Gratitude (Earth, Wind & Fire album)

Gratitude is a live album by the band Earth, Wind & Fire. It was released in December 1975 (see 1975 in music), and re-issued on May 9, 2000 (see 2000 in music). The album spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart, six nonconsecutive weeks at number one on the Soul/Black Albums chart and has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA.^[1]^[2] Gratitude was also the 2nd bestselling R&B album of 1976.^[3] 3/4 of the album is live and the other 1/4 is recorded in the studio.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[4]
Yahoo Music	(favorable)^[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, Gratitude and "Can't Hide Love" was also Grammy nominated for Best Arrangement For Voices. Earth, Wind & Fire also won a Rock Music Award in the category of Best Soul Album for Gratitude.^[10]^[11]

Track listing

Original release

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Introduction by MC Perry Jones"	Perry Jones	0:21
2.	"Africano/Power"	Larry Dunn, Maurice White	5:56
3.	"Yearnin' Learnin'"	Phillip Bailey, Charles Stepney, Maurice White	4:16
4.	"Devotion"	Phillip Bailey, Maurice White	5:07

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
5.	"Sun Goddess"	Jon Lind, Maurice White	7:41
6.	"Reasons"	Phillip Bailey, Charles Stepney, Maurice White	8:23
7.	"Sing a Message to You"	Maurice White	1:19

Side three
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
8.	"Shining Star"	Phillip Bailey, Maurice White, Larry Dunn	4:55
9.	"New World Symphony"	Maurice White, Verdine White	9:28
10.	"Sunshine*"	Maurice White, Phillip Bailey, Al McKay, Larry Dunn	4:24

Side four
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Sing a Song*"	Al McKay, Maurice White	3:23
12.	"Gratitude*"	Phillip Bailey, Maurice White, Larry Dunn, Verdine White	3:23
13.	"Celebrate*"	Phillip Bailey, Charles Stepney, Maurice White	3:06
14.	"Can't Hide Love*"	Skip Scarborough	4:10

Note

* indicates studio recording

1999 reissue

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

^[12]

Personnel

Johnny Graham - guitar
Al McKay - guitar, percussion, vocals
Verdine White - bass, percussion, vocals
Don Myrick - saxophone
Michael Harris - trumpet
Louis Satterfield - trombone
Larry Dunn - organ, piano, Moog synthesizer
Andrew Woolfolk - percussion, saxophone
Fred White - percussion, drums
Ralph Johnson - percussion, drums
Maurice White - drums, timbales, vocals, kalimba, producer, mixing, original recording producer, remix producer, original album producer
Philip Bailey - percussion, conga, vocals

Production

Joseph Wissert - producer, original recording producer, original album producer
Charles Stepney - producer, original recording producer, original album producer
Leo Sacks - producer, reissue producer, mixing
Joy Gilbert - project director
Richard Salvato - director, direction
Art Macnow - direction
Howard Fritzson - art direction
Steve Hall - mastering
Mark Wilder - mastering
Paul Klingberg - mixing, remix producer
George Massenburg - engineer, mixing
Cameron Marcarelli - assistant engineer, mixing assistant
Shusei Nagaoka - artwork
Steve Newman - design
David Redfern - photography, inlay photography
Michael Cimicata - packaging manager

In popular culture

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.^[13]

Accolades

The information regarding accolades attributed to Gratitude is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net, www.rockhall.com and rocklistmusic.co.uk.^[14]^[15]^[16]

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 (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1976	Black Albums	1
1976	Pop Albums	1

Singles - Billboard (North America)

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

Notes

^ earthwindandfire.com/bio_timeline
^ RIAA Certification for Gratitude
^ Billboard. com - Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums of 1976
^ Allmusic review
^ Yahoo Music review
^ RS Album Guide review
^ Warr.org review
^ NME review
^ review
^ earthwindandfire.com/bio_awards
^ "Mccartney, Ronstadt top in annual rock awards". Montreal Gazette. 1976. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
^ "Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude". allmusic.com. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
^ "Sunshine by Earth, Wind & Fire". samplespot.com. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
^ Acclaimed Music - Gratitude
^ Definitive 200 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
^ New Book of Rock Lists rocklistmusic.co.uk

Preceded by Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits by Chicago	Billboard 200 number-one album January 17 - February 6, 1976	Succeeded by Desire by Bob Dylan

[earthwindandfire-1] rthwindandfire.com/bio_timeline

[2] RIAA Certification for Gratitude

[billboard-3] Billboard. com - Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums of 1976

[4] Allmusic review

[5] Yahoo Music review

[6] RS Album Guide review

[7] Warr.org review

[8] NME review

[9] review

[EARTHWINDANDFIRE-10] rthwindandfire.com/bio_awards

[11] "Mccartney, Ronstadt top in annual rock awards". Montreal Gazette. 1976. Retrieved 29 December 2011.

[allmusic-12] "Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude". allmusic.com. Retrieved May 16, 2009.

[13] "Sunshine by Earth, Wind & Fire". samplespot.com. Retrieved 17 June 2009.

[acclaimed-14] Acclaimed Music - Gratitude

[15] Definitive 200 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

[16] New Book of Rock Lists rocklistmusic.co.uk

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