493: Earth, Wind and Fire- 'That's the Way of the World'

http://open.spotify.com/album/739zIKWH5IhKL4Eg4zu1ug
I suspect that one look at that album cover there would give you at least a vague idea of what kind of band we're dealing with here. Look at the outfits! Look at the afros! At least some members of the band can't even stop dancing for a routine photo-shoot! One member is having so much fun he seems to have collapsed! That fellow on the far right who seems to be taking the whole thing extremely seriously!

That's right: it's Scandinavian Death Metal!

02:49 What an opening track, 'Shining Star' careers out of the speakers like a funky rhino ('Funky Rhino' is now reserved for my next band's name, sorry) sounding like the theme tune to a 70s Tv show where Stevie Wonder plays a blind cop who can only solve crimes through his amzing skill of feeling 'vibes'

07:36 The title track is obviously where Lenny Kravitz 'got the inspiration for' 'It Ain't Over Til It's Over'. The song's so smooth that it doesn't so much play as it winks at you slowly from across a bar, sends a mohijto over and offers you a Silk Cut

08:22 Incidentally, this album can join such alumni as 'Parade' by Prince and, erm, 'Ben' by Michael Jackson as 'classic soundtracks to films no-one can remember to save their lifes'

11:32 'Happy Feelin'' is extremely appropriately named; unlike most 'happy' songs ('Shiny Happy People', 'Don't Worry Be Happy, etc.) it doesn't make me want to join Al-Qaeda in attempt to wreak my vengeance on the decadent west

17:05 'All About Love' starts off as a generic soul ballad- nice enough but hardly earth-shaking- but swells into brass-based bedlam in the chorus that's so sultry it's all you can do to stop yourself dry-humping the speaker. Just me? Gorgeous coda at the end too

21:35 The start of 'side two' (how deliciously archaic!) is another absolute stonker, 'Yearnin' Learnin'' makes me wish, not for the first time, that I had a huge afro and a pair of platforms. Ok, it's the first time I've wished I had a pair of platforms...

26:54 'Reasons' is a beautiful ballad, with a fantastic vocal performance. The orchestration and horn arrangements all across this album are just perfect.

29:24 That drum fill in 'Africano' has been sampled by at least 62'345 acts. Isn't the flute such an underused instrument in pop music? There isn't a single record that couldn't be improved just a little by it's inclusion- FACT!
Oh sorry, did I say 'FACT!'? I meant 'OPINION!', sorry, it's evidently very easy to get the two confused

39:17 The gospel-funk (it exists, I have heard it) of 'Seen the Light' ends with a recording of traditional African music, and our journey's over brothers and sisters

Brilliant. With exception of the two albums I was already au fait with this is the best album I've heard by a considerable distance. There simply wasn't a bad song nor a dull moment (though if I was being cruel I'd argue that perhaps the closing track went on for longer than was probably necessary), and I'd honestly put 'Shining Star' in my top 20 best album openings of all time. The sound was both lush and abrasive, beautifully produced but always teetering excitingly on the edge of total chaos. Not only would I listen to this album again, but after I write this I'm straight onto Amazon.

Pearl Jam next. Sigh. After having so fun locating my inner black funk player, I now have to exhume my inner 14 year old teenage boy

A-