LP Review: Gratitude
Released: 1975
LP Charts: #1 R&B (6 weeks), #1 pop (3 weeks)
Welcome to Gratitude!
The rare live album that is an absolute blast because the live recordings often outdo (wildly so on occasion) their studio counterparts. Okay, it must be admitted that the double album Gratitude is majority-live not all-the-way-live. Of the 12 songs, seven are live recordings and five are new studio tracks.
What’s pretty surprising to me is that I’ve heard several other live songs done by Earth, Wind & Fire from 1975 and the record company could have easily put out an all-the-way-live double album and not suffered any quality problems whatsoever. In 2002, some of these songs from the cutting room floor were included on That's the Way of the World: Alive in '75 while others were included in an early 1990s box set. The decision to include some new studio songs must have been a record company trick to entice people to buy the album.
It worked, obviously as Gratitude topped the charts for R&B and pop albums and went platinum three times over.
Anyhoo, the album opens with a medley of the instrumentals “Africano” and “Power”. It rocks the house and is the equal of the studio recording of “Power”. That’s saying a lot. “Yearnin’ Learnin’” also equals its studio counterpart in quality.
But these next three songs are where the album kicks itself up into high gear.
The live rendition of “Devotion” puts the studio version to shame. It has WAY more energy and has great audience interaction. This is why you get live albums. No one wants a note-for-note rehearsal. Nonetheless, one of the great shames, I gotta say is that Gratitude’s version of this song cuts off an intro that had “Keep Your Head to the Sky” included. THAT version of the song approaches a 9.5/10 for me. Not quite perfect, but almost!
EWF then launches into “Sun Goddess”, a song they had recorded in 1974 with Ramsey Lewis on his album of the same name. The Ramsey Lewis studio version is pretty good. This live version is fucking awesome as EWF fully leans into jazz-funk with tasty keyboard and saxophone solos. As good as it is, you’ll never want the studio version over the live version.
The final song that gets a sparkling live sheen is “Reasons”. Once again, the studio version is very good. Nonetheless, this live version pretty much became the definitive edition of the song. They were still playing it on the radio when I was a kid in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. I don’t think I heard the studio recording of the song until I listened to my dad’s EWF greatest hits CD.
What gives this live take the heavy edge is that Philip Bailey sings his ass off and saxophonist Andrew Woolfolk or Don Myrick (I don’t know which particular player was on this song) shows up midway to turn the 8:23 song into a duet and eventually a dual as they try to outdo each other in hitting high notes.
The one song that did not translate well from the studio to the stage was “Shining Star”. It’s much better left to the pop radio format. As a live performance it goes from snappy and catchy to dragged out and hokey. Finally on the live front, there’s “New World Symphony”, which was a completely new song. As you may gather from the title, it’s an ambitious attempt to consciously string together various Third World music forms. It’s alright, but at nearly 10 minutes, it does test your patience.
Studio Tracks
After the live songs, we get those five studio tracks and it’s a great bunch. “Sunshine” is luminous pop. “Gratitude” and “Celebrate” settle into fine midtempo funk. “Gratitude” even gets bluesy, dare I say. “Sing a Song” (#1 R&B, #5 pop) proved EWF at this point could churn out chipper pop-funk song pretty much on demand.
Best of the studio tracks is “Can’t Hide Love” (#11 R&B, #39 pop). Originally recorded by Creative Source in 1973, this Skip Scarborough ballad is toughened up considerably by EWF. It opens with a memorable horn chart that shifts into jazzy funk built around a hazy electric piano and menacing bass. Maurice’s lead vocal is done well, but the vocals that will stay with you is the haunting, wordless outro.
ALBUM GRADE: A-
Three of this album’s four sides are amazing. But that 15-minute lull created by “Shining Star” and “New World Symphony” is too hard to ignore. Oh well, guess Earth, Wind & Fire will have to settle for a measly A- grade from me and the revenue generated from triple platinum sales.
Song Scores
Africano/Power: 8/10
Yearnin’ Learnin’: 7.5/10
Devotion: 8.5/10
Sun Goddess: 9/10
Reasons: 9/10
Shining Star: 6/10
New World Symphony: 6/10
Sunshine: 7/10
Sing A Song: 9/10
Gratitude: 7.5/10
Celebrate: 7/10
Can’t Hide Love: 9/10