Powerlight

Powerlight
Studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire
Released February 7, 1983
Recorded 1982
Genre R&B
Length 41:23
Label Columbia
Producer Maurice White
Earth, Wind & Fire chronology
Raise!
(1981)		 Powerlight
(1983)		 Electric Universe
(1983)
Singles from Powerlight
  1. "Fall In Love With Me"
    Released: January 22, 1983
  2. "Side By Side"
    Released: May 10, 1983
  3. "Spread Your Love"
    Released: July 22, 1983

Powerlight is the twelfth studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire, produced by the band's leader Maurice White for Kalimba Productions, and released in February 1983. Powerlight has been certified gold for selling over 500, 000 copies in the US.[1] Powerlight went to number 12 and number 4 on the Pop and R&B album charts and the single "Fall in Love with Me" reached number 17 and number 4 on the Pop and R&B charts respectively.[2] "Fall in Love with Me" was also Grammy nominated for Best R&B vocal performance by A Duo or group.[3]

Contents

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [4]
Robert Christgau (A-)[5]
Warr.org [6]

Allmusic's Craig Lytle refers to the album as "an entertaining piece" and goes on to say that "Throughout the entire album, White's unifying message is fueled by the aggressive rhythms and relaxing melodies".[7] Robert Christgau says that on the album "we're free to gape at this band's spectacular popcraft" and summed up his review by describing Powerlight as "the best argument for universalism they'll ever make".[8]

Track listing

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Fall In Love With Me"   Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White 5:54
2. "Spread Your Love"   Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White 3:51
3. "Side by Side"   Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White 5:57
4. "Straight from the Heart"   Philip Bailey, Eduardo del Barrio, Roxanne Seeman, F. Washington 4:42
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
5. "The Speed of Love"   Earth, Wind & Fire, T. Haynes, Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White 3:36
6. "Freedom of Choice"   Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White 4:10
7. "Something Special"   Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White 4:23
8. "Hearts to Heart"   Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White 3:45
9. "Miracles"   D'Astugues, M. DAstugues, Eduardo del Barrio, Jon Lind, Maurice White 4:58

[9]

Later samples

"Something Special" has been sampled by Will Smith on the title track of his album Big Willie Style and "Side by Side" has been sampled by Common on Charms Alarm on his album Can I Borrow a Dollar?

Charts

Album – Billboard
Year Chart Position
1983 Black Albums 4
Pop Albums 12
Year Chart Position[10]
1983 United Kingdom 22
Singles – Billboard
Year Single Chart Position
1983 "Fall In Love With Me" Black Singles 4
Club Play Singles 31
Pop Singles 17
"Side By Side" Black Singles 15
Pop Singles 76
"Spread Your Love" Black Singles 57

[2]

Performers

Production

References

  1. ^ RIAA Certification for Powerlight
  2. ^ a b Powerlight - Charts on Allmusic.com
  3. ^ www.earthwindandfire.com/bio_awards.html
  4. ^ Allmusic review
  5. ^ Robert Christgau review
  6. ^ Warr.org review
  7. ^ Lytle, Craig. "Powerlight album review". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r6518/review. 
  8. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide Album Earth, Wind & Fire: Powerlight". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1115. 
  9. ^ "Powerlight - Overview". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r6518. Retrieved September 13, 2010. 
  10. ^ "Powerlight". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/albuminfo.php?id=7144. Retrieved May 24, 2009. 
  11. ^ Powerlight on discogs.com
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