Powerlight

Powerlight
Studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire
Released February 3, 1983
Recorded 1982
Genre R&B, Electropop, New wave, Funk Boogie, Synth funk
Length 41:23
Label Columbia
Producer Maurice White
Earth, Wind & Fire chronology
Raise!
(1981)Raise!1981		 Powerlight
(1983)		 Electric Universe
(1983)Electric Universe1983
Singles from Powerlight
  1. "Fall In Love With Me"
    Released: December 27, 1982
  2. "Side By Side"
    Released: April 19, 1983
  3. "Spread Your Love"
    Released: June 24, 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 by the RIAA.[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]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
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]

Samples

"Something Special" has been sampled by Will Smith on the title track of his 1997 album Big Willie Style and "Side by Side" has been sampled by Common on the track Charms Alarm featured on his 1992 album Can I Borrow a Dollar?.[9]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Fall In Love With Me"Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White5:54
2."Spread Your Love"Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White3:51
3."Side by Side"Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White5:57
4."Straight from the Heart"Philip Bailey, Eduardo del Barrio, Roxanne Seeman, Freddie Washington4:42
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."The Speed of Love"Earth, Wind & Fire, Tony Haynes, Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White3:36
6."Freedom of Choice"Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White4:10
7."Something Special"Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White4:23
8."Hearts to Heart"Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White3:45
9."Miracles"Marry D'Astugues, Eduardo del Barrio, Jon Lind, Maurice White4:58

[10]

Personnel

Adapted from the Discogs credits.[11]

Production

Charts

Album – Billboard
Year Chart Position
1983 Black Albums 4
Pop Albums 12
Year Chart Position[12]
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]

References

  1. ↑ RIAA Certification for Powerlight
  2. 1 2 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.
  8. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide Album Earth, Wind & Fire: Powerlight". robertchristgau.com.
  9. ↑ Earth, Wind & Fire music sampled by others
  10. ↑ "Powerlight - Overview". allmusic.com. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  11. ↑ Powerlight on discogs.com
  12. ↑ "Powerlight". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
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