"Let's Groove" is a song by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire from their eleventh studio album Raise! (1981). Written by Maurice White and Wayne Vaughn, and produced by White, the song was chosen as the lead single from the album.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, disco music was undergoing a severe backlash. In spite of this, the band decided to revive the disco sound that was later included on their previous works and records. Musically, "Let's Groove" is a post-disco, pop and funk song which includes instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards along with live electric guitars.
Critical reception
Ed Hogan from AllMusic said, "He brought in guitarist Roland Bautista and began co-writing, with Emotions member Wanda Vaughn and her husband Wayne Vaughn, a song that reflected the then-emerging electronic sound of the '80s. Not to be confused with the same-named hit by Archie Bell & the Drells, "Let's Groove" certainly was a change. Starting off with a robotic-sounding vocoder riff, it served up a more gritty-sounding EWF for the 1980s, laced with Brecker Brothers-supplied horn blasts that rival those of EWF's 1976 gold single 'Getaway'."However, reviewing the parent album, William Ruhlmann said the song was a recycled mid-tempo tune from the mid-'70s, and stated that everything else sounded desultory and uninspired. He, however, highlighted the song as an album standout.
Rolling Stone described Let's Groove as "city music" where "the horn section screams like a car running a red light."The Baltimore Sun noted that the song was "quite possibly the funkiest thing to come out of the early 1980s". NME also placed Let's Groove at number 16 on their Singles of the Year list of 1981.
"Let's Groove" was Grammy nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
