Promise

Earth, Wind & Fire: Maurice White (vocals, malimba); Philip Bailey (vocals); Verdine White (bass); Ralph Johnson (percussion, background vocals).
Additional personnel includes: Eric Walls (guitar); Preston Glass (keyboards, programming); Gary Bias (saxophone); Ray Brown (trumpet); Reggie Young, George Bohanon (trombone); Danny Reyes (percussion); Gregory Curtis (programming, background vocals); Wanda Vaughn, Sheila Hutchinson (background vocals).
Recorded at Magnet Vision Studios, Santa Monica, California.
"Hold Me" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.
Earth Wind & Fire's umpteenth album since the band's first incarnation in Chicago at the dawn of the '70s may lack its founding member--Maurice White retired from active duty in 1996 suffering from Parkinson's disease--but all the familiar elements are otherwise in place, notably Philip Bailey's extraordinary vocal range and a plethora of horn-driven arrangements. If the tempos have slowed down a little with time, the songwriting and musicianship remain in full effect, particularly on such smooch-worthy cuts as "Hold Me" and "Wonderland," the latter in particular featuring an irresistible chorus interwoven with the band's trademark sinuous horn lines. THE PROMISE is the softer side of EW&F, but softer in this case isn't shorthand for dull--the rhythms sway, Bailey's voice is still in improbably magnificent form, and the music still sounds as effortless as it always did. THE PROMISE delivers the whole Earth, Wind & Fire package in its glorious, theatrical entirety.