The ambitions of Earth, Wind & Fire only increased after their stellar debut, and the group brought an abstract sense of composition to their sophomore record, The Need of Love.
The opener, a ten-minute piece named "Energy," is proof enough, with several extended passages inspired by everything from free jazz as well as in-the-pocket funk like Kool & the Gang.
The next song up, "Beauty" is also positive and intriguing, though in an overly similar groove as "Fan the Fire" from the first album.
The closer, a cover of Donny Hathaway's gloriously funky "Everything Is Everything," does justice to the original (and that's saying a lot).
Compared to the debut, The Need of Love lacks a sense of exuberance as well as a passel of solid songs and performances.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EnergyWade Flemons, Sherry Scott, Maurice White, Don Whitehead | Earth, Wind & Fire | Play | 09:40 | 22 MB | 60 MB |
| 2 | BeautyWade Flemons, Maurice White, Don Whitehead | Earth, Wind & Fire | Play | 04:15 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | I Can Feel It in My BonesWade Flemons, Maurice White, Don Whitehead | Earth, Wind & Fire | Play | 05:07 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 4 | I Think About Lovin' YouSherry Scott | Earth, Wind & Fire | Play | 05:59 | 13 MB | 34 MB |
| 5 | Everything Is EverythingR. Evans, Phil Upchurch | Earth, Wind & Fire | Play | 06:46 | 15 MB | 40 MB |
| 31 mins | 72 MB | |||||
| 31 mins | 195 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Beal | Guitar, Harmonica |
| 2 | Douglas Botnick | Engineer |
| 3 | Oscar Brashear | Trumpet |
| 4 | Roland Charles | Photography |
| 5 | Earth, Wind & Fire | Arranger, Primary Artist |
| 6 | R. Evans | Composer |
| 7 | Wade Flemons | Composer, Vocals |
| 8 | Lee Herschberg | Engineer, Remastering |
| 9 | Yackov Ben Israel | Congas, Percussion |
| 10 | Bob MacLeod, Jr. | Mastering |
| 11 | Al Schmitt | Remastering |
| 12 | Sherry Scott | Composer, Vocals |
| 13 | Alexander Thomas | Trombone |
| 14 | Kevin Tong | Reissue Producer |
| 15 | Phil Upchurch | Composer |
| 16 | Chet Washington | Sax (Tenor) |
| 17 | Maurice White | Composer, Drums, Kalimba, Percussion, Vocals |
| 18 | Verdine White | Bass |
| 19 | Don Whitehead | Composer, Piano, Vocals |
| 20 | Joseph Wissert | Producer |
Earth Wind & Fire
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |