HiRez Poll Earth, Wind & Fire - SPIRIT & THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD [SACD]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2020 Multichannel SACD release from Dutton Vocalion of the classic Earth, Wind & Fire albums "Spirit" and "That's the Way of the World".
This Multichannel SACD contains the first release of the original Quadraphonic mixes for both albums for the first time in over 40 years!

Spirit
LP PC 34241 (1976) STEREO/PCQ 34241 QUADRAPHONIC
1: GETAWAY (Taylor; Cor)
2: ON YOUR FACE (M. White; Stepney; Bailey)
3: IMAGINATION (M. White; Stepney; Bailey)
4: SPIRIT (M. White; Dunn)
5: SATURDAY NITE (M. White; McKay; Bailey)
6: EARTH, WIND & FIRE (M. White; Scarborough)
7: DEPARTURE (M. White; Dunn)
8: BIYO (M. White; McKay)
9: BURNIN’ BUSH (Peters)

Arrangers: Charles Stepney [1-3, 5-7], Jerry Peters [8-9], Tom Tom 84 [4]


That's the Way of the World
LP PC 33280 (1975) STEREO/PCQ 33280 QUADRAPHONIC
10: SHINING STAR (M. White; Bailey; Dunn)
11: THAT’S THE WAY OF THE WORLD (M. White; Stepney; V. White)
12: HAPPY FEELIN’ (M. White; Bailey; V. White; Dunn; McKay)
13: ALL ABOUT LOVE (M. White; Dunn)
14: YEARNIN’ LEARNIN’ (M. White; Stepney; Bailey)
15: REASONS (M. White; Stepney; Bailey)
16: AFRICANO (M. White; Dunn)
17: SEE THE LIGHT (Dunn; Bailey; Anglin)

Arrangers: Earth, Wind & Fire, Charles Stepney

Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton


Multi-ch Stereo
All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel


SA-CD
This hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD players

CDSML8574

 

[fredblue]

totally head over heels in love with the beautiful sound of this disc!! whatever the Watfordian Wizkid has done i want some of that special treatment baby owwww!!!

i'll go into a greater spiel about how i feel later but i'll just pop this pic here with a note that £135 quids' worth of old Quad LPs and tapes can now have a well-deserved rest, thanks to the work of the Wiz, his Wizssistants and all the wee elves! they're all Shining Stars in my eyes

 

[fredblue]

something i noticed last night, while it doesn't do anything quaddy or soundwise, it is a kinda cute attention to detail i thought, is that the disc is silk-screened with the white/blue/orange/black geometric triangular pyramids shaped thingies from the inside of the Spirit LP inner sleeve artwork!

is this the first time a DV Quad SACD has been pressed in such a way?

 

[4-earredwonder]

something i noticed last night, while it doesn't do anything quaddy or soundwise, it is a kinda cute attention to detail i thought, is that the disc is silk-screened with the white/blue/orange/black geometric triangular pyramids shaped thingies from the inside of the Spirit LP inner sleeve artwork!

is this the first time a DV Quad SACD has been pressed in such a way?

AFAIK, YES, Adam. Wonderful attention to detail and IMO, adds to the INCREDIBLE bargain this fantastic QUAD TWO~FER represents.

 

[key_wiz]

OK...here we go...the full review.

First. Earth, Wind & Fire.

Many people here probably aren't familiar with this band beyond the earlier funkier hits like "Shining Star" and then the later more-disco-y hits like "September" and "Let's Groove". But this band was so much more than that.

First of all, they were a BAND. Unlike so many other R&B groups of the 70s (many of which are represented by some of the other recent releases) EWF wasn't just some group of singers put together by the label to sing the songs given to them and produced by others. This was a real band of musicians headed by Maurice White who along with his brothers Verdine and Fred and the various other talented musicians they picked up along the way, put together one of the most important and seminal acts of the 1970s. They mixed jazz, R&B and African influences with just enough of rock to keep it heavy and real.

And they were a band who, with each successive album, kept pushing themselves in terms of songwriting, arrangements and production. Every new album of theirs in the 1970s was one I looked forward to expecting to hear a new progression forward in all of these areas. I consider their 5 album run from "That's The Way of the World" through "I Am" to be among the best in music history.

The only other similar act I compared them with in the same genre during the early/mid 70s was Tower of Power. Who I thought was ahead of them in 73/74. But by 1975 with the release of "That's The Way of the World", EWF surpassed them and never looked back,

That album was funky, soulful, and you started to see where they were headed in terms of setting new boundaries for horn/string arrangements in pop songs and production. "Shining Star" was a funky masterpiece. "That's The Way of The World" sounded like nothing else before it with it's jazz undertones, slick production, and Phillip Bailey's soring falsetto matched with Maurice's baritone.

Soon after came the double LP "Gratitude" (find the 5.1 remix if you don't already have it!) which was 3 (almost) sides live and 5 new tracks, with the new tracks pointing towards----

"Spirit". This album was the groundwork for their soon to come masterpiece "All 'n All". But all the elements are here. While TTWOTW was still raw in terms of its arrangements, "Spirit" is where we first hear what is now well known as the "Earth Wind & Fire Horns". Fat, Sharp and Staccato. The growth between these two albums is phenomenal. All one needs to do to understand this is to compare the instrumental track "Africano" on TTWOFT with "Biyo" on 'Spirit'. Very similar tracks in many respects, but the arrangement and production of "Biyo" is light years ahead.

To surmise all of that above for the purposes of this forum---these aren't just a couple of 70's R&B albums with a couple of hits on them. These are seminal albums in the legacy of pop and R&B.

Why D-V put these albums in reverse chronological album on this release I won't nitpick with, but I will recommend that you play TTWOTW first. The progression that came between these two albums needs to be appreciated by listening to them in order.

"Spirit" bursts open with "Getaway". EWF wasn't playing like this a year earlier. They COULDN'T play this a year earlier. NoONE sounded like this a year earlier.

The quad mixes here are great. TTWOTW has a very good, very discreet quad mix of what seems pretty typical of 1975. And there are a lot of things here that aren't on the stereo mix. So it's fun in that regard.

"Spirit" is a revelation. Mixed by Larry Keyes, I'd offer this might be THE best mix of the quad era. This has all the hallmarks of the best 5.1 mixes to come decades later. Excellent discreetness but enveloping. Having learned what I have from this forum about the limitations of 70s quad formats, this one seems to have broken some of those barriers. Almost as if it was mixed for the next generation of playback systems.

To say this release is a "10" doesn't do it justice.

 

[sjcorne]

"Spirit" is a revelation. Mixed by Larry Keyes, I'd offer this might be THE best mix of the quad era. This has all the hallmarks of the best 5.1 mixes to come decades later. Excellent discreetness but enveloping. Having learned what I have from this forum about the limitations of 70s quad formats, this one seems to have broken some of those barriers. Almost as if it was mixed for the next generation of playback systems.

Couldn't have said it any better! I loved this mix off the SQ LP, but hearing it off the new SACD in fully discrete hi-rez glory is really something else. Larry Keyes had really developed his skills by the very end of the quad era - it's amazing that the same guy mixed Loggins & Messina's self-titled LP into quad just a few years earlier (not that I have anything against that mix, it's just very '70s in style). The Isley Brothers' Go For Your Guns is another one of his later-era mixes that's up there with the best modern 5.1's (and would benefit greatly from the D-V treatment!).

 

[Goona]

Automatic 10 this is probably the best I have heard from the Wizard.

 

[kenbefound]

Gratitude SACD is also highly recommended; one of my top ten favorite surround discs in both sonics and material.

 

[mac444]

Keywhiz, couldn't have said it better, EW&F was on fire and no one sounded like them in my opinion. Can't wait for this disc to arrive, still waiting for my prior Dec. order to arrive!! Love D V but what's up with the shipping?

 

[key_wiz]

Keywhiz, couldn't have said it better, EW&F was on fire and no one sounded like them in my opinion. Can't wait for this disc to arrive, still waiting for my prior Dec. order to arrive!! Love D V but what's up with the shipping?

Dunno. Based on what others are saying in another thread, it looks like there must have been some problem with orders in Dec. Luckily, I waited until Jan to order this with a bunch of others including the Dec releases that all got here really, really fast. I hope they get the Dec order thing resolved for everyone!

But you're going to love this disc, if you're already a big fan of the band. The quad mixes are outstanding. And what a value getting both of them on one disc.

 

[beerking]

I saw E.W. and F. in 1975, supporting Santana.
I say supporting ...imo they just blew him away.
Everything about them was just so alive and vibrant.
Certainly left a long cherished memory for me.

Just thought I would throw that little aside in, as this is completely brilliant too.
10+

 

[bktouchstone]

To say this release is a "10" doesn't do it justice.

Still waiting for my order from December so reading this review has added to the agony! Thanks, though, for taking the time to write this. A very good review. I will take your advice and listen to these in reverse order. Never got to the album level of EW&F in the 70s but really enjoyed the hits, so this should be fun.

 

[Bob Romano]

Can I ask if the segue between Shining Star and That's The Way was fixed? On the original 8track the first note of TTWOTW was truncated. When I did my conversion I went back and added the full note using the stereo version. Just curious.

This disc has me most excited because I love both albums so much.

 

[fredblue]

Can I ask if the segue between Shining Star and That's The Way was fixed? On the original 8track the first note of TTWOTW was truncated. When I did my conversion I went back and added the full note using the stereo version. Just curious.

This disc has me most excited because I love both albums so much.

please check your PMs

 

[Bob Romano]

Thanks for that. The first note of TTWOTW is missing as it is on the 8track. Still, a minor nit pick for what IS there. Thank you. Still two of my favorite albums let alone quad albums.

 

[fredblue]

Thanks for that. The first note of TTWOTW is missing as it is on the 8track. Still, a minor nit pick for what IS there. Thank you. Still two of my favorite albums let alone quad albums.

anytime

baked into the mix i guess

i would write to Don Young and Harold J. Kleiner to complain but i'd need a medium and a ouija board sadly

 

[Bob Romano]

So I have not heard these discs yet but... knowing what I know about the how good the mixes are and knowing the track record of D-V, I can only imagine how great these albums will sound on this disc. Even if they sounded marginally good (which I know won't be the case) this disc would get a 10 from me. Really looking forward to this one.

 

[fredblue]

So I have not heard these discs yet but... knowing what I know about the how good the mixes are and knowing the track record of D-V, I can only imagine how great these albums will sound on this disc. Even if they sounded marginally good (which I know won't be the case) this disc would get a 10 from me. Really looking forward to this one.

well i don't think too many people will be turning to their trusty old Q8s and SQ LPs for these two all that much down the line..

looking forward to a high score!
tbh i'd be surprised to see this ranked really low by any member at all unless somebody totally hated the music or something which to me is unthinkable!

 

[kenbefound]

totally head over heels in love with the beautiful sound of this disc!! whatever the Watfordian Wizkid has done i want some of that special treatment baby owwww!!!

i'll go into a greater spiel about how i feel later but i'll just pop this pic here with a note that £135 quids' worth of old Quad LPs and tapes can now have a well-deserved rest, thanks to the work of the Wiz, his Wizssistants and all the wee elves! they're all Shining Stars in my eyes

Very cool. Was Spirit the last Quad release for EW&F?

 

[fredblue]

Very cool. Was Spirit the last Quad release for EW&F?

Thanks!
Yes