Worlds Apart (Blackjack album) explained

Worlds Apart
Type:studio
Artist:Blackjack
Cover:Worlds Apart (Blackjack album).jpg
Released:1980
Recorded:1980
Criteria Studios, Miami
Genre:Hard rock
Length:37:37
Label:Polydor
Producer:Eddy Offord
Prev Title:Blackjack
Prev Year:1979

Worlds Apart is the second and final album of the American rock band Blackjack. The album was met with nearly total indifference,[1] sold poorly[2] and Blackjack disbanded shortly after its release.[3] [4]

The album contains the song "Welcome to the World", which opens with a live audio recording clip of a baby birth.[5] A YouTube user by the name of Chris Cassone, engineer for Blackjack's band manager Phil Lorito, wrote on YouTube that the audio clip was of the birth of his son.[6] Cassone made the recording (March 29, 1980) of his first wife, Dale Weigel Cassone, in White Plains Hospital during the delivery. Phil Lorito and members of Blackjack frequented nearby North Lake Sound Studios where Chris was chief engineer. Chris played the newly recorded tape at a recording session visited by Blackjack and they loved it. Casey Cassone, the boy born on the recording, received album liner credit from the band. The nurse coincidentally announces after he was born, "Open your eyes. Welcome to the world."[7]

Jay-Z sampled the song "Stay" for his song "A Dream" from his 2002 album which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.[8]

In 2004, Kanye West re-recorded a section of "Maybe It's the Power of Love" for inclusion on his song "Never Let Me Down"; it was released on his triple platinum selling debut album The College Dropout which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Speaking to the website Genius in 2015, Bolton gave his approval of the sampling, stating that "the song turned out beautifully."[9]

Personnel

Blackjack

Additional personnel

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Runtagh . Jordan . 22 January 2018 . 30 Fascinating Early Bands of Future Music Legends . Rolling Stone . 29 September 2018 .
  2. Book: Larkin, Colin . 2007 . The Encyclopedia of Popular Music . . 2744 . 9780857125958 .
  3. Web site: Michael Bolton is looking for the next big Asian star . Cheang . Michael . 18 August 2017 . Star2.com . 29 September 2018 .
  4. News: 30 August 1980. New LP/Tape Releases . Billboard Magazine .
  5. Web site: Blackjack (USA) - 1980 Worlds Apart . 4 February 2012 . GloryDazeMusic.com . 29 September 2018 . 'Welcome To The World' is preceded by an audio clip of a baby being born, an obvious reference to the song title.
  6. Web site: REVIEW: Blackjack – Worlds Apart (1980) . 12 October 2016 . mikeladano.com . 29 September 2018 . The hardest rocker of the album is the side two opener, “Welcome to the World”, which bizarrely opens with an actual recorded baby birth..
  7. Web site: REVIEW: Blackjack – Worlds Apart (1980). 12 October 2016.
  8. Book: Weiss, Brett . 2016 . Encyclopedia of KISS: Music, Personnel, Events and Related Subjects . . 24 . 9780786498024 .
  9. Web site: Kanye West's "Never Let Me Down" Annotated by Michael Bolton on Genius. 27 February 2015.