Positive force

History hasn’t recorded whether Norman Vincent Peale listened to Earth, Wind & Fire, but no band ever devoted itself more to the power of positive thinking. If seldom were heard discouraging words where the deer and the antelope play, “Shining Star,” “Fantasy,” and any other hit produced, co-penned, drummed on, and co-sung by the group’s founder, Maurice White, would’ve sounded quite at home on the range.

White died in February at 74—57 years to the day after Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens went down in a plane crash that would eventually inspire Don McLean to write “American Pie.” Although White’s contributions to Earth, Wind & Fire had diminished considerably during the last 20 years, he still loomed large in the group’s identity.

White formed Earth, Wind & Fire in 1970 with his bass-playing brother Verdine. The original 10-member group was funky but clunky, and after two poor-selling albums for Warner Bros., White revamped the lineup and signed with Columbia.

The first fruits of the new configuration were transitional, adding jam-band elements worthy of Santana and ethereally glossy elements worthy of The 5th Dimension to the original membership’s funk-soul-jazz mix.

What would become the group’s trademark formula began simmering on the band’s 1974 album Open Our Eyes. On 1975’s That’s the Way of the World, it came to a boil. With the exception of 1983’s Electric Universe, every Earth, Wind & Fire album for the next 13 years, compilations included, would go gold, platinum, or multi-platinum.

Anti-rock evangelists sometimes cited the pyramids that adorned Earth, Wind & Fire’s album covers, White’s having based the group’s name on the elements of his zodiac sign, and the vague spirituality of the band’s universalist bromides as evidence that Earth, Wind & Fire was really a Trojan horse by which a borderline-occult blend of superstition and good vibrations could be smuggled into Western civilization.

Several factors, however, made that interpretation seem simplistic. One is that as far back as Open Our Eyes’ Leon Lumkins’–penned title track, White was invoking “the Lord.” Another is that Philip Bailey, White’s falsetto vocal foil, came out as a Christian in the 1980s and recorded gospel albums while remaining an Earth, Wind & Fire member in good standing.

Most telling was the Rev. Oliver W. Wells–penned title track of 1987’s Touch the World. It climaxed with the line “We must let them know that God gives hope and Jesus is the way,” suggesting the possibility that all of the generically spiritual syncretism that had come before was just so much pre-evangelism.

Well-grounded Eagle

The Eagles’ Glenn Frey died in January. Like Maurice White, Frey sang and wrote or co-wrote large portions of his generation’s soundtrack.

Frey’s notable lead-vocal performances included “Take It Easy,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and “Already Gone.” All three appear on the Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, one of the biggest-selling albums ever.

But Frey’s finest lead-vocal turns were “Lyin’ Eyes” and “New Kid in Town.” The British critic Simon Frith has called the former the “most perfect pop single ever made.” Frey called the latter a testament to “the fleeting nature of fame.”

“We were,” he said, “basically saying, ‘Look, we know we’re red hot right now, but we also know that somebody’s going to come along and replace us.’”

Such self-awareness bordering on humility is rare in the hubris-driven pop music world.

With Frey’s death, it has become even rarer. —A.O.