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Last Days and Time

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Last Days and Time
Album cover from a painting by Mati Klarwein
Studio album by
Earth, Wind & Fire
ReleasedOctober 1972
RecordedApril 1972
StudioSunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre
Length39:54
LabelColumbia
ProducerJoe Wissert
Earth, Wind & Fire chronology
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
(1971) 		Last Days and Time
(1972) 		Head to the Sky
(1973)
Singles from Last Days and Time
  1. "Mom"
    Released: November 1972

Last Days and Time is the third studio album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released in October 1972 by Columbia Records.[2] The album reached No. 15 on the US Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and No. 9 on the UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Albums chart.[3][4]

Overview

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Last Days and Time was produced by Joe Wissert and recorded at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California.[2]

The album includes covers of Bread's "Make It with You" and Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone".[5]

Singles

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The song, "Mom", reached No. 39 on the Cashbox Top R&B Singles chart.[6]

Samples

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"They Don't See" was sampled by Digable Planets on the song "Swoon Units" from their album Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space). "Remember the Children" was also sampled by DJ Quik on the song "America'z Most Complete Artist" from his 1992 album Way 2 Fonky.[7][8]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Billboard(favourable)[10]
Village VoiceC [11]
Los Angeles Daily News(favourable)[12]
Record Mirror[13]
Variety(favourable)[14]
The Plain Dealer(favourable)[15]
Sounds[16]

Barry Lazell of Sounds gave Last Days and Time, in his words "an early set never before available in the (UK)", a 3 out of 5 stars review."[16] Variety called the album "pulsating".[14] William Ruhlmann of Allmusic gave a three out of five star rating and proclaimed "Earth, Wind & Fire were nothing if not ambitious, and by the time of their third album they had forged an individual sound by absorbing nearly everything that had gone before them in the previous ten years. It was as if they were trying to encapsulate every eclectic foray pursued by Motown, from catchy, rhythmic pop to churning funk, and even from Stevie Wonder singing borrowed folk songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" (here, Philip Bailey did "Where Have All the Flowers Gone") to the schmaltzy, string-filled pop that spelled legitimacy to Motown. Not only that, they wanted to incorporate Sly & the Family Stone's horn-filled, gutbucket R&B and some of the fusion style of Weather Report. On Last Days and Time, they succeeded in pulling all that into their orbit".[9] Billboard noted that "Earth, Wind & Fire's dynamic soul rock style is the main ingredients" of the album.[10]

Paul Sexton of Record Mirror in a 1979 review gave a 3 out of 5 stars rating. He declared "Musical historians and EW&F fans alike will welcome the release, for the first time in this country, of EW&F's first CBS album from 1973." Sexton added "Maurice White was still the wallah, even in those days, but the band hadn't really established their sound, although the material they used was not enormously different. The lush production, and White's domination of the vocals are not there, and there's greater reliance on other people's material. Such as, curiously enough David Gates "Make It With You" and even more unlikely, Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone". White wrote or co-wrote four numbers here including the instrumental "Power" and "Mom" one of the highlights."[13] Edward Hill of the Plain Dealer said "Released a year after What's Going On, the disc used jazz-like instrumental experimentation expanding on Gaye's vision of the coming desolation."[15] Ovid Goode Jr. of The Los Angeles Daily News declared "There are many groups around today capitalizing on the rock-jazz sound which has become so popular. The only problem is that many of the groups are beginning to sound alike, both in their styles and in their material. However, take the same two ingredients, rock and jazz, add a pound of soul and a whole new sound is born, reflected in the music of Earth, Wind and Fire. The group's first album on Columbia, Last Days and Time, sprouts forth with a fresh sound that sets it apart from many of the ho-hum aggregations around today. The album consists of eight moving tunes".[12]

Legacy

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Producer Jimmy Jam became a fan of EWF after listening to Last Days and Time.[17] Hip Hop artist Nas was also inspired by the LP's cover art while British singer Gabrielle named the album as one of her favorites.[18][19]

Track listing

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Time Is on Your Side"Roland Bautista, Maurice White, Verdine White3:41
2."Interlude"Maurice White0:23
3."They Don't See"Mark Davis3:31
4."Interlude"Maurice White0:23
5."Make It with You"David Gates3:26
6."Power"Maurice White8:14
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Remember the Children"Roland Bautista, Maurice White, Verdine White4:03
8."Interlude"Maurice White0:52
9."Where Have All the Flowers Gone"Pete Seeger4:52
10."I'd Rather Have You"Skip Scarborough4:40
11."Mom"Maurice White, Verdine White5:49

Personnel

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Production

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  • Producer – Joe Wissert
  • Engineers – Kent Nebergall and Al Schmitt
  • Remix – Al Schmitt
  • Mastered by Johnny Golden and Bob MacCloud Jr. at Artisan Sound Recorders (Hollywood, CA).
  • Design – Mati Klarwein
  • Photography – Roland Charles

Charts

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Album

Year Chart Position
1973 US Billboard Top Soul Albums 15
US Top LPs & Tape 87
1979 UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Albums 9[4]

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1973 "Mom" Cashbox R&B Singles 39[6]

References

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  1. ^ Coleman, Mark; Soults, Franklin (2004). "Earth, Wind & Fire". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 269–270. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  2. ^ a b "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time". 45worlds.com.
  3. ^ "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days & Time (Top Soul Albums)". billboard.com. Billboard.
  4. ^ a b "Top British Soul Albums". Blues & Soul. No. 292. December 4, 1979.
  5. ^ "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time". secondhandsongs.com.
  6. ^ a b "The CASH BOX R&B Top 65". cashboxmagazine.com. Cashbox. March 10, 1973. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  7. ^ "Digable Planets: Swoon Units". genius.com. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  8. ^ "DJ Quik – America'z Most Complete Artist", genius.com, retrieved 2023-07-11
  9. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time". allmusic.com. Allmusic.
  10. ^ a b "Billboard Album Reviews". Billboard. Vol. 84, no. 47. November 18, 1972. p. 24.
  11. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time". robertchristgau.com. Village Voice.
  12. ^ a b Jr. Goode, Ovid (November 17, 1972). "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time". newspapers.com. Los Angeles Daily News. p. 37.
  13. ^ a b Sexton, Paul (November 17, 1979). "Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com. Record Mirror. p. 16.
  14. ^ a b "Record Review: Riders, Merman, J. Smith, Groucho, Edition, R. Williams, New Seekers, Brewer- Shipley, Michell Top LP's". Variety. Vol. 269, no. 6. 20 December 1972. p. 48. ProQuest 1032460809.
  15. ^ a b Hill, Edward (February 16, 1990). "R&B". newsbank.com. The Plain Dealer. p. 45.
  16. ^ a b Lazell, Barry (January 19, 1980). "Horrors From The Wax Museum" (PDF). Sounds. p. 35 – via worldradiohistory.com.
  17. ^ "EWF HONORED: 27 years of blowing up the spot, vets pay tribute". eurweb.com. June 19, 2002. Archived from the original on 2009-01-09.
  18. ^ Markman, Rob (June 19, 2012). "NAS IS LIKE 'AN OLD BLUES MAN' ON LIFE IS GOOD ALBUM COVER". mtv.com. MTV. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016.
  19. ^ Smith, Andrew; Sandall, Robert; Faithfull, Marianne (June 2, 1996). "The choice is yours". gale.com. The Sunday Times. p. 197 & 198.
  20. ^ Earth, Wind & Fire: Last Days and Time. Columbia Records. November 1972.
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