Light of Worlds
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Light of Worlds is the seventh album released by Kool & the Gang, released on January 1, 1974. It was a landmark in the jazz funk/jazz fusion genre of the 1970s. "Summer Madness" is considered to be the album's highlight, incorporating smooth melodies and a mesmerizing synthesizer. It was later released as a single, with a follow up titled "Winter Sadness" to the Gang's Spirit of the Boogie a year later.
Light of the Worlds was by far 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 new 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.
Singles
| Song | R&B Charts | Pop Charts |
|---|---|---|
| “Higher Plane” | #1 | #37 |
| “Rhyme Tyme People” | #3 | #63 |
| “Summer Madness” | #36 | #35 |
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
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
- Dennis "D.T." Thomas - Arranger, Sax (Alto)
- 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
