The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 41
- Publication:
- The Guardian
- Location:
- London, Greater London, England
- Issue Date:
- Page:
- 41
Extracted Article Text (OCR)
Music The Guardian Friday July 18 1997 SUPER FURRY ANIMALS ACTION SUPER FURRY THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF SCREAMING THE NEW SINGLE OUT NOW CO CASSETTE 7 "VINYL forget the rat race SPIRIT RE REL U27 NO CO ON MOUNT PRE Amun. ROOM O. spirit of relaxation Leave the stress of modern living behind with a chilled collection that brings together sounds from the natural world and ambient, creating a serenity to sooth the mind, body and soul. listen to it on virgin listening posts between 21 July and 3 Aug MEGASTORES SIMON 0 BA This immortal foil the intergalactic heroes of pop, soul and funk are back. By Dan Glaister Elemental Earth Wind Fire In The Name Of Love (Eagle Records) £14.49 Wind Fire at the Royal Albert an established brand name, but Hall two weeks ago provided the real thing.
In The Name Of proof, if it were needed, that the Love sees the group's founder seventies are not only back, but Maurice White reunited with are just as stylish and tacky as Philip Bailey, the singer who they seemed at the time. provided the key part of the If there was one group that band's singular sound. seemed to have the blueprint for At the Albert Hall, Bailey's seventies stylish tack, It was falsetto was in hair- raising form, Earth Wind Fire. The tack came drifting from mellifluous soul to in the grandiose stage shows, something close to opera. with spaceships and rockets Behind him, the rhythm guitar of taking off and landing to disgorge Sheldon Reynolds chugged members of the band with alarm- away, while behind him the Ing regularity.
It was so ahead of three-piece brass section Its time that the King of Pop is punched out lines with warm, still doing it in stadiums around caring aggression. the world today. Afros, Bacofoll Those elements are present Shiny trousers, pot bellies, costume changes galore and that was just the audlence. The appearance of a reunited Earth clothing, laser beams galore; the group even used a Darth Vader lookalike. or was it really him? In one of its shows.
But if the concept an Intergalactic disco mission to save the world by preaching love and harmony was trademark tack, the musio was pure style. Between 1973 and 1979, EWF produced a stream of hits backed by a handful of great albums. Watching the reformed and slimmed-down nineties ton of the band perform 1 to a crowd of the devoted faithful, you kept thinking that this must be a covers show. Boogle Wonderland, After The Love Has Gone; Let's Groove, Shining Star, could all these songs really be by the same band? it is Inspirational music. Filed under the derogatory label of disco for much of its early life, the Importance of Earth Wind Fire's music is more apparent with the benefit of hindsight.
Rather than being a covers band, EWF have provided the inspiration for much of the best soul, funk and pop of the past 15 years. The new album carries on where the best work left off. This is no franchised bunch of session musicians cashing in on on the now album, as is the songwriting skill that pervaded the earlier successes. EWF have the knack of the hook, Verdine White's dirty funky bass giving way to sublime choruses. George Clinton, the Ohio Players and Prince all come 1 to mind as influences on this lot, but.
perhaps they are the ones doing the influencing. This is a scorching album which puts most of the pretenders to their throne firmly in their place. There are a handful of obvious singles, from the funk of the current single Revolution, to the Joyous soul of Fill You Up. The band's original members, never ones to rest on their laurels, are to be praised for breathing new life Into a legend that could so easily have been left well alone. Break out the Bacofoll..
Get access to Newspapers.com
- The largest online newspaper archive
- 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
- Millions of additional pages added every month
Publisher Extra® Newspapers
- Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like theThe Guardian
- Archives through last month
- Continually updated
About The Guardian Archive
- Pages Available:
- 2,796,855
- Years Available:
- 1821-2025