001: Earth, Wind, & Fire - All 'N All (1977)

For one of the most popular, beloved, and commercially successful bands of the 1970s, Earth, Wind, & Fire have become something of an afterthought by the 2010s. Bandleader Maurice White’s death in February 2016 earned a few loving obituaries, but mostly got lost in the shuffle between Bowie and Prince’s respective passings. More recently, Taylor Swift’s gentrified, tone-deaf cover of their signature hit “September” underscored a sad reality: Earth, Wind, & Fire have passed the Beach Boys “Endless Summer” threshold and become a Greatest Hits band, their songs part of the cultural wallpaper.

For the inaugural episode of Discord & Rhyme, host Rich Bunnell uses EWF’s 1977 release All ‘n All to illustrate that EWF were far more than a playlist’s worth of hit singles. All ‘n All is the arguable peak of an incredible run of late-’70s albums, several of which deserve to be viewed as part of the canon alongside Revolver, Songs in the Key of Life, and Dark Side of the Moon. And their influence on hip-hop has been astronomical, their grooves and riffs providing the basis for tracks by Brand Nubian, MF DOOM, A Tribe Called Quest, Organized Konfusion, Big Pun — the list goes on and on and on.

Three out of four co-hosts this week had little to no experience with All ‘n All before researching this episode, so this premiere should be educational! Tune in next episode when Amanda dives into the Moody Blues’ On the Threshold of a Dream, an album every one of us knows to a fine grain.

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Phil Maddox, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/2018/6/26/episode-001-earth-wind-fire-all-n-all

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