290 Hello Earth Wind & Fire - Saturday Nite

Chart  entered  :  12  February  1977

Chart  peak : 17

Number  of  hits : 17

Earth  Wind  and  Fire  would  probably  bristle  at  being  described  as  a  disco  act  but  they  certainly  rode  the  tiger.

The  EWF   story  began  in  1969  when  Maurice  White, a  session  drummer  with  Chess  and  occupant  of  the  drum  stool  for  notable  jazz  outfit  the  Ramsey  Lewis  Trio  for  three  years  between  1966  and  1969 , got   together  with soul  singer  Wade  Flemons  and keyboard  player  Don  Whitehead  to  form  a  songwriting  team. When they  signed  with Capitol  they  called  themselves  The  Salty  Peppers.

They  released  two  singles  in  1969  the  James  Brown-like  funk  instrumental  "La  La  La "  and  the  sprawling  over-complicated  psychedelic  soul  of  "Your  Love  Is  Life". Neither  sold  very  well. Maurice  then  brought  in  another  singer Sherry  Scott , percussionist   Phillard  Williams  and  his  own  younger  brother  Verdine  on  bass.  Donny  Hathaway  helped  them  on  some  demos  which  got  them  signed  to  Warner  Brothers  as  Earth Wind and  Fire  , a  name  derived  from  Maurice's  interest  in  astrology. Auditions  in  LA  yielded  further  members  in  Michael  Beale  ( guitar ), Chester  Washington  ( reeds )  , Leslie  Drayton ( trumpet ) and  Alex  Thomas  ( trombone ).

They  released  their  eponymous  debut  LP  in  February  1971. Coming  in  at  less  than  30  minutes  long  it's  a  competent  blend  of  James  Brown  and  Sly  Stone  but  completely  devoid  of  memorable  songs. "Fan  The  Fire"  was  released  two  months  later  as  the  first  EWF  single.
 The  lyrics  address  the  same  issues  as  Ball  of  Confusion  but    it's  a  tuneless  grind  of  a  song  with  too  much  going  on. "Love  Is  Life"  is   like  Harold  Melvin  and  the  Bluenotes'  soft  soul , the  first  of  many  ballads  over  the  years  but  it's  not  very  well  realised  with  the  horns  far  too  obtrusive. Nevertheless  it  was  a  minor  hit  in  the  US , reaching  number  83.

Their  second  album  "The  Need  of  Love"  was  released  later  that  same  year  and  wanders  off  into  less  commercial  waters; the  free  jazz  interludes  of   nine  minutes  plus  opener  "Energy"  being  particularly  testing. Sherry's  Dionne  Warwick  -ish  soul  number  "I  Think  About  Lovin  You"  was  the  only  possible  single  but  didn't  do  anything. Still  the  album  outsold  its  predecessor  making  it  to  number  89  in  the  US  charts.

The  original  band's  last  work  was  on  the  soundtrack  to  Melvin  Van  Peebles'  dodgy  film  Sweet  Sweetback's  Badasssss Song. They  then  split  up  and  Maurice  reconstituted  the  band  with  only  Verdine  carrying  over  from  the  previous  line  up. Sherry  was  replaced  by  Jessica  Cleaves  from  The  Friends  of  Distinction  and  the  other  new  players  were  Philip  Bailey  ( vocals ) , Ronnie  Laws  ( flute  and  saxophone ), Roland  Bautista  ( guitar  ) , Larry  Dunn  ( keyboards )   and  Ralph  Johnson  ( percussion ). With  Warner  Brothers  unenthusiastic  about  the  new  band  their  contract  was  bought  out  by  Columbia  after  they  supported  John  Sebastian.

Their  first  LP  for  Columbia  was  "Last  Days and  Time"  in  1972  which  improved  on  its  predecessor's  chart  placing  by  precisely  two  places. Philip's  falsetto  is  a  notable  new  element  in  the  sound  though  not  always  well  used -  check  out  the  ropey  covers  of  "Make  It  With  You"  and  "Where  Have  All  The  Flowers  Gone ? "  (  the  latter  re-worked  as  a  doo-wop  number  and  the  second  single ) The  low-key  Latin  groover   "Mom"    was  the  lead  single  ( lacking  Larry's  fine  clavinet  solo  on  the  album  version )   and  shows  that  their  songwriting  still  had  some  way  to  go.

Their  fourth  album  "Head  To  The  Sky"  in  1973  was  their  commercial  breakthrough  in  the  US  reaching  number  27. It  spawned  two  hit  singles  "Evil" , a watered  -down  War  groove  which  reached  number  50  and  the  title  track   which  is  sung  by  Philip  and  moves  into  Stylistics  territory. It  got  to  number  52.

This  relative  success  was  followed   by  another  convulsion  in  the  line  up. Ronnie,  Roland  and  the  under-used  Jessica  quit. Philip  recommended  a  schoolfriend  Andrew  Woolfolk  to  come  in  on  sax. Roland  was  replaced  by  two  guitarists  Al  McKay  who'd  worked  with  Ike  and  Tina  Turner  and  Johnny  Graham. Maurice  introduced  another  brother , Fred,  to  relieve  him  of  much  of  the  drumming  duties. Jessica  was  not  replaced. This  was  the  line  up  that  started  to  make  a  name  for  themselves  as  a  top  live  act.  They  performed  at  the California  Jam  Festival  in  April  1974.

Their  upward  trajectory  continued  with  the  "Open  Our  Eyes  " LP  in  1974  which  reached  number 15.The  busy  funk  workout  "Mighty  Mighty"  reached  number  29  despite  not  having  much  of  a tune and  "Kalimba  Story" an edgier, to my ears more interesting  funk  number   and  the  languid  soul  ballad  "Devotion"  were  also  hit  singles  at  56  and  33  respectively.  Maurice  has  the  group  then  accept  an  offer  from  his ex-employer  Ramsey  Lewis  to  appear  to  collaborate  on  his  Sun  Goddess  album  and  were  rewarded  with  two  more  hit  singles  when  the  quirky  wordless  jazz  funk  instrumentals  "Hot  Dawgit"  and  "Sun  Goddess"  reached  numbers  50  and  44  respectively.

They  reached  their  commercial  peak  in  the  US  with  the  next  LP  "That's  The  Way  Of  The  World"  which  is  their  only  all-studio  chart-topper.It  followed  in  the  wake  of  its  lead  single  "Shining  Star" which  topped  the  US  charts  in  March  1975. "Shining  Star"  crams  a  lot  of  ideas  into  its  two  minutes  and   fifty  seconds, horn  breaks, a  guitar  solo, Maurice  and  Philip  trading  vocals, an a  cappella  section  and  a  reasonable  melodic  hook  . and  reaped  the  rewards  with  a  number  one  and  a  Grammy  for  Best  R  &B  Performance. Following  their  now  customary  practice  of  following  a  hard  funk  song  with  a   smooth  ballad  they  released  the  mellow  title  track  as  the  second  single  and  it  reached  number  12. The  album  was  actually  the  soundtrack  was  to  a  film  in  which  they  featured  along  with  Harvey  Keitel  but  Maurice  astutely  determined  the  film   would  be  a  turkey  and  made  sure  the  album  was  released  before  it  opened.

Despite  the  UK's  disinterest,  Earth  Wind  and  Fire  were  now  one  of  the  hottest  groups  in  the  world  but  they  were  committed  to  a  European  tour  supporting  Santana. As  soon  as  they  returned  Columbia  pushed  them  into  the  studio  to  record  a  follow  up. Maurice  took  the  opportunity  to  expand  the  line  up  with  a  full  horn  section.  Joining  Andrew  were  Don  Myrick  on  sax, Louis  Satterfield  on  trombone  and  Michael  Harris  on  trumpet. The  band  put  down  five  new  tracks  but  nearly  three  sides  of  the  new  LP  sardonically  entitled "Gratitude"  were  taken  up  by  concert  recordings. It  still  got  to  number  one  at  the  beginning  of  1976.  

The  first  single  from  it , "Sing  A  Song"  is  notable  for  the  backing  track  sounding  very  similar  to  their  1978  hit  "September"  though  without  such  a  strong  chorus. It  reached  number  five. The  sultry  soul  ballad  "Can't  Hide  Love"reached  number  39.

Driven  on  by  Maurice, the  band's  workrate  didn't  let  up  and  a  new  single  "Getaway"  came  out  in  July  1976.  Driven  by  Ralph's  frenetic  percussion  with  the  horns  trying  to keep  pace  and  Philip's  now  unmistakable  falsetto  ascending  to  the  chorus  it  was  an  uncompromising  taster, reaching  number  12 in  the charts ,  for  the  new  LP  "Spirit"  in  September. It  had  to  settle  for  runner's  up  spot  in  the  album  chart  but  there  was  compensation  when  its  second  single  finally  cracked  the   UK  market  for  them.

"Saturday  Nite  "  is  an  odd  single  to  break  through. Breaking  with  the  groover/ ballad  pattern  it starts  out  as  a  mid-paced  synth-driven  funk  number  with   two  verses  of   Maurice's  gnarly  voice  anticipating  a  big  gig  before  a  sudden  drop  into  a  Philip  sung  sweet  pop  chorus  referring  to  nursery  rhymes   to  illustrate  some  rather  woozy  philosophical  musings  about  life. When  it  comes  back  to  Maurice  he's  agitated about  the  world  situation  and  concludes  by  asking  the  disco  crowd  "When  you  gonna  wake  and  see  the  sun, stop  wasting  time  and  having  fun". The  rest  of  the  band  seem  oblivious  to  their  leader's  curmudgeonly  concerns  about  how  their  music  is  being  consumed  and  party  on. Despite  sounding  like  two  different  songs  soldered  together  and  the  mixed  messages  it  somehow  works  and  it  got  them  off  the  mark  here  in  a  receptive  time  for  R &B  with  Heatwave, Tavares  and  Raydio  also  scoring  well  in  the  charts.