(April 12, 2023) The mid-1980s was a period of transition for Earth, Wind & Fire. Their decade plus run of top selling albums and hit singles had come to an end as the public didn’t really feel 1984s Electric Universe. In fact, the band was about to go on a three-year recording break and would not drop another album until the commercially and popularly well-received Touch the World dropped in 1987.
That does not mean that the group was idle. Maurice White and Philip Bailey, EW&F’s two main voices, stayed busy. White produced other artists and released a solo album. Bailey released three R&B albums and two gospel albums between 1983 and 1986, that included Chinese Wall, the album that included “Easy Lover,” his smash collaboration with Phil Collins.
(April 12, 2023) The mid-1980s was a period of transition for Earth, Wind & Fire. Their decade plus run of top selling albums and hit singles had come to an end as the public didn’t really feel 1984s Electric Universe. In fact, the band was about to go on a three-year recording break and would not drop another album until the commercially and popularly well-received Touch the World dropped in 1987.
That does not mean that the group was idle. Maurice White and Philip Bailey, EW&F’s two main voices, stayed busy. White produced other artists and released a solo album. Bailey released three R&B albums and two gospel albums between 1983 and 1986, that included Chinese Wall, the album that included “Easy Lover,” his smash collaboration with Phil Collins.
Bailey also found time to co-produce and contribute the song “Love Is Alive” to the 1985 film “The Goonies,” a movie that has gone on to become a cult classic. “Love is Alive” is a song of its era, a synthy pop song that featured rock guitars. In that sense, the cut has much in common with “Easy Lover” – or for that matter the sound Maurice White was going for on Electric Universe.
Still, the song represented another opportunity for Bailey to stretch out and show forge an identity distinct from the one he crafted as a member of EW&F. And he took full advantage. Bailey again shows himself to be an able pop singer as he switches between that famous falsetto and an assertive and power packed tenor.
“Love Is Alive” will be a welcome bonus track on the upcoming Philip Bailey box set, State of the Heart: The Columbia Recordings, on Soul Music Records Check out “Love is Alive” here.
By Howard Dukes