One of the highlights of the Raise! tour was an amazing performance of "Fantasy".

Earth, Wind & Fire - ... - YouTube

rare footage of a 1978 EW&F concert....this was when their live shows featured many special effects,magic tricks,etc.

Earth, Wind and Fire Live... - YouTube

RJOrion said:

Also albums by The Emotions: FLOWERS REJOICE SUNBEAM COME INTO OUR WORLD and Deniece Williams: THIS IS NIECY SONGBIRD Are all basically Earth Wind & Fire albums with female vocals, since Maurice White, Al McKay, Verdine White, Charles Stepney, and Larry Dunn wrote, produced and played on most of those joints.

yes indeed and this 1976 jam is one of my favorites

Emotions - I Don't Wanna ... - YouTube

SoulAlive said:

Wish I could have seen EWF when Maurice was still performing with them. They were spectacular at the height of their heyday.

RJOrion said:

SoulAlive said:

rare footage of a 1978 EW&F concert....this was when their live shows featured many special effects,magic tricks,etc.

Earth, Wind and Fire Live... - YouTube

I know EW&F was always reported to be clean & drug free, but if you ever saw an EW&F concert from '77-'79, its hard to believe Verdine White wasnt snorting the best cocaines...his onstage antics and endless energy and movement was the best part of the show...how he could play basslines and keep such a clean pocket while jumping and dancing around is still a mystery to me.

Verdine was,and still is,a ball of energy onstage always fun to see him do his thing

.

[Edited 5/27/22 15:32pm]

purplethunder3121 said:

SoulAlive said:

Raise! was released in November 1981 and features the singles "Let's Groove","Wanna Be With You" and "I've Had Enough".

DonRants said:

I remember once hearing a Prince concert where Prince complained that so much good music was being ignored....He named Earth, Wind & Fire as once of the groups whose music deserves more contemporary attention ( at the time of the concert of course). Do any of you guys know which concert this was?

interstingly,when a young Prince signed his first recording contract with WB,they wanted Maurice White to produce his debut album many years later,in 1993,Prince gave EW&F a song "Super Hero" for their Millenium album.

Super Hero - YouTube

SoulAlive said:

Raise! was released in November 1981 and features the singles "Let's Groove","Wanna Be With You" and "I've Had Enough".

I remember I bought the album when I was in the 10th grade one weekend. I got sick and stayed

home from school that Monday but I'll be damn if that stopped me from rocking this album the whole day.

Sing a Song" is a song recorded by R&B/funk band, Earth, Wind & Fire, which was issued as a single in November 1975 on Columbia Records.^[1] The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2][3]

Earth, Wind & Fire - ... - YouTube

"In The Stone" is one of the greatest songs ever that big,dramatic intro sounds like the beginning of a movie! This is the opening track on 'I Am' and when you hear it,you know you're in for a treat.You just know that this is gonna be a very special album.

"In The Stone" (1979)

Earth, Wind & Fire - ... - YouTube

For those with the correct audio set up I highly recommend the multi-channel EWF releases:

Head To The Sky

Open our Eyes

Spirit

That's The Way of the World

Gratitude

Hearing these classics in quadraphonic or 5.1 mixes is absolutely astonishing. Unfortunately some of these are already out of print so the after market price is high.

[Edited 5/29/22 8:50am]

BalladofPeterParker said:

For those with the correct audio set up I highly recommend the multi-channel EWF releases:

Head To The Sky

Open our Eyes

Spirit

That's The Way of the World

Gratitude

Hearing these classics in quadraphonic or 5.1 mixes is absolutely astonishing. Unfortunately some of these are already out of print so the after market price is high.

The Spirit quadrophonic mix is interesting."Getaway" sounds a little different than the regular version:

Earth, Wind & Fire - ... - YouTube

BalladofPeterParker said:

For those with the correct audio set up I highly recommend the multi-channel EWF releases:

Head To The Sky

Open our Eyes

Spirit

That's The Way of the World

Gratitude

Hearing these classics in quadraphonic or 5.1 mixes is absolutely astonishing. Unfortunately some of these are already out of print so the after market price is high.

[Edited 5/29/22 8:50am]

I have all these on old vinyl...

Spirit/That's The Way Of The World hybrid,multichannel,Quadraphonic,remastered disc.

RJOrion said:

RJOrion said:

Deniece Williams:

THIS IS NIECY

SONGBIRD Are all basically Earth Wind & Fire albums with female vocals, since Maurice White, Al McKay, Verdine White, Charles Stepney, and Larry Dunn wrote, produced and played on most of those joints.

I'm glad you mentioned this. I never knew about it. I grabbed This is Niecy.

....

EWF Members certainly contributed to many side projects -

examples include Flora Purim song " Angels", written and performed by Al Mckay and Phillip Bailey....

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...-QDHXUQw2M

...

all of EWF were on the track , "Hot Dawgit" from Ramsey Lewis's "Sun Goddess" album

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...-_Z8e6W7SQ

...

EWF Keyboardist Larry Dunn wrote and arranged the track Sky Islands from Caldera's 1977 album of the same name...

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...pRBjXKuAfs

...

In turn, Caldera keyboardist Eduardo Del Barrio co-wrote EWF's track "Fantasy" with Maurice and Verdine...he also co-wrote "Miracles" from the Powerlight album

...

the 1977 "Sky Islands" album also featured the Larry Dunn track , "Seraphim" which was originally demoed for EWF's "Spirit" album....

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...OYpT1Zr9rY

...

Philip Bailey contributed his lead vocals to Paulinho Da Costa's tune "Deja Vu"

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...Ia9EIFnLPQ

.....

...

....

...

SoulAlive said:

Spirit/That's The Way Of The World hybrid,multichannel,Quadraphonic,remastered disc.

Wasn't the Spirit album a dedication to Charles Stepney after his untimely death during this project? I haven't read the back of the album cover in years but I did give it a listen a month ago.

I watched a video of their 1976 Spirit tour too. They killed it. This was when the band was

really live and energetic. They perform Celebrate and Happy Feelin on here as well.

They used to have some of the baddest interludes ever known to mankind.

I like All About Love from TTWOTW and how the interludes precede the song and after the song.

phunkdaddy said:

Wasn't the Spirit album a dedication to Charles Stepney after his untimely death during this project? I haven't read the back of the album cover in years but I did give it a listen a month ago.

Yes,it was dedicated to him.

paligap said:

....

EWF Members certainly contributed to many side projects -

examples include Flora Purim song " Angels", written and performed by Al Mckay and Phillip Bailey....

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...-QDHXUQw2M

...

all of EWF were on the track , "Hot Dawgit" from Ramsey Lewis's "Sun Goddess" album

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...-_Z8e6W7SQ

...

EWF Keyboardist Larry Dunn wrote and arranged the track Sky Islands from Caldera's 1977 album of the same name...

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...pRBjXKuAfs

...

In turn, Caldera keyboardist Eduardo Del Barrio co-wrote EWF's track "Fantasy" with Maurice and Verdine...he also co-wrote "Miracles" from the Powerlight album

...

the 1977 "Sky Islands" album also featured the Larry Dunn track , "Seraphim" which was originally demoed for EWF's "Spirit" album....

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...OYpT1Zr9rY

...

Philip Bailey contributed his lead vocals to Paulinho Da Costa's tune "Deja Vu"

...

https://www.youtube.com/w...Ia9EIFnLPQ

.....

speaking of EW&F collaborations,this 1980 track by Ramsey Lewis is heavenly I believe Larry Dunn is featured here.

"Whisper Zone" by Ramsey Lewis (1980)

Ramsey Lewis (1980) Whisp... - YouTube

phunkdaddy said:

SoulAlive said:

phunkdaddy said:

I watched a video of their 1976 Spirit tour too. They killed it. This was when the band was

really live and energetic. They perform Celebrate and Happy Feelin on here as well.

I hope that we eventually get a DVD/blu-Ray set of their 70s shows.

That would be a dream come true for me but I seriously doubt it will happen. It's a shame.