1979 ended with a triumphant appearance at The United Nations for a UNICEF worldwide benefit but Verdine (White) notes: "Hollywood had a hold of EW&F. We were getting a little too commercial..." The pressures were mounting, still trying to oversee ARC, producing other acts, and leading EW&F was proving strenuous for Maurice (White). He took the band on a vacation to Egypt, a country he'd visited twice before as a result of his strong interest in Egyptology (reflected in the cover art of I am and its predecessor All'n all) "Half the band loved it. half of them hated it. Everybody didn't share the same beliefs. I was into metaphysics and everyone else wasn't so that caused somewhat of a separation within the core of the group...."

The group headed to the Caribbean island of Montserrat, to begin sessions for a double album, Faces. Released in the autumn of 1980, the album proved to be a relative commercial disappointment, reaching only gold status. Maurice: "The industry was going through a major recession. Still, I felt that it was a strong album and a double album going gold around that time was hardly a failure...."

Al McKay (April 2000): "I left the band in '81 and, yes, I could sense it - things were getting real tense during the Faces sessions. Maurice was hiring a lot of guest musicians that didn't have anything to do with the EWF sound - guys like David Foster, [Steve] Lukather, Marlo Henderson. I appreciated Maurice's efforts in trying to keep the music current, but he wasn't allowing us, the band, to have the first stab at it. So I moved on."
"I've known Steve since he was sixteen, and he was a monster player then!"
"I met Steve when he was working with a bass player friend of mine named Phil Kelsey. Even then, Steve was one helluva guitar player. Later, I saw him playing with Boz [Scaggs] in concert. By then, he was a real hot-dog. Michael Landau was also there on guitar and just as impressive!"

Lukather (May 2003): "Despite "things were getting real tense" as Al McKay remembered, I am and Faces were their biggest selling records. Hahaha. I have known Al since I was 16/17... nice cat, great rhythm player, less soloist... thats why they hired me. I loved doping those records. I only did the "rock" shit on those records. All the cool funk was Al. Johnny (Graham) hardly ever played on the reocrds."

1 Let me talk (Bailey/Dunn/Johnson/McKay/White/White) 2 Turn it into something good (Carter/Howard/White) 3 Pride (Bailey/Dunn/McKay/White/White/White) 4 You (Foster/Russell/White) 5 Sparkle (Bailey/DelBarrio/White) 6 Back on the road (McKay/White) 7 Song in my heart (Glenn/Russell/White) 8 You went away (Bailey/Vanelli) 9 And love goes on (Dunn/Foster/Russell/White/White) 10 Sail away (Bailey/DelBarrio/Seeman/White) 11 Take it to the sky (Dunn/Glenn/White) 12 Win or lose (Hancock/Peters) 13 Share your love (Glenn/White) 14 In time (Matza/McCrary/White) 15 Faces (Bailey/Dunn/White/White) Musicians: Steve Lukather - solo guitar (6) (8) Maurice White - vocals, drums, kalimba Verdine White - bass Larry Dunn - piano, synthesizers Philip Bailey - vocals, percussion, congas Al McKay - guitars Fred White - drums, percussion Johnny Graham - guitar Andrew Woolfolk - sax Ralph Johnson - percussion Louis Satterfield - trombone Rahmlee Michael Davis - trumpet, flugelhorn Don Myrick - saxes I am

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