Earth, Wind and Fire recorded some of the greatest funky jazz soul of the Seventies, but they lost their way as record-makers long after entering "Boogie Wonderland" in 1979. Their twenty-third album, Illumination, taps into Santana's now-familiar Supernatural formula: Give a veteran great a hip replacement by surrounding it with lots of gifted youngbloods. On Illumination, the formula works well largely because the parties involved — including Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq and Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am — seem to sincerely treasure the EWF sound. High points include two Jam and Lewis tracks, "Love's Dance" and the characteristically dreamy "Pure Gold"; also the sexy "Show Me the Way," featuring Saadiq; and even a cover of OutKast's "The Way You Move," which could go down as the funkiest song in guest saxophonist Kenny G.'s catalog.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.