Gratitude (Earth, Wind & Fire album)

Gratitude is a double live album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, issued in November 1975 by Columbia Records. The album spent six weeks atop the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and three weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. 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.

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.

Critical reception
With a four out of five star review 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." Will Smith of the Omaha World Herald scribed "Gratitude by Earth, Wind & Fire has the soul that so many so-called soul groups lack. The nine-man group manages to keep the interest level high on this two-record set with the inclusion of jazz tinges." Alex Henderson of Allmusic, in a 4.5 out of 5 star review found that "Gratitude is one of EWF's finest accomplishments."

Cliff White of NME called Gratitude "Proof at last that EWF deserve all the acclaim that's been heaped on them in the last couple of years..Now we get to hear them at their very best and it's suddenly apparent that they knock most other "progressive" black groups into a cocked hat. 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.

Original release
Note
 * * indicates studio recording

1999 Legacy reissue (CK 65737)
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

 * Philip Bailey - vocals, congas, percussion
 * Larry Dunn - organ, piano, Moog synthesizer
 * Johnny Graham - guitar
 * Michael Harris - trumpet
 * Ralph Johnson - drums, percussion
 * Perry Jones - talking voice (1)
 * Al McKay - guitar, percussion
 * Don Myrick - saxophone
 * Louis Satterfield - trombone
 * Fred White - drums, percussion
 * Maurice White - vocals, drums, timbales, kalimba
 * Verdine White - vocals, bass, percussion
 * Andrew Woolfolk - percussion, saxophone

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