Live On Stage: Earth Wind and Fire's Gratitude


                 


                                                 Earth Wind and Fire: Gratitude: (1975)
                   
 1975 was Earth Wind and Fire's year. In March, they released breakthrough chart topper That's The Way of the World. 30 days later, it sold a million copies. Embarking on a triumphant tour in support  of the album, EWF sprinted past other funky contenders in the race for 70s R&B supremacy and emerged victorious.

Eight months later, they dropped Gratitude---a four-record double album of live performances with a couple new studio tracks thrown in for good measure. Gratitude captured the band in its arena-rocking album element. The crowd roared with approval at Philip Bailey's soaring vocals on Reasons and the band's driving rhythms and blistering solos on up-tempo jams like Sun Goddess, Africano and Yearnin' Learnin.' By the time Maurice White goes into his party-rocking bag on Devotion, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. 

The breezy Sing A Song and funk ballad Can't Hide Love extended EWF's run of hits that would last for nearly a decade. Gratitude remains one of the most successful live albums at all time. Also moving a million units in a month the live set topped out at triple platinum 25 years later.

 EWF never recorded their legendary performances because White wasn't a big fan of the quality of 70s audio recordings of live concerts. Gratitude is an excellent sonic consolation. Clocking in over at sixty minutes, the album's superior sound quality is a joy to listen to through headphones as any one who ever has can attest to. Sounds so beautiful don't you agree?

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