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Editorial Reviews

Columbia/Legacy's double-disc set The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire lives up to its title by offering 34 tracks of the groundbreaking funk band at its peak. All of the hits, whether they're R&B or tunes that crossed over to the pop charts, are here, along with important album tracks that capture the range and depth of EWF. Since this focuses on their peak of the '70s and early '80s, there's very little here that doesn't qualify as "essential," which makes it a better bet than their box set. The single-disc Greatest Hits remains the choice for the casual and the curious listener due to its concise concentration of classics, but anybody who wants a thorough retrospective should choose this. [Columbia/Legacy released a limited-edition collector's set in 2005. It adds a DVD with 17 video clips, a few of them of live performances. The vintage varies, yet they all are fairly old-school and will no doubt seem campy to modern-day viewers. Still, it's nice to have them available, given their rarity and campiness. Some of the mid-'80s videos are for songs not compiled on the CDs, which is another bonus.] Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

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