Earth, Wind & Fire is one of those funk bands that I always think of as a little more smooth and polished and a little less, well, funky, than some other funk bands -- likely because they were more jazz/horns based than other bands. That's not a knock on EWF, but more of an observation. That said, I hadn't listened to this album before today, and this album proves they could get down and dirty with the best of them. No one could ever question the band's musical talents, and those are on full display here, as they belt out their funk and soul songs with tons of energy, but then also take it down during their slower songs. All in all, it's a really good live album.
As I mentioned above, Gratitude is a "mostly live" album, and I say that not because the live tracks were (as some bands have done) recorded in the studio and then had crowd effects added, but rather because three sides of the album (minus one song) are live -- recorded at shows in various cities across the U.S. -- and the fourth side (plus one song on the third side) is comprised of new, non-live studio tracks.
When they released this album, the band was just beginning a really strong six-year run of albums and singles. Earlier in 1975, their sixth album (in four years!), That's The Way of the World, hit #1 on the Billboard album chart. Between That's The Way of the World and 1981's Raise!, all six of the band's studio albums were Top 10 albums on the Billboard album chart and Top 2 on the Billboard R&B album chart. In addition, Gratitude itself went to #1 on both the general Billboard album chart and the Billboard R&B album chart, and the groups 1978 greatest hits album went to #6 and #3 on those respective charts. Gratitude has also gone triple platinum in the U.S.
On the singles side, between their #1 hit "Shining Star" in 1975 and 1981, the band had 13 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including seven Top 10s. From Gratitude, two of the new studio tracks cracked the Top 40. "Sing a Song" went to #5 (and #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart), and "Can't Hide Love" eked in at #39 (and #11 on the R&B singles chart).
Favorite song from Side 1: "Africano/Power Medley"
It was a tough call between this song and "Yearnin' Learnin'," but I went with the first song because it starts the album off with a bang. This one is a funky, uptempo instrumental where all the band members show off their chops and gets the crowd going. Great start to the album, and it would have been a great start to a concert.
Favorite song from Side 2: "Sing a Message to You"
After two songs that were both about eight minutes long, this is the third and final song on Side 2, and though this is only an interlude that is a little more than a minute long, it's a "get up and start shakin' your booty" song after a couple slower, more jazzy ones.
Favorite song from Side 3: "Shining Star"
This is a rousing, energetic version of arguably the band's biggest and most well-known song.
Favorite song from Side 4: "Gratitude"
The title track is one of the studio tracks, and I went with this one because it's a little more funky than the other tracks on Side 4.
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