Touch (Earth, Wind & Fire song)

Last updated
"Touch"
Earth, Wind & Fire- Touch.jpg
Single by Earth, Wind & Fire
from the album Electric Universe
B-side "Sweet Sassy Lady"
ReleasedJanuary 1984
Recorded1983
Studio
Genre R&B
Length4:54
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Jon Lind, Martin Page
Producer(s) Maurice White
Earth, Wind & Fire singles chronology
""Magnetic"
(1983)		"Touch"
(1984)		"Moonwalk"
(1984)

"Touch" is a song by R&B/funk band Earth, Wind & Fire, released as a single in January 1984 by Columbia Records. The song reached No. 23 on the US Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and No. 36 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs chart. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Overview

"Touch" was produced by Maurice White and composed by Jon Lind with Martin Page. With a duration of four minutes and fifty four seconds, the song has a tempo of 99 bpm. [1] [4]

The single's B-side is "Sweet Sassy Lady". Both "Touch" and "Sweet Sassy Lady" appear on the band's 1983 album Electric Universe. [1]

Critical reception

Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury-News remarked Touch "sways about to a mild dance beat, with those glorious vocals of White and Phillip Bailey plucking at the emotional strings". [5] Pam Lambert of The Wall Street Journal wrote "vocals, driven ahead by the force of the bass guitar, also carry the..Motowny Touch." [6] Cashbox stated "songs like 'Sweet Sassy Lady' and 'Touch' make their point with popping bass lines and electronic keyboard riffs very much in vogue with today's music." [7] Prentis Rogers of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the song has a "mellow, upbeat nature." [8] Paul Bennett of the Times Colonist wrote "The group's specialty of shifting harmonies comes forward especially on Touch". [9] Phyl Garland of Stereo Review called the song "pleasantly listenable". [10] [11] Billboard proclaimed that "Touch" has "the gorgeous production values of 'Magnetic' applied to a midtempo ballad". [12] Charles Schaar Murray of NME noted that "EWF contrive, as ever, to spice up one of their least distinguished ditties with good noises and here some discreet deployment of kalimba and funde drum serve to cushion the disappointment." [13] Lennox Samuels of the Dallas Morning News also declared "particularly" Touch is "characterized by mellow overtures." [14]

Charts

Chart (1984)Peak
position
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [3] 36
US Hot Black Singles ( Billboard ) [2] 23
US Top R&B Singles ( Cashbox ) [15] 30

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Earth, Wind & Fire: Touch. Columbia Records. January 1984.
  2. 1 2 "Earth, Wind & Fire: Touch (Hot R&B Singles)". bibillboard.com. Billboard.
  3. 1 2 "Adult Contemporary Songs" (PDF). Vol. 96, no. 9. Billboard Magazine. March 3, 1984. p. 23 – via americanradiohistory.com.{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  4. ↑ "Earth, Wind & Fire: Touch". chords.tv.
  5. ↑ Sumrall, Harry (December 4, 1983). "Old Fire never dies - It just gest cooler". newsbank.com. San Jose Mercury News. p. 214.
  6. ↑ Lambert, Pam (January 19, 1984). Prime Cuts: Noteworthy Rock Records. Wall Street Journal. ProQuest   397920155.
  7. ↑ "Feature Picks (Albums)". archive.org. Vol. 45, no. 24. Cashbox. November 26, 1983. p. 26.
  8. ↑ Rogers, Prentis (December 31, 1983). Record Reviews. newspapers.com. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. 71.
  9. ↑ Bennett, Paul (January 14, 1984). A stirring Ramsey Lewis reunion. Times Colonist. p. 38.
  10. ↑ Phyl Garland (April 1984). "Earth, Wind & Fire: Electric Universe" (PDF). Stereo Review . Vol. 49, no. 4. p. 85.
  11. ↑ Phyl Garland (April 1984). "Earth, Wind & Fire: Electric Universe" (PDF). Stereo Review . Vol. 49, no. 4. p. 86.
  12. ↑ Single Reviews (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 96. January 21, 1984. p. 67.
  13. ↑ Shaar Murray, Charles (January 28, 1984). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 18.
  14. ↑ Samuels, Lennox (December 1, 1983). "Triumphant Rock from the Rolling Stones". newspapers.com. Dallas Morning News. p. 9.
  15. ↑ "The CASH BOX Top 100 Black Contemporary". Cashbox . March 17, 1984.


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