Holiday (Earth, Wind & Fire album)

Holiday is the 21st studio album of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, issued in October 2014 by Sony/Legacy.[1] The album rose to No. 26 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and No. 8 on the Billboard Holiday Albums charts.[2][3]

Holiday
Studio album by
Earth, Wind & Fire
Released21 October 2014
GenreHoliday, R&B
Length47:22
LabelLegacy
ProducerPhilip Bailey, Myron McKinley
Earth, Wind & Fire chronology
Now, Then & Forever
(2013)		 Holiday
(2014)

Overview

According to longtime band member Verdine White, "We never thought about doing a holiday album before, but Legacy/Sony asked and so have our fans, so we hope the audience likes it."[4]

Along with a number of traditional Christmas songs, Holiday includes two Earth, Wind & Fire songs that were reworked just for this release:

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
LA Times[6]
Boston Globe(favourable)[7]
Exclaim!(8/10)[8]
OffBeat(favourable)[9]
New York Times(mixed)[10]
Atlanta Journal Constitution(B-)[11]
The Times(favourable)[12]

Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times gave the album a 3 out of five stars rating and wrote "The venerable R&B band does what it does best here: lays on the hard and heavy funk with fat horn accents and thick rhythmic riffs to propel a batch of time-tested holiday favorites."[6] Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe found that "on its first seasonal outing, the legendary R&B outfit brings the joy on a horn-flecked collection of familiar tunes".[7] With an 8 out of 10 rating Matt Bauer of Exclaim! stated "Holiday is here, and it's anything but the uninspired, calculated cash grab that's become all too synonymous with yuletide offerings."[8] Brett Milano of OffBeat also proclaimed "If you need to funkify your holiday mix (and you’ve already got the Christmas EP that George Porter, Jr. released in ’12), this will do fine."[9]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Joy to the World"Isaac Watts4:12
2."Happy Seasons"Verdine White, Philip Bailey, Larry Dunn, Maurice White, Al McKay3:58
3."O Come All Ye Faithfull"John Francis Wade, John Reading6:06
4."Winter Wonderland"Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith3:40
5."What Child Is This?"William Chatterton Dix3:34
6."Away in a Manger"James Ramses Murray2:54
7."The Little Drummer Boy"Katherine K. Davis2:50
8."Every Day Is Like Christmas"Roxanne Seeman, Philipp Steinke3:26
9."The First Noël"Traditional4:26
10."Sleigh Ride"Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish2:56
11."Snow"Traditional Japanese2:31
12."Jingle Bell Rock"Joe Beal, Jim Boothe3:09
13."December"Maurice White, McKay, Allee Willis3:40
Total length:47:22

References
  1. Earth, Wind & Fire: Holiday. Sony/Legacy Records. October 2014.
  2. "Earth, Wind & Fire: Holiday (Billboard Holiday Albums)". billboard.com. Billboard.
  3. "Earth, Wind & Fire: Holiday (Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums)". billboard.com. Billboard.
  4. "Earth, Wind & Fire to Release First Holiday Album". Billboard. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  5. Earth, Wind & Fire: Holiday at AllMusic
  6. Lewis, Randy (November 26, 2014). "Holiday music: Seth MacFarlane, Downton Abbey, Idina Menzel, more". latimes.com. LA Times.
  7. Rodman, Sarah (November 26, 2014). "Music Gift Guide: Holiday albums". bostonglobe.com. Boston Globe.
  8. Bauer, Matt (October 28, 2014). "Earth, Wind & Fire: Holiday". exclaim.ca. Exclaim!.
  9. Milano, Brett (November 24, 2014). "Earth, Wind & Fire: Holiday". offbeat.com. OffBeat.
  10. Chinen, Nate (27 November 2014). "Twangy, Jazzy, Stately, Holy". New York Times. New York Times.
  11. Ruggieri, Melissa (December 4, 2014). "New holiday albums mix original tunes, old favorites". ajc.com. Atlanta Journal Constitution.
  12. Cairns, Dan (December 14, 2014). "Rock, Pop and Jazz". thetimes.co.uk. The Times.
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