Earth, Wind & Fire – Illumination

It's 2004, and after 33 years in the industry, it's amazing that "Earth, Wind & Fire" still had the desire to want to release new music....Seriously, if you really think about it, with a catalog like theirs, they really could have done like a lot of the "Old School" groups and settled for just performing the same ol' songs without worrying about new challenges....As I stated before, "Earth, Wind & Fire" doesn't play that!!!

Now, in 1990, the group released "Heritage", with featured guest, like "Sly Stone", "The Boys" and "MC Hammer", but the public and the critics were not ready for a record like that....Fast forward to 2004 and the release of "Illumination", and not only was the public ready, it's now common place....

Still rolling with "Maurice, "Philip", 'Verdine" and "Ralph", this, believe it or not, came from the brain child of "Philip Bailey"....It started as a solo record for him, but he gave "Maurice" a call, because he saw it as an "EWF" record..."Uncle Reese" agreed, and here we have it....Having an album deal with "Sanctuary Records", this was the perfect release for the Band...

I have the 2 LP re-release, so I will focus on it like that...

In my opinion, "Love Together" (a Crown Jewel), Produced by my man, "Raphael Saadiq" (who they affectionately called the 5th member of the group), should have started the album....

The job of that though went to "Lovely People" (produced and featuring "Will I. Am", from the "Black Eyed Peas")....It is an upbeat set, that would definitely fit on an "EWF" album...

The 2nd Crown Jewel, "Pure Gold" (Produced by "Jimmy Jam" & "Terry Lewis"), is a Classic "Earth, Wind & Fire" sounding joint, with "Maurice" and "Philip" trading Vocals, on a thought provoking track...."Jam & Lewis", also Produced the upbeat "Love’s Dance", once again sounding classic "EWF"....

The Ultimate, Ultimate, Ultimate Crown Jewel in "Show Me The Way" (also featuring and Produced by "Raphael Saadiq"), is one of the best Slow Songs they recorded in YEARS!!!!! In my opinion, this one should have been the album closure...

"This Is How I Feel" (from the Movie, "Hitch", and featuring "Big Boi" from "Outkast", "Kelly Rowland" & "Sleepy Brown"), I admit is not one of my favorites, but I have seen this make Peoples heads bob....

Two more joints Produced by "Raphael Saadiq", and Crown Jewels, "Work It Out" and "Pass You By", makes you feel like what the group said about "Raphael" being the 5th member is right on point....

"The One" (another Crown Jewel), has that "Maurice" Struttin' Across The Stage" vibe...

"Elevated" (featuring "Floetry"), is ok....It has a good concept, I'm just not feeling it...

The other Ultimate Crown Jewel in "Liberation" (produced by "World Music" Producer, "Vikter Duplaix"), is the Instrumental that's been missing!!!!! I am so glad they tapped back into that!!!!!

The last Crown Jewel in "To You" (Produced and featuring "Brian McKnight"), is also has that great classic "EWF" Slow Jam vibe, and it could also close the album out....

The last song to mention, "The Way You Move" (with Sax man "Kenny G"), is the "Smooth Jazz" version of the "Outkast" HIT, even though it is ironic that "Outkast" used "Earth, Wind & Fire" as inspiration for it....

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that was a lot, but there was no way to shorten this one...This is the album that "Philip" says that "Jam & Lewis" had to remind them who they were and why people expected a great album..."Ralph" said that they had to check their ego at the door to be able to let all these other great artists help out...They did well in both of those departments...They really didn't need it, but this one brought them to a whole younger generation...It also continued to give them the fortitude to continue to inspire others...

I am so glad this came out on Vinyl!!!! It enhanced my "Earth, Wind & Fire" collection very much!!!!!!

A decent modern-day set, Earth, Wind & FIre's 19th studio album, Illumination has aged well a decade later. Somewhat their equivalent to Santana's all-star Grammy-winning smash, Supernatural, Maurice and the guys settled into a contemporary soul vein, updating elements of their classic style with modern flourishes. In helping them usher in the new, they team with a well-known roster of star producers and artists—Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, will.i.am, Big Boi, Kelly Rowland, Floetry, Sleepy Brown, Brian McKnight, Vikter Duplaix, and Raphael Saadiq. Among a couple of clunkers that overstay their welcome, let alone bury the band's trademark altogether (will.i.am's "Lovely People," the Kenny G-assisted Outkast cover, "The Way You Move," Jam & Lewis' "Love's Dance," and "The One"), there are several solid gems here. Thanks to his clever penchant for mining yesterday soul styles to the modern era, Raphael Saadiq supplied some quality material that is worthy of the band's considerable value—the slow jams "Show Me the Way" and "Pass You By" recall the band's classic ballads of their 70's glory. Adult contemporary crooner Brian McKnight tried to desperately reheat "After the Love is Gone" for "To You," but on its own, there's still some sincerity in the ballad. Perhaps the surprising earworm here is Philip Bailey's nod to ATL R&B and hip hop on "This Is How I Feel," which features Organized Noize alums Big Boi and Sleepy Brown as well as former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland. While much of nothing here is in the caliber of their greatest work (the album's strongest tracks, "Pure Gold" and "Show Me the Way" could sneak their way in a DJ set or possibly a career-spanning comp), this entertaining effort helped regenerate mainstream interest towards the band and it's a fine listen overall.

Aside from the music, the quality of this GZ Media-pressed vinyl re-release is subpar at best. Granted that these are standard weight platters, the minor warpage and heavy static was disappointing. To make matters worse, the records were stuffed in the set's tight, static-prone illustrated sleeves, making it utterly difficult to remove the records out of the sleeves. The low-res album art rendered for this reissue left much to be desired, too. The sound quality is slightly comparable to the CD, which only confirms that the company was given a digital master to cut this album. There's some detectable surface noise and hiss on all sides, but nothing that overpowers the music. Luckily, I nabbed this for $9 bucks from Amazon recently, so my expectations weren't too high, given the tainted reputation of GZ Media's quality control. It's just nice to finally have this album on vinyl. Hopefully, whichever label has the rights to the band's superior predecessor to this album, 2003's The Promise, will have the gall to give it vinyl treatment. Sony also needs to repress the band's mostly excellent 2013 album, Now, Then & Forever, as that one has gone out of print on vinyl and is commanding high prices.

Guys, has anyone heard this Reissue? Lovely LP, but awful GZM-pressing.
Maybe they have already started to control the quality?
Tell me please.