Scatman's World

This article is about the album. For the song, see Scatman's World (song).
Scatman's World
Studio album by Scatman John
Released July 10, 1995
Recorded 1994–95
Genre
Length 45:14
Label RCA Records
Producer
  • Antonio Nunzio Catania
  • Ingo Kays
Scatman John chronology
John Larkin
(1986)		 Scatman's World
(1995)		 Everybody Jam!
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Scatman's World is an album by American musician 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 a reference to Louis Armstrong, to whom he later paid tribute on the track "Everybody Jam!".

Scatman's World was very popular internationally, particularly in Japan, where it reached No. 2 and stayed on the charts for 40 weeks, selling more than 1,560,000 copies overall, and ranking as the 9th best selling album that was recorded by a non-Japanese artist of all time in that country.

Album history

The "Scatman's World" album was created by Ingo Kays and Tony Catania, and majority of the lyrics were inspired by the obstacles and inspirations in Johns life. "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)" deals with the fact that John stuttered. Famously his main concern with recording was that people would discover he stuttered, his wife suggested he make it the focus of the song and declare to people that he was a person who stuttered. "Time (Take Your Time)" deals with Johns time at Alcoholics Anonymous, a theme which would be explored on tracks "Let It Go" and "Hey You".

The third single released from the "Scatman's World" album was "Song of Scatland" it was an odd choice for a single as it didn't follow the high powered techno vibe of its predecessors. This was a ballad about Scatman's vision for the world we should all try to create. It was not released in the UK, neither were the subsequent albums or singles. At this point Scatman seemed to have been deemed non profitable, and so this was a European release.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Paul Larkin. 

No. Title Length
1. "Welcome To Scatland"   0:49
2. "Scatman's World"   3:40
3. "Only You"   3:42
4. "Quiet Desperation"   3:51
5. "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)"   3:30
6. "Sing Now!"   3:38
7. "Popstar"   4:13
8. "Time (Take Your Time)"   3:41
9. "Mambo Jambo"   3:30
10. "Everything Changes"   4:38
11. "Song of Scatland"   5:05
12. "Hi, Louis"   2:34
13. "Scatman (Game Over Jazz)"   5:03

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart Position
Austrian Albums Chart[2] 25
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) [3] 13
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[4] 11
Dutch Albums Chart[5] 20
Finnish Albums Chart[6] 1
French SNEP Albums Chart[7] 13
German Media Control Albums Chart[8] 6
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[9] 2
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[10] 6
Swedish Albums Chart[11] 42
Swiss Albums Chart[12] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (1995) Position
Japanese Albums Chart[13] 15
French Albums Chart[14] 63
Swiss Albums Chart[15] 16
Chart (1996) Position
Japanese Albums Chart[16] 47

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
France (SNEP)[17] Gold 185,000[18]
Japan (RIAJ)[19] Million 1,560,000[20]
Poland (ZPAV)[21] Gold 50,000*
Sweden (GLF)[22] Gold 50,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r224129
  2. ↑ "austriancharts.at Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  3. ↑ "ultratop.be Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  4. ↑ "ultratop.be Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  5. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  6. ↑ "finnishcharts.com Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  7. ↑ "lescharts.com Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Album Search: Scatman John – Scatman's World" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  9. ↑ スキャットマン・ジョン-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Scatman's World by Scatman John" Check |url= value (help). oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  10. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  11. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Scatman John – Scatman's World" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Scatman John – Scatman's World – hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  13. ↑ "1995年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1995] (in Japanese). Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Les Albums (CD) de 1995 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Hitparade.ch - Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1995". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  16. ↑ "1996年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1996] (in Japanese). Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  17. ↑ "French album certifications – Scatman John – Scatman's World" (in French). InfoDisc. Select SCATMAN JOHN and click OK
  18. ↑ "Les Albums Or". infodisc.fr (in French). SNEP. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  19. ↑ 年度別ミリオンセラー一覧　1995年 [Million-certified Singles and Albums: 1995]. Recording Industry Association of Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved March 2, 2013.
  20. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  21. ↑ "Polish album certifications – Scatman John – Scatman's World" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
Preceded by
These Days by Bon Jovi		 Finnish Chart number-one album
32 – 33 / 1995 		Succeeded by
Sex Affairs by E-Rotic
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