The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire is a compilation album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire issued in July 2002 by Columbia/Legacy. It has been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

Overview With the LP came a sampler which featured remixes of Can't Hide Love and Let's Groove. During October 2002, the remix sampler was issued as a single and got to No. 4 on the UK Dance Singles Chart.

Critical reception

Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters proclaimed: "The Essential Earth, Wind, and Fire, chronicles the best music of arguably the most popular R&B/soul band of the last three decades." Barry Walters of Blender, who gave the collection a four out of five star rating, opined: "the 34 tracks on The Essential encompass these funky spiritualists’ many sides, from preachy (“All About Love”) to sensual (“Can’t Hide Love”) to ecstatic (“Boogie Wonderland”)." With a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote: "The single-disc Greatest Hits remains the choice for the casual and the curious listener due to its concise concentration of classics, but anybody who wants a thorough retrospective should choose this." Howard Dukes of SoulTracks called the album "a collection that will definitely get the party started".

Track listing

2014 reissue

Personnel Maurice White – vocals, kalimba, timbales, drums, producer, compilation producer Verdine White – vocals, bass, percussion Philip Bailey – vocals, congas, percussion Larry Dunn – piano, organ, synthesizer, programming Ken Yerke – violin Harris Goldman – violin Rollice Dale – viola Dennis Karmazyn – cello Harry Schultz – cello Fred Jackson Jr. – saxophone Herman Riley – saxophone Jerome Richardson – saxophone Tommy Johnson – tuba Harvey Mason – percussion Paulinho Da Costa – percussion Beloyd Taylor – background vocals Joe Wissert – producer Charles Stepney – producer Al McKay – producer Leo Sacks – compilation producer

Accolades The following accolades attributed to The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire. Publication Country Accolade Year Rank BlenderU.S. 500 CDs You Must Own: Rhythm & Blues 2003Alphabetical order

References