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Earth, Wind & Fire were formed in 1970 by Maurice White and at one stage had as many members as a small town. With costumes as flash as the 70s could muster and the bonus of the stage gimmick of a revolving drum kit, their excesses were funded by a series of huge global hits.

Well it comes as a bit of a surprise that such a project hasn’t been done before but clearly Maurice White, as Executive Producer here, has demanded the controlling hand that has ensured the quality of these versions. You can tell this from the very first funkin’ blasts of ‘Shining Star’ with Chaka Khan who was a contemporary of EWF’s hit period.

While on the subject of soul divas, Angie Stone tends to get me excited and she does ‘Be Ever So Wonderful’ as an exquisite ballad. White wrote ‘Devotion’ as a testament to his faith. This version is sung by the not so well known Ledisi, but she’s got a mighty controlled power to her voice that’s little seen outside of gospel circles.

What with the Fatback Band and Bar-Kays ‘revival’, my sets are getting (some would say) a much-needed boost of dance floor funkability. And when it comes to BIG get on the dance floor tunes, ‘September’ is just that provided by the gospel-centric Kirk Franklin.

Now you wouldn’t have thought there’d be much of a link between this album and the Radiohead cover version Exit Music project. Well there is with no less than three artists in common. The Randy Watson Experience and Bibal were both on that album on different tracks but combine here in a magical way. Gone is the “off-centre jazz” as the slow start of ‘Can’t Hide Love’ gives way to a Latin big band. And if ‘September’ is a BIG tune, how massive is ‘Fantasy’? Well, Me’Shell ‘National Anthem’ Ndegeocello has a bit of a reputation for being different but even so, this rock’n’roll version is a bit of a surprise; well a lot of a surprise as the last we heard of her was the jazz album Dance Of The Infidel.

‘That’s The Way Of The World’ is now a downtempo Afro-off-centre drum circle with Dwele as excellent as ever.

This project is a solid album that brings back lots of memories to create new memories. It’s a shame there no real jazzy tracks or really fast tunes but I’m sure the remixing community will be getting onto Maurice about that type of thing.

Also note, with your crate diggin’ hat on, you’d have thought that this would be released on the CBS label but, to be honest, I got excited just seeing the Stax label logo on this CD. As it’s 50 years since Stax was formed, this album is part of the re-launch and we’re promised loads of new signings and releases. Let’s hope future releases will be at least as good as this… Boogie Wonderlaaaaannnd where are you?

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Can’t Hide Love’, ‘Shinning Star’, ’ ‘September’, ‘That’s The Way Of The World’

Reviewed: V/A — Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth, Wind & Fire (Stax) Cat. No. Release date: 11th June 2007
Tracklisting
1. Shining Star — Chaka Khan (4:01)
2. Be Ever Wonderful — Angie Stone (4:04)
3. September — Kirk Franklin (3:56)
4. Devotion — Ledisi (4:46)
5. Can’t Hide Love — The Randy Watson Experience featuring Bilal (5:15)
6. Love’s Holiday — Lalah Hathaway (4:03)
7. That’s The Way Of The World — Dwele (5:19)
8. After The Love Is Gone — Mint Condition (5:37)
9. Reasons — Musiq Soulchild (4:51)
10. Fantasy — Me’Shell NdegéOcello (3:41)

Links:
www.EarthWindAndFire.com
www.myspace.com/earthwindandfire
www.soulsvilleusa.com
www.kirkfranklin.us
Dwele www.dwele.net
www.myspace.com/officialmeshellndegeocello
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 12 April 07 :: Pete’s strange funky games and things mix compiled by BBE owner and A&R guru Peter Adarkwah.
Prince — ‘I Feel For You’ (Warner Brothers)
Marvin Gaye — ‘T Plays it Cool’ (Motown)
Rufus Ft Chaka Khan- ‘Please Pardon Me of A Friend’ (MCA)
Donald Byrd — ‘Think Twice’ (Blue Note)
The Dramatics — ‘Whatcha See is Whatcha Get’ (Master Cuts)
Jose Feliciano — ‘California Dreaming’ (bbe)
Creative Source — ‘Can’t Hide Love’ (bbe)
Class Action Featuring Chris Wiltshire — ‘The Weekend’ (Sleeping Bag)
Earth Wind & Fire — ‘Runnin’ (CBS)
Earth Wind & Fire — ‘Brazilian Rhyme’ (CBS)
Pitbull — El Mariel “contains a sample of Earth Wind & Fire’s Runnin’/Brazilian Rhyme”
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 7 June 07 :: Box of Delights
Randy Watson Experience & Bilal — ‘You Can’t Hide Love’ (Stax)