The main man of possibly my favourite ever band Earth Wind & Fire, mastermind of seven or eight of the greatest records ever made, died in his sleep this morning aged 74.
2016 can just fuck off.
2016 can just fuck off.
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Maurice White RIP
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Maurice White RIP
2016 really is turning into a stinker.
Thank you, Mr White, for some of the most life enhancing music and performances that we're ever likely to enjoy.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
It has occurred to me once or twice down the years that there has never really been a proper Earth Wind & Fire thread on OTF. I suppose there will be one now.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
I may or may not be dropping in to post whilst on a brief break from dancing around my living room playing air bass to EW&F tracks with my shirt off. It feels like the kind of response he'd have appreciated.
1. Fantasy
2. September
3. Boogie Wonderland
4. Reasons
5. After The Love Has Gone
6. Fantasy again, because why not?Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Despite being on the outside a punk rocker in the late 70's, I'd always followed my soul boy elder brother's lead without admitting it. Fantasy was a massive guilty pleasure, not only the tune but the stunning production! RIP Fella!Comment
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Maurice White RIP
This is hitting me harder than any of last month's deaths. Earth, Wind & Fire have brought me so much joy over the years.
Top 5 EWF tracks with Maurice on lead vocals:
Love's Holiday
In The Stone
After The Love Has Gone
Can't Hide Love
That's The Way Of The World (EWF's national anthem)
Be Ever Wonderful
September
Boogie Wonderland
[strike]Burning Bush[/strike] Let's Groove
[strike]You[/strike] My LoveComment
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Maurice White RIP
Probably the best tribute I can pay to EWF is when every time I see the 'Boogie Wonderland' video, they look like they've been there for hours, and then carry on for hours after the filming stopped.
RIP.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Obviously I concur with all said above.
However a song that often gets lost in the truly great EW&F catalogue is the gorgeous "Wait" from the "I Am" album, really one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
That's my favourite too; those shifts in beat at the end, with so-subtle pauses, are just genius.Tony C wrote: Obviously I concur with all said above.
However a song that often gets lost in the truly great EW&F catalogue is the gorgeous "Wait" from the "I Am" album, really one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Oh man, "Wait" was the soundtrack to an unrequited love thing with a friend who loved me "very much but not in that way". How could I have forgotten that in my list of Maurice-fronted songs?
Beautiful anbd undeerated song. The phrasing is wonderful. "Lovin' when...infatu -a - tion - ends". "The wait for you... baby, it - now - be - gins", and as the notes ascend, the horns add an extra one.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
I can't add anything else to thisGreen Calx wrote: The main man of possibly my favourite ever band Earth Wind & Fire, mastermind of seven or eight of the greatest records ever made, died in his sleep this morning aged 74.
2016 can just fuck off.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Yep, and the wistful "baby, baby, baby, baby" at the end is just sublime.G-Man wrote: Oh man, "Wait" was the soundtrack to an unrequited love thing with a friend who loved me "very much but not in that way". How could I have forgotten that in my list of Maurice-fronted songs?
Beautiful anbd undeerated song. The phrasing is wonderful. "Lovin' when...infatu -a - tion - ends". "The wait for you... baby, it - now - be - gins", and as the notes ascend, the horns add an extra one.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
RIP - great act.
1 Shining Star
2 September
3 Fantasy
4 I've Had Enough
5 StarComment
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Maurice White RIP
Bloody hell, what's going on?
I can't believe he was 74.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
No, that surprised me too. (Five years older than Bowie? I'd have thought late sixties perhaps.)
One small thing that bugs me is the press referencing September as a 'favourite wedding song'. I mean, ffs - it's a great song, why cheapen it like that?Comment
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Maurice White RIP
I was at university in the 80s and thought I was too cool for Earth Wind and Fire. Fortunately, a more open-minded mate wore me down via repeated playings of I Am - truly one of the most joyous albums ever made. The songs are amazing but it's the production that makes the music still sound so fresh. RIP Maurice.
I vaguely recall he was a massive acid head, which would would go someway to explain his unique kind of genius.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
RIP Maurice. If you didn't move to EW&F you were dead from the neck down.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Very sad. A fantastic band that BROUGHT IT for many, many years.
One of my favorite radio shows here in Austin, Soul Vaccination, is hosted by DJ Magic ELJ, who is a huge EWF fanatic. His show on Monday, 4:30 p.m. Central U.S. Time, is likely to be an absolute emotional scorcher, and I recommend streaming it, any of you who can.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
According to some posts on my Facebook feed, he was also the drummer on some good old songs:
"Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass
"Summertime" by Billy Stewart
"The Shoop Shoop Song" by Betty Everett
I hope that's true, but even if not, his EWF legacy is huge.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Oliver Wang brings up some lesser-known songs he was part of:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/05/maurice-white-earth-wind-and-fire-deep-cutsComment
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Maurice White RIP
Add to that my erstwhile radio show's theme song, "Wade In The Water" by Ramsey Lewis, all oif Minnie Riperton's Come To My Garden LP (including her marvellous version of "Les Fleurs")Heliotrope wrote: According to some posts on my Facebook feed, he was also the drummer on some good old songs:
"Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass
"Summertime" by Billy Stewart
"The Shoop Shoop Song" by Betty Everett
I hope that's true, but even if not, his EWF legacy is huge.
Plus he produced and co-wrote The Emotions' "Best Of My Love" and co-produced Deniece Williams' gorgeous 1977 #1 "Free", and indeed the whole This Is Niecy LP (with EWF producer Charles Stepney, who died before the release of Niecy).Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Great, proud, exiting body of work. RIP.
This song described by Dave Lee/Joey Negro as one of the best sounding records made in the 70s, Runnin.
Also, apart from the splendid tracks that have already been mentioned;
And Love Goes On.
Kalimba Story.
Bad Tune. Used to wonderful effect on Brand Nubian's Dance To My Ministry.
The aformentioned (in inca's article) Moment Of Truth used in both Jungle Brother's Good Newz Comin'(From a great and a little under-appreciated LP, Done By The Forces Of Nature ), and Tony Scott's Euro Hip-House anthem Get Into It.
For sample lovers Earth Wind And Fire really are a treasure trove. Hundreds of familiar basslines, beats, horn and vocal snippets can be attributed to White's band. In the same way I used to spend Saturday trawling the old records shops I'll spend today trawling and jumping off from EWF tracks.
*If anyone has a copy of the Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song soundtrack LP, I'd be very grateful.Comment
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Maurice White RIP
Had a listen yesterday to Maurice's eponymous solo album from 1985, a time when EW&F were very much on the skids creatively. It's not great to be honest. The man is in fine voice, as usual, but the songs just aren't much cop – certainly not when compared to the stuff he and his band were knocking out five or six years earlier.
The best track is probably Jamboree, which sounds like a filler cut from Raise! or Faces. Ah well, no one can be an artistic godhead all the time, not even Maurice White.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzVDlxGHsMUComment
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Maurice White RIP
Which leads us to a ranking of EWF LPs in their prime, 1974-81.
1. All 'n' All (1977)
2. I Am (1979)
3. Gratitude (1975)
4. Raise (1981, despite the shitty mastering)
5. Open Our Eyes (1974)
6. That's The Way Of The World (1975)
7. Faces (1980)
8. Spirit (1976)
I'm not too keen on the last two, a few stand-out tracks aside, even though Faces apparently was Maurce's favorite.Comment
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