Scatman's World

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Scatman's World
Studio album by Scatman John
Released	July 10, 1995
Recorded	??
Genre	Pop, Eurodance, House, Techno, Scat
Length	45:14
Label	RCA Records
Producer(s)	Scatman John
Scatman John chronology
John Larkin (1986)	Scatman's World (1995)	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.

[edit] Track listing

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 Dop 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
14. "Scatman" [Spike Mix] – 6:43 (Japan bonus track)