Raise!

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.{{cite web|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Let's Groove (Hot R&B Songs)|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/earth-wind-fire/chart-history/bsi/|website=Billboard}}{{cite web|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Let's Groove (Hot 100)|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/earth-wind-fire/chart-history/hsi/|website=Billboard}} A song called "I've Had Enough" also got to No. 29 on the UK Pop Singles chart.

Another song entitled "Wanna Be with You" rose to No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.{{cite magazine|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Wanna Be With You (Hot Soul Songs)|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/earth-wind-fire/chart-history/bsi/|magazine=Billboard}} "Wanna Be with You" also won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.{{cite web|title=Earth, Wind & Fire|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/earth-wind-fire|publisher=The Recording Academy}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/raise%21-mw0000193650|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise!|author=Rhulmann, William|publisher=AllMusic}}

| rev2 = LA Weekly

| rev2score = B−{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/la-weekly/59458361/|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise|page=19|date=December 24, 1981|publisher=LA Weekly|via=newspapers.com|access-date=April 29, 2025}}

| rev3 = The Philadelphia Inquirer

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer/59452974/|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise|page=114|date=November 22, 1981|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|via=newspapers.com|access-date=April 30, 2025}}

| rev4 = Record Mirror

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise!|author=Coulthard, Alan|page=14|volume=28|issue=46|magazine=Record Mirror}}

| rev5 = Rolling Stone

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/raise-247324/|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise!|date=February 4, 1982|author=Tucker, Ken|author-link=Ken Tucker|magazine=Rolling Stone}}

| rev6 = Smash Hits

| rev6score = 7/10{{cite book|title=Albums|author=Dellar, Fred|page=25|date=November 12, 1981|publisher=Smash Hits}}

| rev7 = The Village Voice

| rev7score = B+{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=4714|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise!|author=Christgau, Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|work=The Village Voice|via=robertchristgau.com}}

}}

The Philadelphia Inquirer gave a 3/5 star rating, stating "And while there are no surprises here, the group offers another session of class music, fortified by strong melodies and appealing lyrics. The skilled blend of classic funk and mainstream values guarantees wide acceptance for this release. The groups shifts nicely from mellow ballads such as 'My Love' to upbeat material such as 'Let's Groove'." With a 7/10 rating Fred Dellar of Smash Hits found that "White's production is impeccable; the vocals float and flare, the horns urge you onto the dance-floor and the rhythms make you stay there". Hugh Wyatt of the New York Daily News described the LP as "a real gem".{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/33838355/|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise|page=322|author=Wyatt, Hugh|date=December 13, 1981|work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com}} With a 4/5 stars rating Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone said "With each new album, Earth, Wind and Fire remain relatively true to their original sound: elaborate, neatly orchestral funk, influenced equally by American and African sources. But the band also keeps its ear to the radio. Accordingly, Raise! reflects the current wave of street-gritty black pop, from Lakeside to Rick James. Most of the tracks crank up the bass and feature rattling percussion that scrapes against the beat." Tucker added "On Raise!, White’s romanticism is slinkier, more seductive." With a four out of five stars rating Alan Coulthard of Record Mirror found that Raise! "sizzles from start to finish". People exclaimed EW&F's "New Age songs are ingenious sonic tapestries that blend tribal chants, zesty horns, brilliantly varied percussion, funky-flavored guitar rhythms and 2001-ish synthesizer sounds. Here an instrumental called Kalimba Tree melds into the LP's best cut, You Are a Winner, which has White's lead vocals bobbing and weaving with Philip Bailey's. The lyrics are mostly power-of-positive-thinking messages that might thrill Norman Vincent Peale but are no match for the music’s complexity."{{cite web|url=https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-raise-vol-17-no-2/|title=Picks and Pans Review: Raise!|date=January 18, 1982|work=People}}

Richard Williams of The Times wrote "Paring away the overachievement of Faces, EW&F return to something like their best form".{{cite news|first= Richard |last= Williams |author-link= Richard Williams (journalist) |title= Jazz/Rock |newspaper= The Times |date= November 6, 1981 |page= 40}}

Variety noted that "breathtaking production and a perscussive, non stop fusion of funk and rock power light up the entire album".{{cite magazine |title=Music Records: Record Reviews - Albums |date=December 2, 1981 |page=89 |issue=5 |volume=305 |magazine=Variety |id={{ProQuest|1438347097}} }} Barney Hoskyns of NME said "Raise! is a thundering collection of the best noises around, urgent, controlled and meticulously glossy. Horns pump and spurt in golden ecstasy, percussion stamps and cracks through the usual mass of nibbling guitars and synthesizers, and White's voice is as strong and soaring as ever".{{cite book|title=Raise High The Cosmic Booty|page=37|date=November 14, 1981|author=Hoskyns, Barney|author-link=Barney Hoskyns|publisher=NME}} The Village Voice{{'}}s Robert Christgau proclaimed EWF "turn their sparkling harmonies and powerful groove into a pure, contentless display of virtuosity". As well J.D. Considine of the Baltimore Sun wrote "Raise! puts Earth, Wind & Fire back on the rock and roll road".{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/370346676/|title=There is more to black rock music than meets the white audience's ears|page=60|date=November 15, 1981|author=Considine, J.D.|author-link=J.D. Considine|work=Baltimore Sun|via=newspapers.com}}

Mitchell Feldman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution placed Raise! upon his own list of 1981's best albums.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution/33827030/|title=The artists with winning ways|author=Feldman, Mitchell|date=December 26, 1981|publisher=Atlanta Journal Constitution|via=newspapers.com|access-date=April 29, 2025}}

Music critic Nelson George also placed Raise! in his ballot for the 1981 Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll.{{cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj81.php|title=The Eighth (or Ninth) Annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll|date=February 1, 1982|work=Village Voice|via=robertchristgau.com}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one{{cite AV media notes |title=Raise!|author=Earth, Wind & Fire|year=1981|type=album|publisher=Columbia Records}}

| title1 = Let's Groove

| writer1 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length1 = 5:37

| title2 = Lady Sun

| writer2 = Bernard "Beloyd" Taylor

| length2 = 3:39

| title3 = My Love

| writer3 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length3 = 4:35

| title4 = Evolution Orange

| writer4 = David Foster, Nan O'Byrne, M. White

| length4 = 4:37

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title5 = Kalimba Tree

| writer5 = Maurice White, Verdine White, Jerry Hey

| length5 = 0:25

| title6 = You Are a Winner

| writer6 = Beloyd Taylor

| length6 = 4:09

| title7 = I've Had Enough

| writer7 = Philip Bailey, Greg Phillinganes, Brenda Russell

| length7 = 4:36

| title8 = Wanna Be with You

| writer8 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length8 = 4:36

| title9 = The Changing Times

| writer9 = Beloyd Taylor, Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length9 = 5:54

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = 2015 expanded version bonus tracks{{cite book|title=Earth, Wind & Fire: Raise!|date=2015|publisher= Funky Town Grooves/Columbia Records/Sony Music|edition=Expanded}}

| title10 = Wanna Be with You

| note10 = single version

| writer10 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length10 = 3:58

| title11 = Kalimba Tree

| note11 = 12" long version

| writer11 = Jerry Hey, M. White

| length11 = 3:49

| title12 = Let's Groove

| note12 = special remixed holiday version

| writer12 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length12 = 6:44

| title13 = Let's Groove

| note13 = single version

| writer13 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length13 = 4:07

| title14 = Let's Groove

| note14 = instrumental

| writer14 = Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White

| length14 = 4:01

| title15 = I've Had Enough

| note15 = 7" version

| writer15 = Philip Bailey, Greg Phillinganes, Brenda Russell

| length15 = 3:53

| title16 = The Changing Times

| note16 = 7" version

| writer16 = Beloyd Taylor

| length16 = 4:45

}}

• Maurice White – lead vocals, backing vocals, kalimba, drums
• Philip Bailey – lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion
• Larry Dunn – acoustic piano, synthesizers, synthesizer programming
• Roland Bautista – guitars, guitar solos
• Johnny Graham – guitars
• Verdine White – bass guitar, additional backing vocals
• Fred White – drums, percussion
• Ralph Johnson – percussion, additional backing vocals
• Andrew Woolfolk – tenor saxophone

The Phenix Horns

• Don Myrick – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, sax solos
• Louis Satterfield – trombone, trombone solos
• Rahmlee Michael Davis – trumpet
• Michael Harris – trumpet

• Michael Boddicker – synthesizers, vocoder
• David Foster – keyboards
• Bill Meyers – keyboards
• Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
• Wayne Vaughn – keyboards
• Marlo Henderson – guitars
• Beloyd Taylor – guitars, additional backing vocals
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion
• Wanda "Ms. Pluto" Vaughn – additional backing vocals

Additional horns

• Bill Meyers – arrangements (1, 3, 7)
• Jerry Hey – arrangements (2, 4, 6, 8, 9)
• Tom Saviano – saxophones
• George Bohanon, Dick Hyde, Charles Loper, Lew McCreary and Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone
• Oscar Brashear, Chuck Findley, Gary Grant, Larry G. Hall and Jerry Hey – trumpet

Strings

• Bill Meyers – arrangements (1, 3, 7)
• David Foster – arrangements (4)
• Assa Drori and James Getzoff – concertmasters
• Selene Burford, Larry Corbett, Paula Hochhalter, Jerome Kessler, Frederick Seykora and Mary Louise Zeyen – cello
• Alan DeVeritch, Pamela Goldsmith, Allan Harshman, Virginia Majewski and Gareth Nuttycombe – viola
• Arnold Belnick, Denyse Buffum, Thomas Buffum, Henry Ferber, Ronald Folsom, Irving Geller, Endre Granat, Reginald Hill, William Hymanson, Myra Kestenbaum, William Kurasch, Betty LaMagna, Brian Leonard, Norman Leonard, Marvin Limonick, Jerome Reisler, Nathan Ross, Sheldon Sanov
• Anton Sen, Arkady Shindelman, Haim Shtrum, Mari Tsumura-Botnick and John Wittenbert – violin

• Maurice White – original recording producer
• Philip Bailey – co-producer (7)
• Tony Calvert – reissue producer
• Ken Fowler – recording engineer
• Ron Pendragon – recording engineer
• Stephen McManus – assistant engineer
• Mick Guzauski – engineer (horn and string overdubs), mixing
• Tom Perry – engineer (vocal overdubs), mixing
• The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California) – mastering location
• Larry Dunn – production assistant
• Verdine White – production assistant
• Roger Carpenter – art direction, design
• Shusei Nagaoka – illustration
• Cavallo, Ruffalo & Fargnoli – management

{{certification Table Top}}

{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Canada|artist=Earth, Wind and Fire|title=Raise|award=Gold|certyear=1982|relyear=1981|refname=MC}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan|type=album|artist=Earth Wind & Fire|title=Raise|nocert=true|relyear=1981|salesamount=291,610|salesref={{cite book|title=Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005|publisher=Oricon Entertainment|location=Roppongi, Tokyo|year=2006|isbn=4-87131-077-9}}}}

{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Netherlands|artist=Earth Wind & Fire|title=Raise|award=Gold|certyear=1982|relyear=1981|access-date=July 10, 2023}}

{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Switzerland|artist=Earth, Wind & Fire|title=Raise|award=Gold|certyear=1989|relyear=1981}}

{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|artist=Earth Wind & Fire|title=Raise|award=Gold|certyear=1981|relyear=1981|id=5340-2049-2|refname=BPI}}

{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=Earth, Wind & Fire|title=Raise!|award=Platinum|certyear=1981|relyear=1981|refname=RIAA}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1981 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 1982 (U.S.)
• Billboard Year-End

{{Reflist}}

{{Earth, Wind & Fire}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1981 albums

Category:Earth, Wind & Fire albums

Category:Albums produced by Maurice White

Category:Albums with cover art by Shusei Nagaoka

Category:Columbia Records albums

Category:ARC Records albums