, after the "I AM" album of 79... the creative wheels of EW&F began to come off. You and I '79, is among my favorite EW&F songs. The "Touch the World" -- better known as as Baily's and White's less kiss and make up album - I took a pass on it. If ever read the linear notes you'll noticed on "Touch....." , outside writers and arrangers were brought in and the only members of the band who played on that album were Maurice White and Philip Bailey.
[Edited 1/21/09 23:36pm]

TD3 said:

+ Andrew Woolfolk

www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.d...qt5ld0e~T2

I love both of these songs,but my favorite is the one from 'I Am' That's a perfect way to close an amazing album.

Shango said:

and Andrew... thanks for setting me start.

TD3 said:

I like the 'Touch The World' album,even though it has some annoying late-80s production gimmicks,most noticably on the first single "System Of Survival".I think it's a solid album for the most part.The catchy "Thinking Of You" is similiar to earlier efforts."Money Tight" and "Evil Roy" are strong uptempo songs while the Philip Bailey-led ballad "Here Today And Gone Tomorrow" is a Quiet Storm gem.I also like the big pop ballad "Every Now And Then",even though it sounds like something Chicago would have done around that time.

You are correct,though...this album features alot of outside songwriters and producers,so it doesn't always sound like a genuine Earth Wind and Fire album.

TD3 said:

Yeah, both versions are cool , but the 1979 version has that special something for me.
How the horns build it up in the beginning is very powerful, great arrangements.
And then Maurice's vocals drops in ... man, that's just dynamite !
The first time i ever heard it was when having listened to the complete album,
and then after "Rock That" this awesome song gets dropped in the mix right after that. Made a lot of impact on me.

I remember hearing a "Touch The World"-concert on the radio, where Philip announced to go sing "You And I" and there were cheers from the crowd,
but somehow you could feel that those cheers were kinda hesitant, like you could almost feel that the audience didn't know which version they were gonna get, lol.

SoulAlive said:

That's one of my faves of that album too
Also like how you hear that brief medley of classics in "Musical Interlude : New Horizons"

SoulAlive said:

The story how they got the demo for "System Of Survival" goes that Maurice came back shopping from the mall and there was this tape attached to his car window.
I think he had it removed by security, because it might've been a bomb or something. But it was the particular demo by a dude called Skylark.
Maurice heard it at home and was quickly convinced that he had a strong track for a new album. There's more to the story but my memory slips now, lol.


grammar-edit
[Edited 1/22/09 0:35am]

Shango said:

Yeah,I remember that story.Some more interesting trivia about this album:

***In early 87,when the guys began work on the album,they approached Larry Blackmon for a few songs.At the time,Cameo was riding high with their 'Word Up' album.However,EW&F weren't too impressed with the songs that Blackmon came up with.Philip explained that many of the producers submitted songs that sounded like "old Earth Wind and Fire" while he and Maurice were interested in taking EW&F in new directions.In other words,they wanted an album that sounded like Earth Wind and Fire in 1987,not 1975.

***One song that was submitted to the project is "Rocket 2 U",written by Bobby Nunn.Maurice and Philip didn't think much of it,but it later became a hit for The Jets.I think it's a good song but the lyrics are a little too "bubblegum" for EW&F.It made more sense for a younger group like the Jets to record it.

Shango said:

"Here Today And Gone Tomorrow" is a near-classic A beautifully haunting song with a soaring lead vocal by Philip.It's great!

The "New Horizons" interlude is nice,as well.

SoulAlive said:

Yep!


That "New Horizons"-intro is mixed behind this soundclip. They used it as their TTW-Tour show-intro.
It still bugs me that i missed to visit that tour because it was THE comeback-show of the 80's
at the time, and the soul-community here went beserk when the concert-announcements were made.
Back then, tickets were sold-out in less than an hour in my city. But luckily it was broadcasted here
on a local radioshow, a few weeks after. Great trivia too ! That sounds as new music to my ears.
Very curious how those demo-ideas sound. Yeah, the Rocket-2-U had a new generation sound,
though i still would've liked to hear an EW&F-version, lol.

SoulAlive said:

Yeah i'm wondering if larry blackmon turned out to be skylark.

TD3 said:

There was never no hard feelings between these two. When the band decided
to take a break after the electric universe album, phillip began work on
the chinese wall album with phil collins as producer. The deal was under maurice white's production company so why would he have not wanted phillip
to be successful. Larry Dunn was the only member that i'm aware of that may
have been a little quirky because of all the control maurice had.

Shango.....

Yeah, man....the TTW tour was DOPE. The last time they were "close" to "all" on stage together.....doin the classic tracks...and all the classic bits (magic..pyro, etc..). Not NEAR as good as the 79-82 period, of course, but for us hardcore fans...it still felt really good .

My fave from that show? "Can't Hide Love". They were DEAD ON IT.

phunkdaddy said:

Hard feeling I don't know, artistic differences, yes.

phunkdaddy said:

Interestingly,the last track on the album,"Victim Of The Modern Heart",was written/produced by some mysterious guy known as I.Prince

SoulAlive said:

yup, that's Ian Prince right there.
For some reason, Discogs hasn't yet added his writing-credits for that track to his page.

www.discogs.com/artist/Ian+Prince

www.myspace.com/ianprincemusic



Not shure if the artist below is the same Ian Prince as in the links, though it kinda resembles his face :


[Edited 1/23/09 9:04am]

JamFanHot said:

That's the jam ! "Can't Hide Love" always sets the mood in action when played live, for reals indeed ! One or two years after the TTW-Tour,
they visited my country again with their Heritage-Tour and i've almost never missed a show again. So that was my first EW&F-experience.
I went with two friends very early to the venue, and we had first-row seats, right in the middle. A trip to see Maurice and the whole
band perform so close. I kinda dig the track "Heritage" but could never get myself through those collabo-songs with MC Hammer.
Imo, a visible sign that they chose to sound current in soulcharts of that time, although i must say that i can bob my head to
the swingtrack "Leggs" which Maurice produced for El Debarge in 1992, incuding some tight horn-arrangements.
So you saw those late 70's & early 80's shows of EW&F ? ...
[Edited 1/23/09 8:34am]

*
[Edited 1/23/09 9:03am]

Shango said:

You're right those hammer collaborations just didn't quite do it for me.
I did like for the love of you minus the hammer verses.
My favorite tracks from the album were takin chances, anything you want,
and daydreamin.

For me it's the I Am version hands down.
I'd agree with TD3 that after this album the band (or what was formerly a great band) became dead to me.

It's interesting to note that the song was co-written by Robbie (C'est La Vie & Dominoes) Nevil.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

phunkdaddy said:

I pretty much dismissed 'Heritage' when it was first released in 1990 but lately I've been listening to it alot.Songs like "Takin Chances","Good Time" (with Sly Stone),"Anything You Want","Daydreamin","For The Love Of You" and "Welcome" are better than I remembered! I hate the fact that MC Hammer appears on the album,though.

theAudience said:

TA,I always thought that 'Raise' was the last album you liked by EW&F.

SoulAlive said:

Don't think that was me.

IMO, I Am (with the exception of 1 song ) was the end of their great album run.
There are certain songs here and there that I could pick from later albums but to me the last classic and consistent EWF album was I Am.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

lemme guess...."Boogie Wonderland" is the one song from 'I Am' that you don't like?

theAudience said:

Both songs are dreadful. I lost interst in EWF as a band some where after "In The Stone". "After The Love Is Gone" is pure pablum and "Boogie Wonderland" is am embarrassing disco mess. Still glad they made a gazillion bucks off it. Somehow I thought Touch the World would be a return to gory, but that just led to more disappointments.

I am surprised that some people are regarding I am as Ewf's last great album.
I would consider raise as their last classic album. Powerlight was a good
album. I liked every song on the raise album. I liked every song on the I am
album but boogie wonderland. Not that i hated it but ewf and disco just didn't do it for me. Powerlight was underrated. Side by side should have been a stronger single than it was. Spread your love was good and if you fall in love with me. My favorites from the album were speed of love and something special.

phunkdaddy said:

EWF is only classic when you have Al McKay and Johnny Graham n guitars. Anything is a sham. You may like subsequent records and that's fine if you do, but the line of demarcation is when Al left.

PFunkjazz said:

Yes McKay and Graham were better guitarists than roland batista but i still
felt the band brought it on raise and powerlight.

There's nothing wrong with 'Raise' at all.That's a strong,early 80s album."Wanna Be With You","The Changing Times","I've Had Enough","My Love" and "Let's Groove" are superb songs.If this album had been recorded by any other R&B band,it would be called a masterpiece.


'Powerlight' was a little disappointing to me.The two singles are great ("Fall In Love With Me" and the excellent "Side By Side") but the album as a whole isn't too exciting.This is gonna sound crazy but I actually like the album that followed ('Electric Universe') alot more than I liked 'Powerlight'