EARTH, WIND & FIRE INTO THE MYSTIC

EARTH, WIND & FIRE INTO THE MYSTIC

DAVID KEEPS

There's no safe haven from the power of Earth, Wind & Fire, the world's best-selling cosmic love group and kings of MOR'n'B. Four out of five doctors warn diabetics about them; their lush orchestrations and swooping falsettoes are the aural equivalent of chug-a-lugging a botle of Karo syrup. EWF brew a sound that sticks to the roof of your mind; you couldn't sing most of their big hits like "Boogie Wonderland" or "September" at gunpoint—the words being either chipmunkishly unintelligible or woefully banal—but slap one of those suckers on the turntable and bingo: instant recognition before the first verse.

Critically sour grapes? "That's cool," counters bandleader Maurice White, whose astrological chartings tagged the band. "They've got their opinion. But they [critics] live in a negative world. I don't. The only important thing is we sell records and people come out and see us, so obviously somebody wants to hear it."

Make that millions of somebodies. Since 1975, White and co. have racked up one single and six double platinum LP's (their biggest stiff was 1 980's gold-certified Faces), and over a dozen gold singles, snatched Grammy and Don Kirschner Rock Awards, toured worldwide and formed their own production company, record company and studio complex in Los Angeles.

How do they do it? Some would say that the secret of Earth, Wind & Fire's success has alchemical roots (check out the pyramids, chakras and astro symbols on their record jackets); they do, in fact, magically transform gospel, jazz, rock and disco grooves into seamlessly danceable golden platters. Or perhaps it's because they bolster the ultrasmooth sophistication of their studio product (remember their version of the Fab Four's "Got To Get You Into My Life?") with mammoth live shows, thick with special effects and garish costuming?

More likely, they just live right—White credits God as his co-producer and says no one in the band smokes, drinks or takes drugs—all of them (nine for stage shows, at last count) gather together to meditate before performing to achieve the "oneness of mind" that underscores the relentlessly uplifting EW&F philosophy (succinctly stated in the title of their 1981 smasheroo "Let's Groove").

Maurice White's spiritual awakening through the study of Buddhism and martial arts seems to have been the turning point in his development as the most commercially successful disco mystic. "I've never written a depressing song," he claims, and he's had plenty of time to do so. Born in Memphis on Dec. 19, 1944 (that's Sagittarius), he began singing gospel at six and playing drums with Booker T. (of the MGs) Jones at eleven. From '63-'65 he banged session skins for Chess Records in Chicago, performing for Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, the Dells and Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions. He played on 10 of Ramsey Lewis's albums over four years, introducing the kalimba, a tiny African finger piano, to American pop.

In '69 he formed his own group, the Salty Peppers, relocating and renaming the following year in Los Angeles, where Earth, Wind & Fire, the debut platter, was released on Warner Brothers. In '72, two flops down, EW&F signed to Columbia Records, three more albums were released before they hit #1 with 1975's That's The Way Of The World (featuring the single "Shining Star"). The rest—at least two or three million records sold every year—is hysteria.

As a producer, arranger, vocalist and songwriter, White clearly has the right stuff. "Sometimes," he says, "I'm onstage and I look out and see people with their eyes closed, blissfully singing along. And I can tell they don't even know the lyrics."