Scatman's World

Infobox Album | Name = Scatman's World
Type = Album
Artist = Scatman John


Released = July 10, 1995
Recorded = ??
Genre = Pop, Eurodance, House, Techno, Scat
Length = 45:14
Label = RCA Records
Producer = Scatman John
Reviews =
Last album = "John Larkin"
(1986)
This album = "Scatman's World"
(1995)
Next album = "Everybody Jam!"
(1996)

"Scatman's World" is the 1995 album by Scatman John, recorded after the worldwide success of his debut single "Scatman". It is somewhat of a concept album dealing with an imaginary Utopian society named "Scatland". He speaks about this at length in the liner notes: "If you're wondering where Scatland is, you don't have to look too far; it's between your deepest dreams and warmest wishes".

The songs deal with various elements of American society and many of them draw on Scatman's personal experience; "Popstar" is a tongue-in-cheek number about the shallow nature of stardom, "Quiet Desperation" deals with the homeless problem and "Time (Take Your Time)" is a harrowing song about his time in Alcoholics Anonymous.

The album climaxes with "Song of Scatland", a ballad dedicated to the imaginary kingdom that was notoriously released as a single. "Hi, Louis" closes the album proper with traditional scatting over jazz piano and steady beats; the title is probably a reference to Louis Armstrong, who he later paid tribute to on the track "Everybody Jam!".

"Scatman's World" was very popular internationally, particularly in Japan, where it reached #2 and stayed on the charts for 40 weeks, selling over 1,500,000 copies overall.

Track listing

#"Welcome to Scatland" – 0:49
#"Scatman's World" – 3:40
#"Only You" – 3:42
#"Quiet Desperation" – 3:51
#"Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)" – 3:30
#"Sing Now!" – 3:38
#"Popstar" – 4:13
#"Time (Take Your Time)" – 3:41
#"Mambo Jambo" – 3:30
#"Everything Changes" – 4:38
#"Song of Scatland" – 5:05
#"Hi, Louis" – 2:34
#"Scatman" [Game Over Jazz] – 5:03
#"Scatman" [Spike Mix] – 6:43 (Japan bonus track)

Charts

References