The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 in Bloomington, MN

When it was originally released in 1978,
The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1
was a succinct, ten-track collection of the group's best and biggest singles up to that point. The excellent
"September,"
a brand-new song, soon became a hit in its own right, and the non-LP
Beatles
cover
"Got to Get You into My Life,"
recorded for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film, also makes its first appearance on an
EWF
album here, as does the track
"Love Music."
's commercial prime hadn't yet ended when this collection appeared; thus, it's missing several crucial latter-day hits, including the slinky
funk
of
"Serpentine Fire,"
the
ballad
"After the Love Has Gone,"
and the
disco
smashes
"Let's Groove"
and
"Boogie Wonderland."
But even if it's an incomplete hits collection,
still ranks as a strong encapsulation of
innovators. The singles gathered here constitute some of the richest, most sophisticated music the
movement ever produced; when the absolute cream of the group's catalog is heard in such a concentrated fashion, the effect is dazzling. That's why
was remastered and reissued along with the rest of
's catalog, even though it's been supplanted by more extensive single-disc (
Greatest Hits
), double-disc (
The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire
), and triple-disc (
The Eternal Dance
) anthologies. 1998's
now stands as the definitive single-disc
overview, but for the budget-minded and the
-phobic, this still makes for an excellent listen. ~ Steve Huey