Consumer Guide Album

Earth, Wind & Fire: Head to the Sky [Columbia, 1973]
In the beginning Maurice White created Hummit Music. But not until the morning of the fourth album did he come up with a tune to match, complete with sweet clear harmonies and sinuous beat. Catchy title, too: "Evil," to be dispersed by prayer. Most of the first side keeps up the good work, although only rarely--as on the falsetto climax of "Keep Your Head to the Sky"--is it quite as transcendent physically as the lyrics would seem to demand. But the mood jazz excursion on side two exposes White's essential fatuousness. "Zanzibar," it's called, as befits a travelogue; its saxophone solo (by Ronnie Laws's replacement, Andrew Woolfolks) could make Alice Coltrane blush. B-