THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION

The first ever Earth & Fire Song 'Seasons' which started everything off. 'Memories' is the song that started it all off for me as I heard it on Radio Caroline in the early hours of the morning in 1972. 'Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight' and 'Weekend' were available as 7" singles in the UK. 'Mechanical Lover' and ' Lost Forever' are to rare tracks. 'Allright, Here I Am', 'Don't Say It', Running Away From Love', 'Queen Of Hearts', 'Victim Of The Night' all from Jerney's two solo albums 'Made On Earth' and 'Run'. 'My Mystery Man' is one of two of Jerney's songs, which didn't appear on an album. 'Fun' is a rare track also and finally 'De Tijd Zegt Niets' a poem spoken by Jerney to the tune of 'Dizzy Raptures'! 'Twenty-four Hours', 'Jack is Back' and 'The Two Of Us' are tracks from the 'In A State Of Flux' album which so far is not on CD!.. What is a little strange and I like to think it was on my instigation that this album exists, is because almost all the tracks on it were featured on a 'Specialist' show of 12 + parts that I did that was aired on Radio Caroline in 2002. The only ones not on the CD are the concept 'Long' ones which I suppose are more familiar and some of the 'In A State OF Flux ' ones which I played. If it is coincidence then it is like winning the lottery! For anyone who wants the range of Earth & Fire as a 'Sampler' then this is the album to buy!

As an overview of Earth & Fire's career as a commercial band (note the caveat in that wording), this is superb - featuring virtually all their singles and most of their B-sides. However, much of the later music is anything but superb, unless you like disco/pop (the late seventies stuff) or soft rock/AOR (their late eighties comeback). And the era-defining epics "Song Of The Marching Children" and "Atlantis" are notable by their absence (though the former appears in its severely truncated B-side version), so one of the most important facets of the band's career is ignored altogether. But ultimately, attempting to summarise the career of a band like Earth & Fire (starting psychedelic, then going progressive, then finally turning to disco and pop) is a pointless exercise - what sort of music fan would enjoy listening to this from start to finish?