Search - Earth Wind & Fire :: Last Days & Time

One of my Personal Favorites

M. Jones | 09/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the album were they began going down the path, with the majority of the memebers that we would come to know as the Mighty Elements. This album is raw, funky & progressive. The band doesn't hold back in the least, nasty guitar and bass, the usual amazing vocals and one of the, if not the, greatest instrumental offerings ever in the song "Power" composed by Maurice White. That song is truly a gift from above brought down and given to us the listener.



Although, this is this is Earth, Wind and Fire's 3rd album by that name, only 2 of the original members are left at this point, Maurice and his brother, Verdine on bass. This album introduces us to Larry Dunn, Phillip Bailey & Ralph Johnson all of whom would form the foundation of greatness that was about to define the Elements as the greatest band ever!



Other personal favorites on the record are the cover to "Where Have the Flowers Gone" were we get our 1st taste of Phillip Bailey's incredible vocals. I also love "Time is on Your Side", "What About the Children" is raw funk & "Mom" is a wonderful tribute to mothers everywhere and what the feminine aspect truly gives if only received.



Once again this album showcases Maurice White's incredible songwriting, musicianship & production skills. This is probably their hardest album and one that i would highly recommend."

A Little More Info

S. Brown | Prince George's County | 05/07/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just to correct/add to a couple of earlier reviews, the track "Power", onle of my favorites for nearly 40 years now, is on the box set "The Eternal Dance". I believe that is Ronnie Laws blowing the sax."

Echoes Of The Future But Still Searching For Their Identity

MUZIK4THAPEOPLE!! | Seattle & San Diego | 07/20/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Overall, I'd say 1972's "Last Days & Time" was a pretty

decent offering. I didn't really get into E, W & F until

1973's "Head To The Sky" after they made the final personel

changes which would bring them into their greatest

creative period and success from 1973-1982.

On this album, their first with Columbia Records,

they were still searching for their indentity and

unique niche. This is a very raw and tribal funky

jazz rock fusion sound with echoes of smoother

pop-influenced aspirations which they would sharpen

to a fine point within the next few years with

the help of the late great Charles Stepney and later

others like David Foster, Bill Champlain, and other

writers and production assistants.

This was the afrocentric, fist-raising but still

universal, afro & platform shoe-wearing, semi-glitter,

black hippyesque E,W & F, who played the black college

circuit and opened up shows for the likes of contemporaries

like Funkadelic, Mandrill, WAR, Rare Earth, New Birth,

Curtis Mayfield, Sly & The Family Stone, etc., and who

had also just a year before, after an uneventful 1970-71

stint with Warner Brothers Records, created the soundtrack

(basically for nothing!) to the 70's black cinema classic

"Sweet Sweetback's Baddass Song"!!

(A Little known fact to look up!)



This was also the emergence of some pivotal young band

members who would shape their future sound considerably:

Then 21 yr old Philip Bailey, whose beautiful & powerful

falsetto is very unpolished on this album, then 20 yr old

Larry Dunn, who Bailey brought to Maurice White's attention

as an amazing young keyboard player and one of his homeboys

from Denver, Colorado. Also young soprano sax and flutist

Andrew Woolfolk hailed from Denver and was brought in on

Bailey's recomendation. Then there was Al Mckay, a brilliant guitarist

who was probably more accomplished than all the

other band members besides Maurice White.

He had played behind established stars of the day like

The Watts 103rd Street Band, Issac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor

and many others. He would replace early guitarist

Roland Bautista, who would return years later for a

re-tooled and scaled down version of the band in the 80's.

Less pivotal to their sound, but just as brilliant in their musicanship

were other newcomers like guitarist Johnny Graham

(no relation to Larry),who along with Phillip, Larry,

Andrew and Verdine, were fresh out of college when they

joined and infused Maurice White's vision for E, W & F

with that youthful energy and openess!

There were also two female voices, Sherry Scott

of Philadelphia International Records fame.

(Y'all remember Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes smooth

jam "I Hope That We Can Be Together Soon"??..that was her

dueting with Teddy Pendergrass.)

Also, there was the rich and sultry voice of

Jessica Cleaves, who was a member of the late

60's/early 70's soul-pop vocal group "Friends Of Distinction".

After leaving "Friends" abruptly in mid '72, she joined

E, W &F briefly to fill in for Scott, who was doing things

between with P.I.R. and E, W & F.

Jessica would eventually leave E, W & F just as abruptly

a year later in mid '73, when her drug habit and less

than clean living & questionably spiritual lifestyle

clashed with E, W & F's then devoutly spiritual, non-pork

eating, mostly vegan, meditating, communal lifestyle.

Sherry Scott is singing lead on "I'd Rather Have You"

while Jessica's siren-like voice can be heard blending

with Phillip's falsetto throughout this album as well

as on "Head To The Sky". After Scott and Cleaves left,

Maurice decided not to replace them.

With Phillip's incredible 4 octave vocal range as well

as his own amazing baritone-tenor-falsetto and a few of

the other members tenor/falsettos, he decided that they

had the vocals pretty much covered! (-:

Younger brother and a brilliant Chicago session drummer

in his own right, Fred White, who had been playing the

likes of Donny Hathaway and Curtis Mayfield,

joined the band full time in 1973 along with the

equally adept drummer-percussionist Ralph Johnson,

and the band was then set "In The Stone" for the next 9 years!



The gems that still hold up on this album are:

"Time Is On Your Side", "They Don't See",

"Remember The Children", and "Mom".

The instrumental "Power" is cool on here and

worked for it's time, but I prefer it's live

infusion with 1975's "Africano", later featured

on "Gratitude" as the "Africano/Power Medley"!!

That version rocked!

As for the rest of this album, it's kind of dated and

doesn't hold up. They cover Bread's "Make It With You"

and Pete Seeger's folk-pop anti-war standard

"Where Have All The Flowers Gone" kind of lacklusterly

to me, but the song "I'd Rather Have You" is cool in

that early 70's soulful-pop Fifth Dimension meets

The Carpenters kind of way! (-:

But this album is essential in the musical evolution

of what E, W & F would become later on in the 70's,

when they ruled R&B and Pop music along with

the likes Stevie Wonder, and could fill stadiums and

large arenas all over the world!

Their music and elaborate stage shows were the

stuff of legend! (-: Though this album was one I

discovered and explored much later on (around 1980)

after E, W & F had been successful for awhile,

I think it's definitely worth a listen.

The cover art was quite innovative for it's time

and still catches the eye!"