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Light of Worlds

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Released
  
September 1974

Artist
  
Kool & The Gang

Producer
  
Kool & The Gang

Genres
  
Funk, Soul music, Jazz

Length
  
36:06

Release date
  
September 1974

Label
  
De-Lite Records

Light of Worlds httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb2

Recorded
  
1973–1974 Media Sound Studios (New York, New York)

Light of Worlds (1974)
  
Spirit of the Boogie (1975)

Similar
  
Kool & The Gang albums, Soul music albums

Kool and the gang street corner symphony


Light of Worlds is the fifth studio album by the American R&B group Kool & the Gang. Released in 1974, it was later remastered by Polygram and was a second success for the band, reaching number 16 in the R&B Charts and number 63 in the Pop Charts. It was a landmark in the funk/jazz fusion genre of the 1970s.

Contents

Light of Worlds is regarded as Kool & the Gang's most spiritual and sophisticated work, produced in the wake of the success of their previous album, Wild and Peaceful. While it was their seventh album of original material, the Gang considered Light of the Worlds their ninth LP (counting two compilations), and therefore consciously chose nine songs for the album to represent the nine planets in the solar system. The album contains rock-inspired funk set to jazz-informed playing with afrobeat influences and a tinge of analogue synthesizing.

"Summer Madness" is considered to be the album's highlight, incorporating smooth melodies and a synthesizer. It was later released as a single, with a follow-up titled "Winter Sadness" in the Gang's Spirit of the Boogie a year later. A remake of "Summer Madness" was released on the Gang's 1993 album Unite titled "WKOOL/Summer".

Kool and the gang light of worlds


Personnel

  • Khalis Bayyan - Synthesizer, Bass, Percussion, Piano, Arranger, Piano (Electric), Sax (Tenor), Vocals, Clavinet, Kalimba, Mellotron
  • Robert "Kool" Bell - Bass, Vocals
  • George "Funky" Brown - Percussion, Drums, Gong
  • Robert "Spike" Mickens — Trumpet, Arranger, Flugelhorn
  • Claydes Charles Smith - Guitar, Percussion, Arranger, Conductor, Vibraphone
  • Ricky West — Piano, Arranger
  • Dennis "D.T." Thomas — Arranger, Sax (Alto)

    • Additional personnel

  • Herb Lane — Vocals
  • Alton Taylor — Vocals
  • Penni Phynjuar Saunders — Vocals
  • Richard Shade — Vocals (background)
  • Kenneth Banks — Vocals (background)
  • Al Pazant — Trumpet
  • Ed Pazant — Sax (Alto), Oboe
  • Bob Clearmountain - Engineer
  • Godfrey Diamond — Engineer
  • Harvey Goldberg — Engineer
  • Alec Head — Engineer
  • Gary N. Mayo — Digital Remastering
  • Mitchell Kanner — Cover Design
  • Cleveland "Clevie" Browne — Liner Notes
  • David Lartaud — Photography

    • Use of "Summer Madness"

    From this album, the song "Summer Madness" has been used in various features, such as:

  • The 1976 film Rocky (uncredited)
  • A cover version on Mary J. Blige's 1998 live album The Tour. Mary J. Blige also sampled this song in "Message In Our Music" from the album Love & Life.
  • The 1991 song "Summertime", via a sample by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
  • Sampled on song by Gang Starr for "DJ Premier In Deep Concentration".
  • The 1993 song "Jimmi Diggin' Cats", via a sample by Digable Planets on the album Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space).
  • The 1994 song by H-Town for the Above the Rim soundtrack, which was written and produced by Jodeci's DeVante Swing.
  • Boyz II Men's remix of "Water Runs Dry" has been used a sample of "Summer Madness" in 1995.
  • Mad Skillz's "Get Your Groove On" samples "Summer Madness" on his 1996 debut From Where???
  • Rap group Lost Boyz used a direct sample of the song for the intro to their 1996 debut Legal Drug Money
  • Aaliyah's "A Girl Like You" featuring Naughty By Nature frontman Treach samples "Summer Madness" on her sophomore 1996 album One in a Million.
  • Erykah Badu's song "Certainly [Flipped It Mix]" samples "Summer Madness" (from her 1997 album Baduizm).
  • The 1997 song "Incident at Gate 7" by Thievery Corporation on their debut album Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi samples the opening keyboard riff.
  • The 1998 song "You Ain't a Killer", by Big Pun on his debut album Capital Punishment.
  • The 1999 song "Boy You Knock Me Out" via sample by Tatyana Ali featuring Will Smith. It also contains a version of the lyrics from the aforementioned "Summertime" that used the same sample.
  • The 2001 film Baby Boy
  • The song is featured in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, on the Fever 105 radio channel and also in the first trailer.
  • The 2004 film You Got Served, in a scene where it is revealed that one of the supporting characters has died.
  • A 2006 Nike shoe commercial featuring LeBron James' "The LeBrons"
  • The 2006 Tony Hawk's Project 8 Soundtrack
  • Bob Baldwin released a cover on his album Lookin' Back (2009).
  • Shy FX & T Power sampled the song on their album, Set It Off, on the track "Don't Give A Damn".
  • Rollergirl! remixed the song for his EP "Heaven" (2012)
  • Tinashe sampled the song for her track "Wrong" from her mixtape Amethyst (2015).
  • Richard Elliot released a cover on his album Summer Madness (2016).
  • Tkay Maidza sampled the song on her album Tkay, on the track "Simulation" (2016).

    • Songs

    1Street Corner Symphony4:36
    2Fruitman5:23
    3Rhyme Tyme People3:23

    References

    Light of Worlds Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA