Gratitude (Earth, Wind & Fire album)

Gratitude
Live album by Earth, Wind & Fire
Released November 11, 1975
Genre R&B, funk, soul, jazz-funk
Length 66:22
Label Columbia/Legacy
Producer Maurice White, Charles Stepney, Joe Wissert (Live shows)
Earth, Wind & Fire chronology
That's the Way of the World
(1975)That's the Way of the World1975		 Gratitude
(1975)		 Spirit
(1976)Spirit1976
Singles from Gratitude
  1. "Sing a Song"
    Released: November 8, 1975
  2. "Can't Hide Love"
    Released: March 16, 1976

Gratitude is a double album by the band Earth, Wind & Fire. With the first 3/4 of the album recorded live and the other 1/4 all new studio recordings. It was released on November 11, 1975, and re-issued on July 27, 1999. The album spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard pop albums chart, six non-consecutive weeks at number one on the soul albums chart and has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA.[1][2] Gratitude was also the second best-selling R&B album of 1976.[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Robert Christgau(B)[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Warr.org[7]
NME(favorable)[8]
Billboard Magazine(favorable)[9]

The band was Grammy nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group or Chorus for the title track, and "Can't Hide Love" was nominated for Best Arrangement For Voices. Earth, Wind & Fire won a Rock Music Award in the category of Best Soul Album for Gratitude.[10][11]

Track listing

Original release

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Introduction by MC Perry Jones"Perry Jones0:21
2."Africano/Power"Larry Dunn (“Africano”), Maurice White5:56
3."Yearnin' Learnin'"Philip Bailey, Charles Stepney, M. White4:16
4."Devotion"P. Bailey, M. White5:07
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Sun Goddess"Jon Lind, M. White7:41
6."Reasons"P. Bailey, C. Stepney, M. White8:23
7."Sing a Message to You"M. White1:19
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
8."Shining Star"P. Bailey, M. White, L. Dunn, Sonny Burke, Verdine White4:55
9."New World Symphony"M. White, V. White9:28
10."Sunshine*"M. White, P. Bailey, L. Dunn, Al McKay4:24
Side four
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Sing a Song*"A. McKay, M. White3:23
12."Gratitude*"P. Bailey, M. White, L. Dunn, V. White3:23
13."Celebrate*"P. Bailey, C. Stepney, M. White3:06
14."Can't Hide Love*"Skip Scarborough4:10

[12]

Note

  • * indicates studio recording

1999 reissue

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Introduction by MC Perry Jones"Perry Jones0:21
2."Africano/Power"Larry Dunn (“Africano”), Maurice White5:56
3."Yearnin' Learnin'"Philip Bailey, Charles Stepney, M. White4:16
4."Devotion"P. Bailey, M. White5:07
5."Sun Goddess"Jon Lind, M. White7:41
6."Reasons"P. Bailey, C. Stepney, M. White8:23
7."Sing a Message to You"M. White1:19
8."Shining Star"P. Bailey, M. White, L. Dunn, Sonny Burke, Verdine White4:55
9."New World Symphony"M. White, V. White9:28
10."Musical Interlude #1" 0:15
11."Sunshine"M. White, P. Bailey, L. Dunn, Al McKay4:24
12."Sing a Song"A. McKay, M. White3:23
13."Gratitude"P. Bailey, M. White, L. Dunn, V. White3:23
14."Celebrate"P. Bailey, C. Stepney, M. White3:06
15."Musical Interlude #2" 0:27
16."Can't Hide Love"Skip Scarborough4:10
17."Live Bonus Medley: Serpentine Fire/Saturday Nite/Can't Hide Love/Reasons"Sonny Burke, V. White, M. White, A. McKay, P. Bailey, S. Scarborough, C. Stepney6:13

[13][14]

Note

  • ”Live Bonus Medley” Recorded Live on February 11, 1978, at Hollywood Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California for a 1978 TV Variety Special starring Natalie Cole.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from AllMusic[13] and the album's liner notes[12][14]

Production

  • Earth, Wind & Fire - arrangers (all tracks)
  • Maurice White - audio mixing, remix producer (17), original recording producer (All tracks), original album producer
  • Joe Wissert - producer (original recording - live tracks), original album producer
  • Charles Stepney - arranger (studio tracks), producer (original recording - studio tracks), original album producer
  • Leo Sacks - producer (reissue), audio mixing (17)
  • Joy Gilbert - project director
  • Richard Salvato - director, direction
  • Art Macnow - direction
  • Howard Fritzson - art direction
  • Steve Hall - mastering
  • Mark Wilder - mastering
  • Paul Klingberg - remix producer, audio mixing (17)
  • George Massenburg - recording engineer (all tracks), mixing
  • Cameron Marcarelli - assistant engineer, mixing assistant (17)
  • Shusei Nagaoka - artwork
  • Steve Newman - design
  • David Redfern - photography, inlay photography
  • Michael Cimicata - packaging manager

Sunshine has been sampled by Arrested Development on the track "Natural" featured on their 1992 album 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... and by Wyclef Jean on the song "To All the Girls" featured on his 1997 album The Carnival.[15]

Accolades

The information regarding accolades attributed to Gratitude is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net, www.rockhall.com and rocklistmusic.co.uk.[16][17][18]

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Various writers United States Albums: 50 Years of Great Recordings 2005 *
Rickey Vincent United States Five Star Albums from "FUNK: The MUSIC, the PEOPLE, and the RHYTHM *
National Association of Recording Merchandisers and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame United States The Definitive 200 2007 141
New Book of Rock Lists United States The 50 Best Number One Albums (1955–93) 1994 *
* denotes an unranked list

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1976 Black Albums 1
Pop Albums 1

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1975 "Sun Goddess" Black Singles 20
Disco Singles 5
Pop Singles 44
1976 "Can't Hide Love" Black Singles 11
Pop Singles 39
"Sing a Song/Gratitude" Club Play Singles 1
"Sing a Song" Black Singles 1
Pop Singles 5

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ earthwindandfire.com/bio_timeline Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ RIAA Certification for Gratitude Archived 2015-10-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Billboard. com - Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums of 1976
  4. ↑ "Earth, Wind & Fire: Gratitude". allmusic.com.
  5. ↑ "Earth, Wind & Fire: Gratitude". robertchristgau.com.
  6. ↑ RS Album Guide review
  7. ↑ Warr.org review
  8. ↑ White, Cliff (February 7, 1976). Earth Wind & Fire: Gratitude. New Musical Express.
  9. ↑ review
  10. ↑ earthwindandfire.com/bio_awards Archived 2009-03-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "Mccartney, Ronstadt top in annual rock awards". Montreal Gazette. 1976. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  12. 1 2 Earth, Wind & Fire. “Gratitude” (Album Notes). Columbia. 1975.
  13. 1 2 "Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude". allmusic.com. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  14. 1 2 Earth, Wind & Fire. “Gratitude” (Remastered). Legacy’s Rhythm & Soul Series. Columbia / Legacy. 1999.
  15. ↑ "Sunshine by Earth, Wind & Fire". samplespot.com. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  16. ↑ Acclaimed Music - Gratitude
  17. ↑ Definitive 200 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Archived 2008-08-01 at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ New Book of Rock Lists rocklistmusic.co.uk
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