| The Light | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Afrika Bambaataa & Family | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 60:00 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Afrika Bambaataa, John Robie | |||
| Afrika Bambaataa & Family chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B [2] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10 [3] |
The Light is a studio album by Afrika Bambaataa and Family, released in 1988. UB40, Jaki Graham, and Boy George were among the guest musicians. [1] "Reckless", featuring UB40, peaked at No. 17 in the UK.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Light" | Afrika Bambaataa, John Robie | 3:14 |
| 2. | "Reckless" | 5:24 | |
| 3. | "Revolutionary Dance" | Afrika Bambaataa, John Robie | 4:27 |
| 4. | "All I Want" | Afrika Bambaataa, John Robie | 4:56 |
| 5. | "Something He Can Feel" | Curtis Mayfield | 5:53 |
| 6. | "Shout It Out" | Kid Dust, Maxx Kidd | 6:23 |
| 7. | "Clean Up Your Act" | Afrika Bambaataa, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bill Laswell | 6:16 |
| 8. | "Zouk Your Body" | Afrika Bambaataa, Lowell Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Yellowman | 6:38 |
| 9. | "World Racial War" | Afrika Bambaataa, Bill Laswell | 6:28 |
| 10. | "Sho' Nuff Funky" | Afrika Bambaataa, James Brown, Maxx Kidd | 10:46 |
| Total length: | 60:00 | ||
"Reckless" was arranged and produced by John Robie. Vocals were provided by Afrika Bambaataa, Lizzie Tear, Malibu and UB40, who also provided all instrumentation. It was Afrika Bambaataa's second highest charting single in the UK after "Afrika Shox", which he released in 1999 with Leftfield.
| Song | UK |
|---|---|
| Reckless | 17 |
| Sho' Nuff Funky | 99 |
Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley. The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, with Mixmag describing them as "the single most influential production team working in British dance music". As with many of their contemporaries, such as the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, Leftfield are notable for their use of guest vocalists in their works. Among them are Toni Halliday on "Original", Johnny Rotten on "Open Up", Djum Djum on "Afro-Left", Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat on "Release the Pressure", and Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. on Full Way Round. The term progressive house was coined to define their style, a fusion of house with dub and reggae.
Planet Rock: The Album is an old school hip hop album by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, released in 1986 as a collection of previous singles. The song "Planet Rock" was one of the earliest hits of the hip hop music genre and remains one of its pioneering recordings. The single's liner notes include members of Kraftwerk with the songwriting credits. In creating the track, portions of Kraftwerk's "Numbers" and "Trans-Europe Express" were interpolated, along with portions of songs by Captain Sky and Ennio Morricone.
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold more than 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.
Electro is a genre of electronic music and early hip hop directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, and funk. Records in the genre typically feature drum machines and heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals, although if vocals are present they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. This is the main distinction between electro and previously prominent genres such as disco, in which the electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation. It also palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie by being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.
Maximilian Lenz, known by his stage name WestBam, is a German DJ and musician. He is the co-founder of the record label Low Spirit.
The Pleasure Principle is the debut solo studio album by English new wave musician Gary Numan, released on 7 September 1979 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album came about six months after Replicas (1979), his second and final studio album with the band Tubeway Army. The Pleasure Principle peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart.
Rat in the Kitchen is the seventh album by UB40, released in July 1986. This album contained two UK hits, "Sing Our Own Song" and "Rat in Mi Kitchen". The album itself reached 8 in the UK album charts in 1986 staying in the charts for twenty weeks. The album provoked a positive reception from critics.
Present Arms is the second album by UB40 and was released in 1981. It spent 38 weeks on the UK album charts, reaching number 2. An album of original songs, it spawned two top 20 hits in "One in Ten" and "Don't Let It Pass You By/Don't Slow Down" (16).
Power is the second studio album by American rapper Ice-T, released on September 13, 1988 by Sire Records. Recorded at Syndicate Studios West in Los Angeles, the home studio of DJ Evil E, it was produced by Ice-T and Afrika Islam. The Los Angeles Daily News noted that its lyrical themes ranged from sex to gun violence, and that Ice-T "implicates everyone from radio programmers to the police as accomplices in the decline of western civilisation." The album contains lyrics which began a feud between Ice-T and rapper LL Cool J. The album cover, which features Ice-T's then-girlfriend Darlene Ortiz, Ice-T, and DJ Evil E, was described as "perpetuating stereotypes" by the Chicago Tribune and "violence-glorifying" by both the Chicago Sun-Times and The Sydney Morning Herald.
"Afrika Shox" is a song by the English electronic group Leftfield, released as the first single from their album Rhythm and Stealth in 1999, and features the vocal talent of American musician Afrika Bambaataa. It was released on CD and 12" on 6 September 1999 on the Hard Hands record label, published by Chrysalis Music. The song was their highest-charting single, reaching #7 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was later used in the 2001 film Vanilla Sky and was included in the film's soundtrack album.
"Planet Rock" is a song by the American hip hop artists Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. The song was produced by Arthur Baker and released by Tommy Boy Records in 1982. The recording came together after DJ and producer Baker met with Bambaataa and the two bonded over the idea of creating a song about their mutual appreciation for the band Kraftwerk. Baker and Bambaataa had worked together previously on the song "Jazzy Sensation" and decided to compose a more electronic based version of the hip hop song, as opposed to the more disco-oriented work popular at the time. Along with musician John Robie, the group recorded the single at Intergalactic Studios in New York. Robie duplicated the sound on the record and had Bambaataa's rappers in the Soul Sonic Force rap over it. To create the raps, the lyricist of the group, Emcee G.L.O.B.E., had to develop a style he called "mc popping", which involved rapping off time, an unusual style at the time.
Soulsonic Force is an American electro-funk and hip hop ensemble led by Afrika Bambaataa who helped establish hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as "Planet Rock." They were also influential in the birth of the electro movement in America and helped pave the way for modern dance music styles such as electro-funk as well as the entire Miami bass scene.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
John Robie is a musician, producer and songwriter who has produced and/or written for a wildly diverse array of artists such as Chaka Khan, New Order, UB40, Cabaret Voltaire, Soulsonic Force, Boy George, C Bank, Planet Patrol, Quadrant 6, Laura Branigan, and Freeez, among many others.
Looking for the Perfect Beat: 1980–1985 is a compilation album by hip hop musician Afrika Bambaataa.
UB40 is the eighth album by British reggae band UB40, released on the DEP International label in 1988. This album contained the hit single "Breakfast in Bed" with Chrissie Hynde, which reached No. 6 in the UK charts.
Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere) is a studio album by Afrika Bambaataa, released in 1986 by Tommy Boy Records.
Language Barrier is a studio album by Jamaican musical duo Sly and Robbie, released in 1985 by Island Records. The album features guest musicians Herbie Hancock, Bob Dylan, Afrika Bambaataa, and Manu DiBango.
The Art of Defense is the third studio album by the American singer Nona Hendryx. It was released in 1984 by RCA Records.
The Decade of Darkness, also referred to as 1990–2000 The Decade of Darkness, is an album by the American musician Afrika Bambaataa, released in 1991. Bambaataa is credited with his backing musicians, the Family. The Decade of Darkness was Bambaataa's first album for EMI Records.