Edu Lobo's "Zanzibar"

[Captain Bacardi]

I just stumbled on a nice surprise. I just bought a CD by Earth, Wind & Fire called Head To The Sky, since someone mentioned it contained some fusion jazz sounds. It came out in 1973. At first it had an early Santana feel to it, then launched into some funky R&B. But the last song was "Zanzibar", whose title I didn't recognize at first, then WHAM!, the familiar strains of Edu Lobo's song came through, and the band jammed on this for over 13 minutes. It featured Oscar Brashear on trumpet (and a nice solo at that) and a guitar jam by EW&F's Al McKay. This must be about the 5th different version of this song that I've heard, and they all sound great. This is a nice album, with lots of flute and kalimba sounds throughout. And at $9.99 a great buy.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Rudy]

You da man! I have this on LP, I believe...don't think I have it on CD yet. (Although I've been repurchasing all of their CDs in remastered form, so I may look into this one if it's had the treatment.)

My favorite track on there is "Evil". (Probably where you get the Santana vibe from.)

Do you have Gratitude? That's the live album that followed That's The Way Of The World (which contains their #1 hit "Shining Star"). Gratitude has the live version of Ramsey Lewis' "Sun Goddess", another classic piece of 70's soul. I just got the remastered version a few months ago. The EWF box set has other tracks from the same concert. One of these days, I'm going to combine all the tracks into one "special edition" for myself. (The box set has a live version of "Mighty Mighty", another early hit that gets overlooked.)

-= N =-
...longing for some classic EWF...

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Do you have Gratitude? That's the live album that followed That's The Way Of The World (which contains their #1 hit "Shining Star"). Gratitude has the live version of Ramsey Lewis' "Sun Goddess", another classic piece of 70's soul. I just got the remastered version a few months ago. The EWF box set has other tracks from the same concert. One of these days, I'm going to combine all the tracks into one "special edition" for myself. (The box set has a live version of "Mighty Mighty", another early hit that gets overlooked.)

I have the boxed set, and it has "Sun Goddess" on it. Is it the same version you mentioned? Every time "Fantasy" comes on, I end up repeating that track over and over. I just love that groove! If I get drunk enough I might - might mind you - get up and boogie myself. Not a pretty sight.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Rudy]

Yep, that's the same "Sun Goddess". Ramsey's album that the original version is on is kind of neat. Thing is, that's my favorite Columbia-era Ramsey tune, and "Tequila Mockingbird" is another...and I have yet to find a CD compilation that contains both! One LP I own does have both--it was Ramsey's entry in that Columbia 'best of' series that had the brown cover and red/black graphics on it. Just about every Columbia jazz artist had one. Maynard's was on CD, but not sure about Ramsey's.

"Fantasy" was from All 'N' All. BIG TIME Brazilian groove on that one! Milton Nascimento penned the interludes. This might rank as one of their best (if not the best) EWF album.

My "crank 'em up" song for EWF is "Let's Groove." That bass drum and rhythm are great ones for kicking the dust out of the subwoofers! (And IMHO, that was probably their last really good album...)

-= N =-
...on the ship Fantasii...

 

[Captain Bacardi]

"Fantasy" was from All 'N' All. BIG TIME Brazilian groove on that one! Milton Nascimento penned the interludes. This might rank as one of their best (if not the best) EWF album.

I was just reading the booklet on the box set, and was surprised to see Eddie Del Barrio was a co-composer on "Fantasy". I never realized that. I had this box set cranked a while ago while scrubbing my kitchen floor (yes, on occassion I do domestic crap ). Good housecleaning music!


Capt. Bacardi
...ready to crank a T-Bone on the grill offline...

 

[Rudy]

Del Barrio penned a few songs w/ the band during that era IIRC...the
All 'N' All / I Am era, when they were arguably at their peak.

Bummer that Maurice White can't tour with them anymore (he has Parkinson's, and has been low-key for several years). The EWF concert we saw back in 1988 was one of the best I'd ever seen. It didn't have a lot of their famed magic and pyrotechnics, but the sound was incredible and the musicianship was top notch. 'Rice still writes and produces, I understand, but doesn't tour.

-= N =-