''Sunbeam'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

of the girl group

The Emotions ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

issued in April 1978 on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. The album rose to No. 12 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Soul Albums chart and No. 40 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

chart. ''Sunbeam'' has also been certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in the US by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Critical reception

John Storm Roberts of '' High Fidelity'' stated ""Sunbeam" sparkles with good tracks." Craig Lytle of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave a 3 out of 5 stars rating and found that "As White's signature can be detected throughout most of the compositions, he is humble enough to leave room for the Emotions to flourish vocally." Phyl Garland of ''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...

'' exclaimed "'Sunbeam' is from the same mold as ' Rejoice'-and a very good mold it is-though the outcome here falls just a bit short of the previous opus." Garland also called Sunbeam a "very good" recording with a "polished, but not slick" performance by The Emotions. Glenn Clark of ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...

'' wrote "The best thing I can say about this LP is that I like it. The Emotions' brand of snappy and upbeat soul is good for my soul. Maurice White, guru of Earth, Wind & Fire, produced this album, and I think he has blended well the talent he has brought together."

Track listing

Personnel

;The Emotions * Wanda Hutchinson – vocals * Sheila Hutchinson Whitt – vocals * Jeanette Hawes – vocals ;Musicians * Terry L. Mashall,

Skip Scarborough Clarence Alexander "Skip" Scarborough (November 26, 1944 – July 3, 2003) was an American songwriter, best known for romantic ballads. Biography Scarborough was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He lived in Los Angeles most of his life. He died o ...

– keyboards * Charles "Chuck-A-Luck" Hosch,

Gary Grainger Gary Grainger (born 20 October 1950) is an English rock, blues, jazz and pop songwriter and guitarist, most known for his work with Rod Stewart. Career 1970–1999 Gary Grainger's professional career took off with the formation of Strider. Afte ...

Verdine White Verdine Adams White (born July 25, 1951) is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. White was placed at No. 19 on Rolling Stone's list of The 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time. Early lif ...

– bass * Keith Henderson,

Marlo Henderson Marlo Henderson was an American guitarist and saxophonist, who played in mainly blues and R&B genres. As a session musician he played on albums such as '' Off the Wall'' by Michael Jackson, '' Them Changes'' by Buddy Miles, '' Face to Face'' by Ev ...

Jon Lind Jonathan Gus Lind (April 14, 1948 – January 15, 2022), professionally known as Jon Lind, was an American songwriter, performer and A&R Executive Biography Lind was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 14, 1948, and raised in New York City. H ...

Al McKay AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

– guitars * Donzell Davis, Fred White,

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter, and producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and served as the ...

– drums * Paulinho da Costa, Earl DeRouen – percussion *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

– vibes *

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (born August 18, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities ...

, Michael Harris – trumpets *

George Bohanon George Roland Bohanon, Jr. (born August 7, 1937) is a jazz trombonist and session musician from Detroit, Michigan. In the early 1960s, he participated in Detroit's Workshop Jazz ensemble, with Johnny Griffith (musician), Johnny Griffith, Paula Gr ...

Louis Satterfield Louis Edward Satterfield (April 3, 1937 – September 27, 2004) was an American bassist and trombonist. Satterfield was a member of both The Pharaohs and the Phenix Horns. He also collaborated with prominent artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Mu ...

, Maurice Spears – trombones * Barbara Korn, Sidney Muldrow, Alan Robinson, Gale Robinson, Marilyn Robinson –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

s * Donald Myrick, George Patterson, Jr. – saxophones * Murray Adler,

Harry Bluestone Harry Bluestone (30 September 1907 – 22 December 1992) was a composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with Emil Cadkin. Earlier on, he was a violinist and freelanced on radi ...

, Ron Clark, Assa Drori, Ronald Folsom, Frank Foster, Janice Gower, Endre Granat, William Henderson, Davida Lou Johnson, Bernard Kundrell, Joseph Livoti, Joy Lyle, Stanley Plummer, Nathan Ross, Sheldon Sanov,

Ilkka Talvi Ilkka Talvi (born 22 October 1948) is a Finnish violinist and author of the blog ''Of Music and Men''. Education Initially self-taught, Talvi later studied with Arno Granroth, a pupil of Jacques Thibaud, at the Sibelius Academy. After winning the ...

– violins * Samuel Boghossian, Denyce Buffum, Gareth Nuttycombe – violas * Armand Kaproff, Dennis Karmazyn,

Raymond Kelley Raymond "Ray" Kelley is an American cellist and record producer. He is one of the cellists on '' The Simpsons: Testify'' and '' Family Guy: Live in Vegas'', and Grammy Award winning ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' soundtrack album. Since 1956, ...

– cellos * Tom Tom 84 (Thomas Washington) - horn and string arrangements ;Technical *Tom Perry - engineer *Andy Engel - album design *Jürgen Reisch - photography

Charts

;Singles

References

External links

*
Sunbeam
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunbeam (The Emotions Album) 1978 albums Columbia Records albums The Emotions albums Albums produced by Maurice White Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders