The Promise is the 18th studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire. Released on Maurice White's label Kalimba Records, it was their first of new material in six years. The album reached #5 on the Top Independent Album Chart and #19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album Chart. It also featured collaborations with Angie Stone, The Emotions, Gerald Albright and Paulinho Da Costa. The album's cover art was designed by Morito Suzuki. The track "All About Love" is a different song and not a remake of their 1975 song of the same name from their album That's the Way of the World.
The album cut produced and written by Tim & Bob Hold Me was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.
On February 24, 2009 The Promise was re-released on Kalimba Music.
Video The Promise (Earth, Wind & Fire album)
Reception
AllMusic declared that "a certain reverence needs to be paid toward a group that can manage to still produce interesting, soulful music well into a third decade" and that the album is "extremely soulful and soothing", while People called The Promise "musically rich".
Maps The Promise (Earth, Wind & Fire album)
Trivia
"Where Do We Go from Here" and "Dirty" were originally recorded during the I Am sessions and remixed for this album. "Dirty", in particular, in its original form with blues legend Junior Wells, already appeared on the 1992 collection The Eternal Dance.
Track listing
Japan bonus tracks
There are a total of 19 tracks on the Japan edition.
Personnel
- Maurice White - lead and background vocals, kalimba, producer, executive producer, horn arrangements, vocal producer
- Tim Kelley - mixer, arranger, producer, keyboards, drum programming
- Bob Robinson - arranger, producer, piano, guitar
- Verdine White - bass
- Philip Bailey - lead and background vocals, executive producer
- Ralph Johnson - percussion, background vocals, producer, drum programming
- B. David Whitworth - background vocals
- Tom Mgrdichian - keyboards, string arrangements
- Sir Alexander Dutkewych - guitar, harp on "Dirty"
- John Paris - drums
- Greg "G-Mo" Moore - guitar
- Robert Brookins - keyboards, producer, drum programming
- Daniel de los Reyes - percussion
- Gary Bias - flute, saxophone
- Reggie Young - trombone
- Ray Brown - trumpet, flugelhorn, horn arrangements, soloist
- Darrell Crooks - guitar
- Paulinho Da Costa - percussion
- Gary Grant - trumpet
- Jerry Hey - trumpet, horn arrangements
- Sheila Hutchinson - background vocals
- Tollak Ollestad - harmonica
- Wayne Linsey - keyboards
- Raymond Crossley - keyboards
- Gregory Curtis - keyboards, background vocals, producer, engineer, drum programming
- Andy Martin - trombone
- Howard McCrary - background vocals
- Michael "Patches" Stewart - trumpet, flugelhorn
- Wanda Vaughn - lead and background vocals
- Wayne Vaughn - drums, keyboards, background vocals, producer, engineer, horn arrangements, vocal producer
- Eric Walls - guitar
Production
- Myron McKinley - rhythm arrangements
- Dave Dolimar - engineer
- Preston Glass - producer, keyboard programming
- Steve Hall - mastering
- Andy Haller - engineer
- Cameron Marcarelli - engineer, drum programming, assistant engineer
- Wallace Mercer - engineer
- Richard Salvato - production coordination
- Dexter Simmons - mixing
- Ben Wright - horn arrangements
- Morito Suzuki - cover design
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
Singles - Billboard (North America)
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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