Earth and Fire - s/t. 1970 Netherlands

Earth and Fire were always a pop band at heart, trying to win over current audiences with their brand of "whatever is vogue now". For their 1970 debut, Earth and Fire reached back to the psychedelic-rock-with-female-vocals music of Jefferson Airplane to find success. They do an admirable job of said sound, with a good set of tunes and some excellent acid guitar and heavy organ. Truth is, Earth and Fire's debut came about one or two years too late to have any major impact - though it really is an excellent representation of the style. 'Love Quiver' is the highlight of the 9 originals present, a track that features some glorious fuzz organ work.

Earth and Fire are one of the pillar bands of my Post Psychedelic, Proto Progressive with Female Vocals list.

CD: 2004 Universal (Japan)
LP: 1971 Nepentha (UK)
CD: 1991 Polydor (Japan)

As you can plainly see, there were many releases of Earth and Fire's debut. Each label apparently had license to alter the cover to their tastes. The top one is the Dutch original. Next is the UK version on Nepentha, in all its die-cut gatefold Roger Dean glory, and is BY FAR the most desirable (& expensive) original LP copy to own. The third photo is the German release on CBS. 4th is the original Japanese press. And finally we show the Rotation CD that displays only the matches, which is on one of the releases I didn't put up (the Red Bullet LP I believe). 20 years ago, I found the Nepentha LP in a store, but traded it for an album that was my top want at the time - and is arguably worth even more than the Nepentha release today. It was a win-win trade, as I'm certain the gentleman who has my Nepentha LP still treasures it as well. As for reissues, the 1991 press from Japan was the first to market, and I owned that version until the Japanese mini-LP came out. Generally the Japanese stick to the original release when it comes to packaging, but I'm glad they made the exception here and went with the fabulous UK copy.