Gratitude (Earth, Wind & Fire album)


Gratitude is a double album by the band Earth, Wind & Fire issued in November 1975 by Columbia Records. The album rose to No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Top Soul Albums charts. Gratitude has also been certified Triple Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Overview

Gratitude was also co-produced by Maurice White and Charles Stepney. The LP consists of mostly live concert material together with some newly recorded tracks.
Gratitude also spent six weeks atop the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and three weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart.

Critical reception

With a four out of five star rating Kit Aiken of Uncut called Gratitude "a kicking live album". Henry Edwards of the New York Times said "All of the music is carefully tooled, zestfully polished, relentlessly good‐natured rhythmic dance music, an amalgam of rhythm‐and‐blues, jazz and middle‐of‐the‐road pop that the group gleefully shouts, croons, squeals and growls. There's showmanship galore here, but strip that showmanship away and one discovers that Earth, Wind & Fire's music is built around one persistently repeated chord‐and not the world's most interesting chord either." Alex Henderson of Allmusic found that "Gratitude is one of EWF's finest accomplishments." Mike Kalina of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette claimed Gratitude "features a variety of superb rhythm and blues material with plenty of jazz overtones. The group's lyrics may not be the most innovative but they all fit perfectly into the patchwork of funk the group weaves. The musicianship of the group cannot be beat nor can the feeling that this group - my favorite in the R&B idiom - puts out." Tony Green of Spin exclaimed "A frightfully accomplished funk hit machine flexing its muscles live is truly a beautiful thing. And few had as much flex-worthy musical mass as these crossover kings. The White brothers melded proto-Afrocentricism with self help optimism, filling out their sound with Jazz leanings and swelling summer breeze ballads. An album that's capable at any moment of landing an emotional killer blow." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune found "an Ellingtonian fusion of styles on this live masterpiece."
EWF went on to win a Rock Music Award in the category of Best Soul Album for Gratitude. The album's title track was also Grammy nominated in the category of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Singles

With the LP came "Sing a Song" which rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart and No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart.
Another single, "Can't Hide Love", got to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart.
"Can't Hide Love" was also nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Arrangement For Voices.

Track listing

Original release

Note
Note

Charts

Album
YearChartPosition
1976US Billboard Top Soul Albums1
1976US Billboard 2001
1976Japanese Albums 58

Singles
YearSingleChartPosition
1976"Can't Hide Love"Black Singles11
1976"Can't Hide Love"Pop Singles39
1976"Sing a Song/Gratitude"Club Play Singles1
1976"Sing a Song"Black Singles1
1976"Sing a Song"Pop Singles5

Certifications

Accolades

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