By early 1970, he knew what kind of music he wanted to play. He’d been a bandleader before, and he was eager to do it again. An astrologer had even handed him a “piece to my puzzle,” an astrological chart was filled with “‘only fire, air, and earth signs.’”
Which brings us to page 77, almost the quarter-point of this memoir. That means “My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire” is one very wordy book.
That’s not to say it’s bad—at least not the first half of it, anyhow. The late author White (with Powell) tells of Jim Crow from the point of view of a child, of the Civil Rights Âovement, and what it was like in the early days of Motown, Chess Records, and a new kind of rock & roll. Because White and Powell are so casual in their storytelling, those memories feel like a conversation with readers.
At roughly the part where White switches gears musically, so does the book. There’s where we get a lot of detail about the band, players, gigs, and such—valuable info if you can follow along. Musical mud, if you can’t.
Therefore, the audience for this book, I think, is with a professional musician or a die-hard EW&F fan. Pass on it, if you’re not —but if you are, “My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire” could be elemental.
(“My Life with Earth Wind & Fire” by Maurice White with Herb Powell, c.2016, Amistad, $27.99/$34.99 Canada, 385 pages.)
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
About Post Author
