Earth And Fire – To The World Of The Future

This is a transitional album for Earth & Fire as it's the first album to start showing a more disco leaning that the band would explore even more deeply so in the late '70s and even into the early '80s. This was the very first Earth & Fire album I ever heard, my father bought a copy in a Eugene, Oregon record store around 1984, not likely aware what he was getting (perhaps he liked the cover), or he had them mistook for Earth, Wind & Fire (whose albums are MUCH easier to get a hold of in the States). So as a kid, I knew this would never fly over with American listeners, but I imagined they had to be big in Holland, and as it turns out (many years later) I was right. But I did like the European vibe of the album. The title track is the lengthiest piece on the who album, and the disco tendencies show up. Synths are more dominate. But the prog elements are still there, especially with the guitar solo that reminds me of Focus (I believe singer Jerney Kaagman was dating Focus bassist Bert Ruiter at the time, who eventually ed Earth & Fire after Focus broke up). "How Time Flies" is a sensitive ballad with harp, although Solina String synth and Mellotron are also used. "The Last Seagull" was another direction Earth & Fire was experimenting with here (and they never did afterwards) and that's fusion. It starts off with the sound of seagulls and ocean waves (probably produced off synths), before synth bass and electric piano kicks on. "Only Time Will Tell" harkens back to the older sound, wouldn't be out of place on Atlantis. Unsurprisingly this was released as a single. "Voice From Yonder" is a real interesting one, where the band includes a seance being conducting as part of the music. It's an interesting experiment and I like it. "Love of Life" was already released as a single the previous year and it showed clearly the more synth-dominated direction the band was heading. Honestly I would have loved that single's B-side "Tuffy the Cat" to have been included on the album, but knowing Earth & Fire was also a singles band, B-sides were not generally included on their regular LPs. "Circus" is the closing piece, which still shows the Earth & Fire was still doing progressive rock. Unsurprisingly the music frequently has a circus vibe going on. While Song of the Marching Children and Atlantis are must haves for progheads, this one is also worth getting, but watch out: later albums are more mainstream and commercial.