Raise! (1981)

 Raise! is the eleventh studio album by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released in October 1981, by ARC/Columbia Records. The album spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Top R&B albums chart^[2][3][4] and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[3][5] Raise! has been certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA, Gold in the UK by the BPI and Gold in Canada by Music Canada.

 

The album art was designed by Roger Carpenter and Raise! was illustrated by Shusei Nagaoka. The front cover of Raise! features a presumed Egyptian female figure. The name of the band is present on the front cover, but the title is not.

On the back cover there is an illustration of a female figure in a sarcophagus, which is also divided into a purple left side and a blue right side. The sarcophagus appears to be hyper-modern. The title of the album is presented in the top left corner of the back cover.

Raise! was produced by bandleader Maurice White. The album marked the return of rhythm guitarist Roland Bautista, who last played upon 1972's Last Days and Time. The LP was also reissued in 2015 with seven bonus tracks.

 

Off the album came the single "Let's Groove", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[10][11] A song called "I've Had Enough" also got to No. 29 on the UK Pop Singles chart.^[12]

Another song entitled "Wanna Be with You" rose to No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.^[13] "Wanna Be with You" also won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.