Back to Earth (Cat Stevens album)
Encyclopedia
Back to Earth is a 1978 album released by the British singer/songwriter Cat Stevens
. It was the only album he recorded using the name Cat Stevens after his conversion to Islam
in December 1977. It was also the last album of contemporary western music that he recorded until An Other Cup
, nearly 30 years later.
in London and formally embraced Islam
. It was Muharram
, 1398, in the Islamic calendar.
In March 1978, during a UNICEF visit to war–ravaged Bangladesh
, Stevens and Alun Davies
performed at a “cultural festival” in Rangamati
. On 21 March 1978 they gave a spontaneous concert in the farming village of Rangpur
. Then it was on to Thailand
and Egypt
, where Stevens delighted in visiting every mosque.
On 4 July 1978, Steven Georgiou changed his name to Yusuf Islam. It was 28th Rajab
1398 in the Islamic calendar. Although he wanted to retire from popular music after his religious conversion, Islam owed his record company Island
/A&M
one more "Cat Stevens" album under his recording contract.
Yusuf recorded this album in November 1978, re-uniting with his producer from the early 1970s, Paul Samwell-Smith
, and arranger Del Newman, which includes his guitarist, Alun Davis
, also his drummer Gerry Conway
, neither of whom had appeared on Stevens' previous 1977 album "Izitso
". Alun co–wrote two new songs. The old team had now come back together to complete the final record. Recorded in several places including Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen
, Longview Farms in Massachusetts
, Advision in London, and CBS
in New York City, the album was completed at Le Studio
in Quebec
.
At this point, Islam was praying five times daily and the sessions took on a melancholy edge, as it was implicitly understood that they were to be the last. On 3 December 1978, the album "Back to Earth" was released. The same day the album was released, Yusuf's father Stavros Georgiou died. Yusuf had no more use for Cat Stevens, having found something that satisfied him a great deal more. As he was unwilling to promote the album "Back to Earth" with a tour, it peaked at only #33 on the Billboard charts
, and its singles "Bad Brakes"/"Nascimento
", and "Last Love Song"/"Randy" made a poor showing in the charts.
The album features a return to the acoustic guitar
sound of Stevens' early 1970s albums like Tea for the Tillerman
. Two of the songs, "Just Another Night" and "Last Love Song", express bitterness about how he was treated by the music industry, with lyrics such as "If you don't want me, maybe I don't want you." However, in the song Never, Stevens hints that he may return to music someday, "There's going to be another time; there's going to be another moment." 27 years later, after his retirement, he would return to popular music.
On 9 January 1979, as a UNICEF ambassador, Yusuf was in the audience of the “Year of the Child” concert at the United Nations building in New York (he had declined to perform, and the final headliners were the Bee Gees
, Rod Stewart
and ABBA
). He was introduced from the stage as Yusuf Islam, not as Cat Stevens. When the event aired the following day on NBC
–TV, this segment had been edited out.
Yusuf entered an arranged marriage with the help of his mother. On 7 September 1979 Yusuf Islam married Fauzia Ali at Regent's Park Mosque
in London, the 1000th wedding to take place there. Yusuf had now moved back to Britain
, and he purchased a home next to his mother in Hampstead Garden Suburb
.
On 22 November 1979 the ‘Year of the Child’ multi–artist concert at Wembley Arena, U.K. took place. This UNICEF benefit was Cat Stevens’ final concert appearance. “I enjoyed the show but my heart was with Allah,” Yusuf told the Evening Standard. “I don’t think I’ll be performing on stage again, but I can’t be dogmatic and say that I never will again. I just think that’s not the way I want to go from now on.”
On 11 July 1980 Hasanah, a daughter, was born to Yusuf and his wife. Yusuf made the Hajj, the Muslim
pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah to the House of God believed to be built by the Prophet Abraham. He auctioned his musical instruments and gold records, dividing the proceeds between Help The Aged and Capital Radio
’s Help A London Child campaign. Over the next decade he helped found and support numerous other charities. “Sometimes I had to close my mind to everything else in order to achieve my goal,” Yusuf explained. “I did that when I was a songwriter. I almost didn’t listen to anybody else’s music, because I thought it might influence me, and I’d end up copying them. And I did it when I entered my spiritual discovery of Islam. It made me think only about just that, and I didn’t want to think about anything else.”
In January 1981, to help increase his own knowledge and to assist others in understanding Islam, Yusuf began a weekly Islamic Circle, open to all, every Saturday at Regent’s Park Mosque. For the first time since becoming a Muslim, he wrote a song: “A is For Allah,” for his daughter, Hasanah. On 19 June 1981 Yusuf gave his first public lecture, titled “My Path to Surrender,” at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival in Olympia. On 19 November 1981 Yusuf’s second child, Asmaa, was born.
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
. It was the only album he recorded using the name Cat Stevens after his conversion to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in December 1977. It was also the last album of contemporary western music that he recorded until An Other Cup
An Other Cup
An Other Cup is an album by Yusuf Islam . It was released on November 10, 2006 in Germany, November 13 in the UK and in the U.S. and worldwide on November 14. An Other Cup is Islam's first Western pop album since Back to Earth, which was released in 1978 under the name Cat Stevens...
, nearly 30 years later.
Background
On 8 December 1977 Stevens was awarded the “Sun Peace Award” by the Symphony for the United Nations in New York City. On 23 December 1977 Stevens entered the Regent's Park MosqueLondon Central Mosque
The London Central Mosque is a mosque in North London, England. It was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd, completed in 1978, and has a prominent golden dome. The main hall can hold over five thousand worshippers, with women praying on a balcony overlooking the hall...
in London and formally embraced Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. It was Muharram
Muharram
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited...
, 1398, in the Islamic calendar.
In March 1978, during a UNICEF visit to war–ravaged Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Stevens and Alun Davies
Alun Davies (guitarist)
Alun Davies is a Welsh guitarist, studio musician, recording artist, and composer who rose to fame primarily with his supporting guitar work and backing vocals as accompanist for English musician Cat Stevens, from early 1970 to 1977...
performed at a “cultural festival” in Rangamati
Rangamati
Rangamati is the Administrative Headquarter of Rangamati Hill District in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The town is located at 22°37'60N 92°12'0E and has an altitude of 14 metres ....
. On 21 March 1978 they gave a spontaneous concert in the farming village of Rangpur
Rangpur, Bangladesh
Rangpur is one of the major cities in Bangladesh. Rangpur is considered as the centre of northwestern Bangladesh. Recently established public university of Bangladesh named as "Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur" is situated in the southern part of the city. Earlier Rangpur was the headquarter of...
. Then it was on to Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where Stevens delighted in visiting every mosque.
On 4 July 1978, Steven Georgiou changed his name to Yusuf Islam. It was 28th Rajab
Rajab
Rajab is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of Rajaba is "to respect", of which Rajab is a derivative.This month is regarded as one of the four sacred months in Islam in which battles are prohibited...
1398 in the Islamic calendar. Although he wanted to retire from popular music after his religious conversion, Islam owed his record company Island
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
/A&M
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
one more "Cat Stevens" album under his recording contract.
Yusuf recorded this album in November 1978, re-uniting with his producer from the early 1970s, Paul Samwell-Smith
Paul Samwell-Smith
Paul Samwell-Smith is best known as a founding member and bassist of the 1960s English band, The Yardbirds, a group that spawned such noteworthy musicians as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page...
, and arranger Del Newman, which includes his guitarist, Alun Davis
Alun Davies (guitarist)
Alun Davies is a Welsh guitarist, studio musician, recording artist, and composer who rose to fame primarily with his supporting guitar work and backing vocals as accompanist for English musician Cat Stevens, from early 1970 to 1977...
, also his drummer Gerry Conway
Gerry Conway (musician)
Gerald Conway is an English folk and rock drummer/percussionist, best known for having performed with the backing band for Cat Stevens in the 1970s, Jethro Tull during the 1980s, and currently a member of Fairport Convention as well as his side projects...
, neither of whom had appeared on Stevens' previous 1977 album "Izitso
Izitso
Izitso is an album released by the British singer/songwriter Cat Stevens in 1977. After the lackluster Numbers, Izitzo – an album of pop/rock songs more in keeping with the style of Stevens' earlier 1970s albums – proved to be his comeback. The song "Child for a Day" was featured in the 1977 film...
". Alun co–wrote two new songs. The old team had now come back together to complete the final record. Recorded in several places including Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Longview Farms in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Advision in London, and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in New York City, the album was completed at Le Studio
Le Studio
Le Studio was a recording studio located just south of the tourist town of Morin Heights, Quebec. It was the first ‘environmental’ recording studio outside a major urban center...
in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
At this point, Islam was praying five times daily and the sessions took on a melancholy edge, as it was implicitly understood that they were to be the last. On 3 December 1978, the album "Back to Earth" was released. The same day the album was released, Yusuf's father Stavros Georgiou died. Yusuf had no more use for Cat Stevens, having found something that satisfied him a great deal more. As he was unwilling to promote the album "Back to Earth" with a tour, it peaked at only #33 on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
, and its singles "Bad Brakes"/"Nascimento
Nascimento
Nascimento is a common surname in the Portuguese language* Paulo Nascimento, a Portuguese Electronic Music, artist, and producer* Abdias do Nascimento, an Afro-Brazilian scholar, artist, and politician...
", and "Last Love Song"/"Randy" made a poor showing in the charts.
The album features a return to the acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
sound of Stevens' early 1970s albums like Tea for the Tillerman
Tea for the Tillerman
Tea for the Tillerman is an album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. This album, Stevens' second during 1970, includes many of Stevens' best-known songs including "Where Do the Children Play?", "Hard Headed Woman", "Wild World", "Sad Lisa", "Into White" and "Father and Son"...
. Two of the songs, "Just Another Night" and "Last Love Song", express bitterness about how he was treated by the music industry, with lyrics such as "If you don't want me, maybe I don't want you." However, in the song Never, Stevens hints that he may return to music someday, "There's going to be another time; there's going to be another moment." 27 years later, after his retirement, he would return to popular music.
On 9 January 1979, as a UNICEF ambassador, Yusuf was in the audience of the “Year of the Child” concert at the United Nations building in New York (he had declined to perform, and the final headliners were the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
and ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
). He was introduced from the stage as Yusuf Islam, not as Cat Stevens. When the event aired the following day on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
–TV, this segment had been edited out.
Yusuf entered an arranged marriage with the help of his mother. On 7 September 1979 Yusuf Islam married Fauzia Ali at Regent's Park Mosque
London Central Mosque
The London Central Mosque is a mosque in North London, England. It was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd, completed in 1978, and has a prominent golden dome. The main hall can hold over five thousand worshippers, with women praying on a balcony overlooking the hall...
in London, the 1000th wedding to take place there. Yusuf had now moved back to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and he purchased a home next to his mother in Hampstead Garden Suburb
Hampstead Garden Suburb
-Notable Residents :*Theo Adams*Martin Bell*Sir Victor Blank*Katie Boyle*Constantine, the last King of Greece*Greg Davies*Richard & Judy Finnigan*David Matthews*Michael Ridpath*Claudia Roden*Jonathan Ross*Sir Donald Sinden*Marc Sinden...
.
On 22 November 1979 the ‘Year of the Child’ multi–artist concert at Wembley Arena, U.K. took place. This UNICEF benefit was Cat Stevens’ final concert appearance. “I enjoyed the show but my heart was with Allah,” Yusuf told the Evening Standard. “I don’t think I’ll be performing on stage again, but I can’t be dogmatic and say that I never will again. I just think that’s not the way I want to go from now on.”
On 11 July 1980 Hasanah, a daughter, was born to Yusuf and his wife. Yusuf made the Hajj, the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah to the House of God believed to be built by the Prophet Abraham. He auctioned his musical instruments and gold records, dividing the proceeds between Help The Aged and Capital Radio
Capital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...
’s Help A London Child campaign. Over the next decade he helped found and support numerous other charities. “Sometimes I had to close my mind to everything else in order to achieve my goal,” Yusuf explained. “I did that when I was a songwriter. I almost didn’t listen to anybody else’s music, because I thought it might influence me, and I’d end up copying them. And I did it when I entered my spiritual discovery of Islam. It made me think only about just that, and I didn’t want to think about anything else.”
In January 1981, to help increase his own knowledge and to assist others in understanding Islam, Yusuf began a weekly Islamic Circle, open to all, every Saturday at Regent’s Park Mosque. For the first time since becoming a Muslim, he wrote a song: “A is For Allah,” for his daughter, Hasanah. On 19 June 1981 Yusuf gave his first public lecture, titled “My Path to Surrender,” at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival in Olympia. On 19 November 1981 Yusuf’s second child, Asmaa, was born.
Side one
- "Just Another Night" - 3:49
- "Daytime" (StevensCat StevensYusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, Alun DaviesAlun Davies (guitarist)Alun Davies is a Welsh guitarist, studio musician, recording artist, and composer who rose to fame primarily with his supporting guitar work and backing vocals as accompanist for English musician Cat Stevens, from early 1970 to 1977...
) - 3:55 - "Bad Brakes" (StevensCat StevensYusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, Alun DaviesAlun Davies (guitarist)Alun Davies is a Welsh guitarist, studio musician, recording artist, and composer who rose to fame primarily with his supporting guitar work and backing vocals as accompanist for English musician Cat Stevens, from early 1970 to 1977...
) - 3:27 - "Randy" - 3:12
- "The Artist" - 2:32
Side two
- "Last Love Song" - 3:27
- "Nascimento" - 3:16
- "Father" - 4:08
- "New York Times" - 3:24
- "Never" - 3:01
Personnel
- Cat StevensCat StevensYusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
- double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, classical guitarClassical guitarThe classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
, steel guitarSteel guitarSteel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
, ovation guitarOvation GuitarThe Ovation Guitar Company, a holding of Kaman Music Corporation, is a guitar manufacturing company based in New Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Ovation primarily manufactures Steel-stringed acoustic guitars....
, lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, arp string synthesizerARP String SynthesizerThe ARP String Synthesizer, also known as the ARP Solina String Synthesizer or sometimes the Solina String Synthesizer, is an ARP Instruments, Inc. synthesizer. It is a hybrid model which combined both the ARP String Ensemble and the ARP Explorer monophonic synthesizer. It was built in Bodegraven,...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocals, backing vocals - Gerry ConwayGerry Conway (musician)Gerald Conway is an English folk and rock drummer/percussionist, best known for having performed with the backing band for Cat Stevens in the 1970s, Jethro Tull during the 1980s, and currently a member of Fairport Convention as well as his side projects...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion - Alun DaviesAlun Davies (guitarist)Alun Davies is a Welsh guitarist, studio musician, recording artist, and composer who rose to fame primarily with his supporting guitar work and backing vocals as accompanist for English musician Cat Stevens, from early 1970 to 1977...
- electric guitar, acoustic guitar, classical guitar, steel guitar, ovation guitar, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Brian Cole - steel guitar on "Just Another Night"
- Eric JohnsonEric JohnsonEric Johnson is an American guitarist. Though he is best known for his success in the instrumental rock format, Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, gospel and country and western music into his recordings...
- electric guitar on "Bad Brakes" - Jean Roussel - pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, brassBrassBrass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
, stringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, arrangements - Bruce LynchBruce LynchBruce Lynch, born 1948, New Zealand, is an electric and acoustic bassist, producer and arranger.Arriving in the UK in the mid-70s, he became a highly sought-after studio and session musician touring extensively with Cat Stevens, including the 1976 Earth Tour, as well as appearing on six albums...
- double bass, bass - Will LeeWill LeeWill Lee was an American actor best known for playing the store proprietor Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, from the show's debut in 1969 until his death in 1982.-Early career:...
- double bass, bass on "New York Times" - Graham SmithGraham SmithGraham Smith may refer to:* Graham Smith , British photographer* Graham Smith , British footballer & manager* Graham Smith , British milliner...
- harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
on "Bad Brakes" - John Marson - harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
on "Daytime" - Steve JordanSteve Jordan (musician)Steve Jordan is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and Grammy Award-winning artist, who has made a name for himself as a producer from the Bronx in New York City. A graduate of the Fiorello H...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion on "The Artist" and "New York Times" - Don WellerDon Weller (musician)Don Weller , is a British jazz musician, tenor saxophonist and composer.-Career:...
- saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
on "Nascimento" - Tower of PowerTower of PowerTower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
- hornsHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
on "Nascimento" - Paul Samwell-SmithPaul Samwell-SmithPaul Samwell-Smith is best known as a founding member and bassist of the 1960s English band, The Yardbirds, a group that spawned such noteworthy musicians as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page...
- backing vocals on "Daytime" and "Last Love Song" - The McCrarysThe McCrarysThe McCrarys was an American family Gospel and R&B group best known for the songs "You" , "Lost in Loving You," "Love on a Summer Night" and "Any Ol' Sunday .-History:...
- backing vocals on "New York Times" - Luther VandrossLuther VandrossLuther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
- backing vocals on "New York Times"