The Earth, Wind & Fire page want to add you to their line-up.... Head to the Fly? Overall Album Score: 8.0 out of 10 Oh oh dear ... this has got to be the least intriguing of this band's early period. That's a shame 'cos they're usually so interesting... This group is usually good for a couple great melodies with a slew of weird but appealing ideas thrown in for good measure. This album seems like they were aiming straight for a commercial pop-hit. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's pretty disappointing considering this band had previously come up with so many weird and delightful ideas in their previous albums. The first five tracks of this work are the pop tunes. They're all straight-forward and merely OK. The melodies are decent and the instrumentation is quite solid. That's it. There's nothing else to report about them. But for good measure, they have a 13-minute jazz-fusion song called "Zanzibar," which provides quite a bit of entertainment. It's more poppy and accessible than what you'd get from a real jazz fusion group like the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but Earth, Wind & Fire do the genre justice. Easily, this is the highlight of the album. As far as jazz-fusion goes, it doesn't make me want to flip up out of my seat and pretend to air guitar with it, but it's perfectly enjoyable. Just the same, I know this group is capable of *awesome*, so how can I be excited about merely *enjoyable*? So in the end I'm just not impressed. It's an above average album compared to every album that's ever been released, but I consider this to be an extraordinary band. Clearly, they're playing below their level. Maybe they were trying to dumb everything down to appeal to the common folks --- that's a plausible theory. But they forget that the common folks like *awesome* too --- every once in awhile. However, this album deserves a respectable rating because ... well ... it's respectable. But respectable will only make you want to sit through it, respect it, and then turn it off and never hear it again. Overall Album Score: 8.0 out of 10 (This is a good album, but seemingly only for their completists. I was disappointed because it's relatively boring.) Average Song Score: 8.1 (This is a good song score ... For this group, it's their lowest of the early period.) Album Tilt: 8.0 (The songwriting is consistently respectable and non-amazing.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (This seems like they're going for a commercial breakthrough --- actually we know they were. This is better than most funk examples on the day, but they shouldn't cheapen themselves.) Track Reviews Evil 8/10 This begins with an "instrumental explosion" --- a wave of sound that involves their African finger piano and percussion. This is about as artistically interesting as they get in these pop tracks! Surely enough, a regular funk song pipes up, and a tight, dancey groove begins to play. This is an enjoyable song, but it's not one of their best I'm afraid. The melody is nice, but the effort doesn't seem that inspired. Keep Your Head to the Sky 8/10 Much too long. However, the melody is still quite nice! The African finger piano that we hear played in most of their albums is unfortunately repressed here. I wish they wouldn't do that. It's a unique sound for them, and it deserves to be played louder! I also miss their weird ideas. This merely sounds like a funk band pretending to write a funk ballad like Earth, Wind & Fire! Naturally, it's a well written ballad, so maybe that's all you want! The falsetto vocals begin to annoy me, however. Seriously, dude, just sing normally! (I think that's also why Prince tends to annoy me.) Build Your Nest 7.5/10 The funk guitars are on heavy in some sort of peculiar flood. It's a slightly weird idea, but at this point I'm willing to accept anything! This track has a nice, but I'm not enjoying this too dearly. In fact, this song is very difficult to get into. The melody is alright but not one that I'm going to remember after this is done playing. Oh well. World's a Masquerade 7/10 This is an OK soft-rock song. The hook's works, but it didn't seem strong enough for them to have repeated it so much. There's nothing wrong with having multiple hooks in pop songs, you know! Its all arranged nicely --- they use that soap opera organ!! But this song is boring. I'm bored. Bored, bored, bored. Come on, where's your weird ideas??? Clover 8.5/10 Quite a bit nicer! It has really nice, steady flow, and I also enjoy the melody. They're restraining themselves from getting too weird, which I take issue with, but at least the beginning has some nice, layered flutes. Zanzibar 18/20 Yikes! 13 minutes long! It's a lengthy jazz-fusion tune that's entertaining, but it doesn't manage to inspire. At least they managed to save the best for last and the best for longest. They're still not being too experimental, which I miss. I would have expected a weird instrumental solo somewhere in here, but it's all pretty mainstream. There are a few oddities here and there, but it all seems like a compromise. I do enjoy some of the solos. For example, a nice horn solo occurs toward the beginning. I find listening to this enjoyable, however --- there's a nice steady groove to keep the ears intact. There is something about the look of your lips when you e-mail me a comment here.

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. Milk is for babies and lonely old men.