|
All'n All-1977 Columbia 34905 Produced by Maurice White Production Assistants: Verdine White & Larry Dunn Arranged by Tom
Tom 84, Eumir Deodato Recorded at Hollywood Sound, Sunset Sound and the Burbank Studios Engineering and Remixing by George
Massenburg Earth, Wind and Fire Maurice White-Vocals, Drums, Kalimba Verdine White-Vocals, Bass Philip Bailey-Congas, Vocals,
Percussions Larry Dunn, Piano, Moog Synthesizer, Oberheim Al McKay-Guitar Fred White-Drums Ralph Johnson-Drums Johnny Graham-Guitar
Andrew Woolfolk-Tenor Sax EWF Horns Don Myrick-Saxophones Louis Satterfield-Trombone Michael Harris-Trumpet Featuring: Sheldon
Sanov-Violin, Chuck Findley-Trumpet. Eduardo Del Barrio-Piano George Bohannon-Trombone, Oscar Brashear-Trumpet, Paulinho Da
Costa-Percussion Janice Gower-Violin, Concert Master, Skip Scarborough- Piano, Steve Madaio-Trumpet Terry Harrington-Flute
Overall****+ The previous album EW&F "Spirit" was considered a disappointment to some critics, and many wondered
how EW&F would respond, especially after the untimely death of Producer Charles Stepney, leaving the production duties
squarely on the shoulders of Maurice White. White employed his brother EW&F bassist Verdine White as well as EW&F
keyboardist Larry Dunn as production assistants for this album. Popular Brazilian keyboardist/ arranger Eumir Deodato (Apollo
100) and Tom Tom 84 (Aka: Washington) assisted in arranging, fueling Maurice White and company to respond in a magnificent
way.
It had also been widely reported that Maurice White had embarked on a trip to Brazil earlier in the year All-N-All was
recorded, and he was inspired by what he heard musically in the country.
The sounds of the Caribbean are evident throughout the whole album, fueled by the energetic funky leadoff single "Serpentine
Fire", All-N-All was off to a brilliant start. Synthesizers were added to the mix a little more than on the previous
album, the sounds of various percussion instruments are widespread and The Phenix Horn section of Don Myrick (saxophones),
Louis Satterfileld (trombone), Rahmlee Michael Davis (trumpet) and Michael Harris (trumpet) made their presence known more
than ever.
All-N-All can be viewed as a graduation the same way "Open Our Eyes" from 1974 was. The group had mastered more
aspects of their music and transformed that ability to create not only more contemporary sound, but virtually a legendary
sound.
All-N-All sold over 3 million copies in the US alone receiving a fair amount of airplay on AOR (album oriented rock)
stations.
The cover of All-N-All added icing on the cake, the Ancient Egyptian theme illustrated by Shusei Nagaoka, is among the
best album covers ever.
|
