Illumination (Earth, Wind & Fire album)

Illumination
Studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire
Released	September 20, 2005
Recorded	2004–2005 Flyte Tyme West at The Village Recorders Larrabee North Studios Los Angeles, California Magnet Vision Studios Santa Monica, California Blakeslee Recording Company Hollywood, California The Dungeon Recording Studio Atlanta, Georgia
Genre	R&B, funk
Length	60:04
Label	Sanctuary
Producer	Maurice White & Phillip Bailey (exec.), will.i.am, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq, Darren Henson & Keith Pelzer, Brian McKnight, Organized Noize
Earth, Wind & Fire chronology
Love Songs (2004)Love Songs2004 Illumination (2005) Now, Then & Forever (2013)Now, Then & Forever2013

Illumination is the 19th studio album of R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire released in September 2005 on Sanctuary Records. The album rose to Nos. 8 & 32 upon the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively. Illumination was also Grammy nominated within the category of Best R&B Album.^[1][2][3][4]

Background

The recording process for Illumination was originally conceived as a solo album for singer Philip Bailey. He recorded songs for the project "This Is How I Feel", "Work It Out" and "Elevated". A few months into recording, Bailey wanted to shift the focus of the project. He decided to make it into an Earth, Wind & Fire album- a move that was inspired by his oldest son, who co-wrote the song "Work It Out". Bailey reached out to the remaining members of the band to help work on what became their next studio recording.^[5] They signed with Sanctuary Records' urban music division, which was run by former Destiny's Child manager Mathew Knowles.^[6]

Illumination went on to feature collaborations with artistes such as Big Boi, Kenny G, Kelly Rowland, will.i.am, and Brian McKnight.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
BBC	(favorable)[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
People	(favorable) [9]
Washington Post	(favorable)[10]
About	[11]
Entertainment Weekly	(favourable)[12]
USA Today	[13]
The Times	[14]
The Guardian	[15]

The album received positive reviews from critics. Raymond Fiore of Entertainment Weekly described the album as "a fluid, unforced marriage of modern beats and retro, horn-lined soul".^[16] Antony Hatfield of the BBC in his review stated that the album was "a great all star team effort" and added that it "combines Latin, funk and soul but the likes of Raphael Saadiq, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have brought a more contemporary hip-hop and R&B sound to the table".^[17] Of Illumination the Washington Post's Geoffrey Himes felt that "The EWF voices and horns are given contagious hooks for their retro sound, while underneath, the producers cook up new beats for a new century".^[18]

Illumination was Grammy nominated for Best R&B Album, was also nominated for a Soul Train Music Award in the category R&B-soul album and EWF garnered an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Duo or Group for Illumination. The single "Pure Gold" reached number 23 on the Adult Contemporary chart and was also Grammy nominated in the category Best Production Non-Classical. Another single, "Show Me The Way", a collaboration with Raphael Saadiq was Grammy nominated in the category of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.^[19][20]

Track listing

Uses in other media

"This Is How I Feel" was featured in the movie Hitch and "Love's Dance" was featured in the feature film Robots. "Pure Gold" was featured in the movie Roll Bounce.^[21]

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

References