Light of Worlds

Light of Worlds
Studio album by Kool & the Gang
Released	September 1974
Recorded	1973–1974 Media Sound Studios (New York, New York)
Genre	Funk, soul, jazz
Length	36:06
Label	De-Lite DEP-2014
Producer	K. & G. Productions
Kool & the Gang chronology
Wild and Peaceful (1973) Light of Worlds (1974) Spirit of the Boogie (1975)
Reissue cover
Alternative Cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]
Yahoo! Music	(favorable)[3]

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.

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".

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Street Corner Symphony"	Kool & the Gang, Bayyan	4:32
2.	"Fruitman"	Kool & the Gang, Westfield	5:19
3.	"Rhyme Tyme People"	Kool & the Gang, Saunders, Thomas	3:19
4.	"Light of Worlds"	Kool & the Gang, Smith	4:21

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Whiting H. & G."	Kool & the Gang, Bayyan	3:17
2.	"You Don't Have to Change"	Kool & the Gang, Mickens	2:39
3.	"Higher Plane"	Kool & the Gang, Bayyan	4:57
4.	"Summer Madness"	Kool & the Gang, Mickens, Taylor	4:16
5.	"Here After"	Kool & the Gang, Bayyan	2:54

Singles

Song	R&B Charts	Pop Charts
"Higher Plane"	No.1	No.37
"Rhyme Tyme People"	No.3	No.63
"Summer Madness"	No.36	No.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
• 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).

Notes

1. Palmer, Bob. Review: Light of Worlds. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2009-07-19.
2. Hoard, Christian. "Review: Light of Worlds". Rolling Stone: 464. November 2, 2004.
3. Leroy, Dan. Review: Light of Worlds. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 2009-07-19.

References

• Cleveland Brown. Light of Worlds liner notes. PolyGram Records, Inc.
• Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.

External links

• Light of Worlds at Discogs