That's The Way Of The World

Not for me

"Shining Star" is still great, but nothing else comes anywhere close to that level.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I discovered I really hate when they realize they never talk at us about love and then do so. Also jazz flute.

The opening of the album is funky bass lovin’ fun. You got the horns, drums, synthesizers, and the list goes on. It feels like they threw the kitchen sink at this album instrumentally. Then we get to All About Love (First Impression) where I get completely lost. The ending is a bizarre departure. It doesn’t go too far off the rails because Yearnin’ Learnin’ and Reasons bring it back. But there is too much improv-esque exploration in the last two tracks. Verdine White’s bass deserves recognition though.

Bland

got some funky tunes but nothing that would bring me back to it

One of the big positives of this project has been introducing me to a lot of soul that I was only vaguely aware of before and have discovered to be fantastic. This isn't one of those albums. This is bland, uninteresting, easy listening dreck.

Between a 2 and a 3 - today I am rounding down.

My years working at Walgreens really poisoned the well for the first couple of songs here, which then completely tanked my ability to enjoy this. Maybe it's actually good. Who knows? Certainly not me.

I could hear the bridge from jazz to disco to R&B. Interesting.

You’re a shinin starrrrr no matter who ya areeeee. Not a huge fan of the album, might just not be in the right mindset.

Not rlly my taste

Listening to Earth, Wind & Fire gives me the same vibes as watching UFO sightings on Youtube.

Well you know the singles sparkle, but this amiable album of pop-funk is let down by some familiar weaknesses: the plodding ballads which make you realise what an achievement Easy by the Commodores was, and the noodly jazz-funk odyssey (Americano). So a pretty mixed bag, more mixed than my bag, and on this evidence a band best served by a generous greatest hits.

Decent, but not their strongest album.

Listened to it all the way through, but have pretty much forgotten about it already. Not up to much in that case

It's a nice album, not that memorable, as much funk and soul as disco tbh. That's The Way Of The World and Reasons stood out.

This album ends up being a bit dull - it can't decide whether it wants to be soul or disco. It ends up not having the richness and depth of a good soul album, and not being as fun or as energetic as a good disco record. Nothing on there that I'll ever seek out to listen to again. Feels like what Magic FM probably plays at 3 am. 2/5.

fuck the disco era really destroyed R&B music. I mean, this is ok. But I just can't get into it.

Never cared for this genre

5/10 Best song - Africanos

I was hoping that I was going to like this more than I did. The album starts off quite funky but turns rather too smooth for my taste very quickly. And the synth noodling at the end of All About Love sounded like someone practicing. It picks up a bit again after that, but I can’t see myself listening to this album again by choice. Africans perks things up a bit but I like my funky soul with a bit more edge. The edges have mostly been polished off here.

I'm not sure what I was suppose to do with this album - dance or make love to it. It's that kind of groove. There can be worse activities that music leads you to. The upbeat tracks have a great rhythm going off. The ballads aren't the best of the genre. You'd be better off listening to What's Going On. Or Fat Larry's Band.

Hmm, they kinda lost me w/ "All About Love"

Oof. This is NOT my jam. Can't say it's the WORST album I've ever heard but it's definitely 70s cheese, and not in a good way. I get why it's on here--I know it's an enjoyable genre for some people, just like disco is--but uh, yeah. This ain't it for me. Too much false setto. I like funk, but not this particular blend of it. Fave track: That's the Way of the World. I want to give this one star because I didn't enjoy any of it, but it's not truly a flaming turd of an album. I just personally found it unlistenable.

I was surprised to get a little twanginess early on in this album. Lots of great mix of genres, but unlimately, not anything with a great hook to keep the listener (me) engaged.

Zu stressig

Ok for the most part, some bits dragged. No bangers like September to drag it up to a 3

Not really my groove. It was a bit hard to get through the full album, but I do respect the musicality of some of the tunes.

The first song is great. The rest is very forgettable.

Just not really for me. Some of the funky bass lines are cool, but not a genre that's really my jam.

While I like some of their songs, I found this album failed to set me on fire. It was rather boring…

While it’s likely that the funky, at times experimental instrumentation was revolutionary and eye opening for its time, the bulk of the album from start to finish has aged about as well as disco itself.

Nothing against it, but not for me.

I tried. The funk stuff, sure but a big "Nope" to the cliched 70s syrupy ballads.

This is some soupy stuff, which sounds almost parodic. I've missed the boat. I left my flares at home. (Also they're probably responsible for RHCP.)

whatever. way too much high pitched nonsense.

They should have just looped Africano for 40 minutes.

First listen. Two GREAT songs. The rest are good.

mozda jednog dana postanem uzivatelj ove vrste muzike, ali dragi moji danas nije taj dan.

I like the funky parts, the other not so much although I can overcome the cringe to respect the execution

Enjoyed the funkier aspects when it got there but the more soul parts lost me. Solid mixing though.

It was okay, but disco is not really my thing, I listened on YT, it was fun. I did do a little research but opted out of watching the associated movie.

Listening to this album was about as interesting as reading the back of a paint can in French. The only things that made it worth listening to at all were the last 2 songs.

Favourite songs- Shining Star, Yearnin' Learnin', Africano I don't really like funk, but some of the vocals here were excellent, and I did like quite a few tracks. I was also not a fan of the really slow ballads at all, as a big part of this album was the fun, that made it likeable, and they took themselves too seriously with the piano ballads. Also, a lot of tracks did not need to be that long. The flute at the beginning of Africano was weird and annoying, but afterwards, the instrumental was pretty cool.

Funky disco beats, started high tempo with what I think is their standout, then mellowed into a late night jazz club vibe. Lots of sax and instrumental beats that for me dragged out a little too long in some cases. Not my favourite kind of music. Best: Shining Star, That's the Way of the World Worst: Reasons, All About Love (First Impressions)

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There is good music, but a weird and too high voice.

So very strange - they laid the album out alternating upbeat and slow tracks - upbeat pretty good but slow tracks done a lot better by other acts (so are the upbeat) - couple of nice moments and really liked the first track but it’s ⭐️⭐️

A mix of funk, soul, R&B. Very front heavy. Best Tracks: Shining Star, Happy Feelin', Yearnin' and Learnin'

boring

Alright-ish. Pleasant enough, but I always feel that this style of music needs to be REALLY catchy to be in any way memorable to me. This album is lacking the 'Boogie Wonderland' or 'September' banger that is needed to make it stand out.

4

Shining star and that's the way of the world

Quite funky, not very special in my opinion

I like a few of the songs, but the falsetto gets a bit grating over an album. Good for the diehard winter fan, but I feel they have bigger hits out there for good reason

pretty weak

Not my cup of tea.

Kiki II I’ll. I

If I was 16 in 1976, you would have to threaten me at gunpoint to listen to this. Looks kind of disco but I guess it more soul/fun. Know some of their hits from the radio but would never sit down to listen to it. Let's give it a go... And I'm immediately a little disappointed that I don't enjoy this. I thought it would be a fun up-tempo 40 mins or so. It is very bland and very dry. There is good musicianship but that's par for the course with soul and funk groups. What sets this apart is that it is so dull. No interesting arrangements. Nothing memorable from this LP at all. Couldn't wait for it to end. In summary: very lame and utterly uncool. I genuinely don't understand the high average rating for this album in this project.

Nah, not for me.

I skipped ahead a lot on this album. It just wasn’t for me.

Boring

Disco but totally unmemorable. Nothing fun or pop about this.

Eurgh. Opening track was promising, but it soon descended to easy listening landfill disco...

I enjoyed the funk of Happy Feelin and Yearnin Learnin but elsewhere it just felt flat and insipid schmalz. All About Love (First Impression) is just abysmal.

Decent voices but not my kind of music

not my style, unfortunately song 7

I can see how some people listen to this to feel good and happy. I just find it incredibly annoying. I wonder if by the end of this experiment I can tolerate some genres I've never liked (funk, soul, disco, r'n'r, reggae...) or if my tastes are just more narrow than most

Sons connus *

Absolutely disgusting, vomit fest. I had feared this coming up.

So boring.

bah

Not for me

Pour commencer cette critique, je dois rendre à César ce qui appartient à César. La production de l'album "That's The Way Of The World" de Earth, Wind & Fire, orchestrée par le visionnaire Maurice White, est d'une richesse et d'une ambition folles pour l'époque. Chaque morceau est un ensemble sonore complexe, tissé de lignes de basse hypnotiques, de guitares "wah-wah" millimétrées et, bien sûr, de la section de cuivres légendaire des Phenix Horns, qui éclate de mille feux à chaque intervention. La virtuosité des musiciens est indéniable. Le single phare, "Shining Star", est une leçon de groove, un concentré d'énergie positive qui a légitimement conquis le monde. Comment ne pas admirer la performance vocale stratosphérique de Philip Bailey sur la ballade "Reasons", atteignant des notes en falsetto qui semblent défier les lois de la physique ? Le morceau-titre lui-même, "That's The Way Of The World", est d'une beauté soul envoûtante, avec ses arrangements luxuriants et son message d'espoir universel. Objectivement, tout est là : le talent, les compositions, l'innovation et le succès. Mais malgré toutes ces qualités, la magie n'opére pas ou plutôt elle n'a jamais opéré sur moi. Je suis tout simplement hermétique à cette perfection, à cette exubérance sonore si caractéristique du funk des années 70. Ou peut être que, pour simplifier je suis hermétique à certains groupes, à certaines sonorités, à certains genres musicaux des années 70 mais ceci est une autre histoire. L'opulence vire rapidement à la surcharge. La production, si brillante soit-elle, me paraît aujourd'hui terriblement datée, prisonnière de son époque. Les harmonies vocales, bien que complexes et magnifiquement exécutées, me donnent une sensation de "trop-plein", d'une propreté si lisse qu'elle en vient à manquer d'aspérité, de cette faille ou de cette rugosité. L'énergie implacablement positive et l'optimisme qui se dégagent de chaque sillon, bien que signature du groupe, finissent par me laisser de marbre. En conclusion, "That's The Way Of The World" est un paradoxe personnel. C'est un chef-d'oeuvre incontesté du funk, un album d'une ambition et d'une exécution technique exceptionnelles que je peux analyser et respecter intellectuellement. Cependant, sur le plan émotionnel, c'est un rendez-vous manqué. Mon évaluation de 1 sur 5 ne sanctionne pas un échec de la part d'Earth, Wind & Fire, mais plutôt mon propre échec à pénétrer leur univers. Pour les amoureux de la funk, de la soul et de la musique des années 70, cet album est et restera une oeuvre essentielle, un disque-soleil irradiant de talent et de générosité. Pour les autres, comme moi, il risque de rester une vitrine impressionnante mais hermétique, un témoignage flamboyant d'une époque révolue dont le langage ne nous est plus tout à fait accessible. Un classique, certes, mais pas un classique pour tous.

Couldn't finish. So not my thing.

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I see this lots band name I always begin to consider the scientific elements of life. Obviously, they substituted air for wind. This must’ve been a conscious decision made by a band mate as a joke when suffering from the effects of a Keema Madras the night before. Having experience this myself, this may be all well and good, but what about water? Isn’t water the most important element to sustain life? Fire is very nasty so why not Earth Wind and Water? This has a nice ring to it so I think they missed a trick here. By the time I stopped staring into space and contemplating all this the music had stopped and I realised that the album had passed me by. It had made no impression unlike the elements of life which are essential building blocks and values that sustain our bodies, shape our purpose, and connect us to the world around us. 1/5 19/5/25

Gillade ingen låt tyvärr.

Not for me. 1/5

No.

First album that I’ve listened to of theirs and god willing it will be my last. On a positive note the album is 38 minutes long so the pain is brief.

Not keen

Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate

Disco Funk nicht so meins.

Ugh, I really didn’t like this one. Rating: 1

Az Africano remek volt, a többit inkább hagyjuk.

Not for me. 1

So smooth it hurts. Schmaltzy disco funk but without any of the fun. This is cruising down the soda aisle at suburban 90s supermarket music, it's what's playing while you argue with your mom over getting Mug vs store brand root beer. Africano is ok smooth jazz blacksploitation soundtrack material.

Not a fan. Too eclectic for me

Oof. This was rough. At least they front loaded the album wi the good song. It sounded like a parody of funk-rock and soul.

No

Not my style, at all.

Funk master funky mc funk face in da house

Shoot me.

Not my genre

Gefällt mir nicht.

1. zhining ztar - 1.5 2. thatz the uuay of the uuorld - 1 3. happy feeling - 0 4. all about love - 0 5. yearning learning - 0 6. reazonz - 1.5 7. africano - 0 8. zee the light - 0

Typical mid-70s soul-funk. You had to be there I guess.

Its not a bad album its really just not my taste though.

Making this unemployed bum work awfully hard.... Just absolutely too funky for me, but I was inspired by the youtube comments. There are some hard-core EWF fans out there. My nerves are fried but if I have to pick a favorite it would be Africano, that was some serious Jazz flute.

The first few songs, I heard back in the day, and I really liked, the rest of the songs on the album were very hard to listen too ... sounds like just noise to me.

Did not enjoy one song

Näin myydään ideaa ilman sisältöä. Kornia.

had to look it up - they've sold 90M albums. 90 fuckin million. Sounds like generic cliched 70's soul. And the irony is that its them that did it originally and made it so ubiqiutos. radge. Still rubbish to listen to.

Not for me

Boring

Album does not stand the test of time

Dated.

one song only

Not my thing.

Musik zum Poppen oder Tanzschritte lernen, was sich ja prima kombinieren lässt. Nullkommasexy 0.6

I think I'm not a huge fan of funk. A lot of the songs just meander around to me. I can understand why people like Funk, but this doesn't even seem like, historic when it comes to the genre. I just don't see myself ever returning to this.

Not a fan. Didn't listen at all.

Africano is funky. Reasons makes me want to sing falsetto karaoke. The rap on "All about Love" is incredible.

see the light was my favorite song of the album.