Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. September
2. Boogie Wonderland (with The Emotions)
3. Fantasy
4. Mighty Mighty
5. Devotion
6. Shining Star
7. Let's Groove
8. Got To Get You Into My Life
9. That's The Way Of The World
10. Sing A Song
11. Getaway
12. Saturday Nite
13. In The Stone
14. Can't Let Go
15. Let Me Talk
16. Fall In Love With Me
17. System Of Survival
18. I've Had Enough
19. Star
20. After The Love Has Gone

Disc 2:

1. Can't Hide Love (Masters Album Mix)
2. Let's Groove (Restless Soul Inspirational Information Mix)
3. Fantasy (Shelter DJ Mix)
4. Shining Star (DJ Jin Asakusa Samba Remix)
5. September (FPM Beautiful Latin Mix)
6. Brazilian Rhyme (Fearless Mix Let The Music Pump You Up!)
7. Boogie Wonderland (Inspiration '83 Mix)
8. Zanzibar (Fantasista Re-Formation)
9. Getaway (Top Gear Mix)
10. Feelin' Blue (Quiet Lakeside Mix)
11. Let's Groove (Merchant Of Menace Remix)
12. Boogie Wonderland (Stretch & Vern Remix) (with The Emotions)
13. September '99 (Re-Edit)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26296 in Music
• Released on: 2002-09-23
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Customer Reviews

That's The Way
This compilation is probably the best of the many that Earth Wind And Fire have on the market.
All the hits are here and still sound really fresh. The trademarks are the tight funk sound with superb horn arrangements along with the truly distinctive vocals of Maurice White and Philip Bailey.
The great bonus of this compilation is a whole second CD consisting entirely of remixes. Some of these remixes date back to the time the tracks were originally released. There are also present day remixes of such tracks as Boogie Wonderland which are excellent contemporary slants on the originals. I personally recommend playing the remix disc at high volume in the car and just groove as you go from A to B.
'Essential' is often a misused word with compilation albums. However its use is appropriate here and, if you are only ever going to buy one EWF album, this should be the one.
I have deducted one star due to the fact that some of the tracks on Disc 1 are single versions and not the original album length.Still a great album though.
Reccomended

Michael Jackson is right
Michael Jackson is right: Sony kills music. To date Earth Wind & Fire have not been served well in the CD reissue market, but this supposed "best of" takes the biscuit. "That's The Way Of The World" has been cut down from 5:43 minutes to 3:10 minutes, "In The Stone" from 4:26 minutes to 3:33 minutes, and-so-on. I feel sorry for those who are introduced to EW&F by this travesty, which is a butchery of some of the best funk-soul music ever recorded.

Truly an "essential" listen
There are numerous Earth Wind and Fire Best ofs on the market but this can lay claim to being the best. CD1 contains pretty much every essential EWF track (Reasons is the only notable omission), from their best-known (Boogie Wonderland, September, Let's Groove, After the Love Has Gone) to some more obscure but excellent cuts (Devotion, Can't Let Go). However, it's the remix CD that really puts this compilation head and shoulders above all its rivals. Remixing classic songs of yesteryear is a dangerous game, often resulting in destroying the brilliance of the original by sticking a monotonous beat behind it or by stripping all the original backing away and replacing it with an ill-fitting mix that ruins what made the song great in the first place. However, this is not the case here - in fact, these are some of the most effective remixes of classic songs I've ever heard. Most of the remixers have treated the tracks with a great deal of respect, and instead of completely reimagining the songs have reworked them sympathetically, making them sound contemporary whilst still keeping their original spirit intact. Highlights are the Masters at Work take of Can't Hide Love, the Phats & Small remix of September and the downbeat mix of the wistful Feelin' Blue, an early track not featured on CD1, but most of the rest are well worth a listen too. As such, with a near-definitive collection of their greatest hits on one CD and the unexpected bonus of an extra CD of excellent remixes on another, this is by far the best Earth Wind and Fire compilation for the casual buyer currently available.