LP Review: Open Our Eyes
Released: 1974
LP Charts: #1 R&B (1 week), #15 pop
God bless Charles Stepney.
Although Joe Wissert produced this album (like he had all of Earth, Wind & Fire’s albums to this point), Stepney was brought in to arrange the material. The band also had a light bit of shuffling of its members.
For your musical pleasure, the EWF lineup changes…
Maurice White — vocals, kalimba, drums, percussion
Verdine White — bassRoland Bautista — guitar—> Al McKay — guitar
Philip Bailey — vocals, percussion
Ralph Johnson — percussionRonnie Laws — flute, saxophone—> Andrew Woolfolk — flute, saxophone
Larry Dunn — piano, clavinet, organ, synthesizerJessica Cleaves — vocals—> Johnny Graham — guitar, percussion
So with Stepney arranging and the new players, we’ve basically landed on the “classic” EWF lineup that delivered huge hits over the next nine years. Stepney’s arranging skills, which seemed to rub off on Maurice who became the band’s full-time producer on the next album, tightened up all the loose bolts that were keeping EWF from reaching their full potential.
For example, EWF finally managed to make a short catchy pop-funk song. That’ll be “Mighty Mighty” (#4 R&B, #29 pop), where the shining star is Verdine White’s mighty bass. And there’s a catchy funk-rock song that was also a hit: “Kalimba Story” (#6 R&B, #55 pop).
They even had a gospel song that managed to make the pop top 40: “Devotion” (#23 R&B, #33 pop). Although this version is good, it pales in comparison to the live take that appeared on Gratitude a year later.
If you were afraid that getting some sheen and cleaner production on this album meant a loss of stylistic variety, rest easy. “Fair But So Uncool” comes out of left field with some New Orleans-style R&B. “Feelin’ Blue” is the album’s weakest song, but even it is enjoyable bossa nova-influenced soul, so long as you don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics.
The instrumental “Drum Song” has a great kalimba solo during its introduction. Unsurprisingly the rest of the performance is filled with tons of percussion. In fact, I think Verdine White’s bass guitar is the only non-percussion instrument present. It is a song for drums after all. “Caribou” is another delightful instrumental—albeit with wordless vocals—that I presume was named after Caribou Ranch, where the band recorded this album in the late summer of 1973.
“Open Our Eyes” is another gospel effort while “Tee Nine Chee Bit” might hold the title for the nastiest funk song ever recorded by EWF. It’s also probably the silliest song they ever did.
ALBUM GRADE: A-
Always great when a band’s sound just opens up and flowers. This A- grade is achieved not just from the fully structured songs, but also from two interludes (“Rabbit Seed” and the jazzy “Spasmodic Movements”) that help give the album an even more adventurous mood.
Song Scores
Mighty Mighty: 7.5/10
Devotion: 7.5/10
Fair But So Uncool: 7.5/10
Feelin’ Blue: 6/10
Kalimba Story: 8.5/10
Drum Song: 8/10
Tee Nine Chee Bit: 8/10
Caribou: 7.5/10
Open Our Eyes: 7.5/10