The Message (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five album)
| The Message | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 3, 1982 | |||
| Studio | Sweet Mountain (Englewood, New Jersey)[1] | |||
| Genre | Old-school hip hop | |||
| Length | 36:58 | |||
| Label | Sugar Hill | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five chronology | ||||
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| Melle Mel chronology | ||||
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| Grandmaster Flash chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Message | ||||
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The Message is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, released on October 3, 1982, by Sugar Hill Records. It features the influential title track and hip hop single "The Message".
Release and reception
[edit]| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s | A–[3] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [4] |
| The New Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
| Pitchfork | 6.4/10[6] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | A−[7] |
| Uncut | [8] |
The Message was released in October 1982 by Sugar Hill Records.[9] The album charted at number 53 in the United States and at number 77 in the United Kingdom.[9]
Reviewing in December 1982 for The New York Times, Robert Palmer hailed The Message as the year's best album and explained that while the emerging rap genre had often been criticized for confining itself to "bragging and boasting ... The Message is different. It's a gritty, plain-spoken, vividly cinematic portrait of black street life...social realism has rarely worked well in a pop-music context, but The Message is an utterly convincing cry of frustration and despair that cannot be ignored."[10] Robert Christgau ranked it as the 21st best album of 1982 on his list for The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[11] In Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he wrote that, although "She's Fresh" is the "only instant killer", each song's attempt to experiment and "touch a lot of bases with a broad demographic ... justifies itself".[3]
According to music journalist Tom Breihan, The Message was a "singles-plus filler cash-in" that proved "a fascinating time capsule of rap's early attempts with the album format" as well as "a full-length artistic breakthrough, a rap album that earned respect on its own terms".[12] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Ron Wynn called it the "ultimate peak" for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, naming the title track as its highlight.[2] Miles Marshall Lewis, reviewing the album's 2002 British reissue in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), cited "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" as the "clincher" and "the only prime-period example of Flash's ability to set and shatter moods, with his turntables and faders running through a collage of at least 10 records that sound like hundreds."[5] Mark Richardson from Pitchfork said that The Message featured "two absolutely essential songs"—the title track and "Scorpio," which he dubbed "the greatest early electro track." However, he felt the rest of the songs were inferior.[6] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]
Track listing
[edit]| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "She's Fresh" | Milton Edwards | 4:57 |
| 2. | "It's Nasty" | 4:19 | |
| 3. | "Scorpio" |
| 4:55 |
| 4. | "It's a Shame (Mt. Airy Groove)" | 4:57 | |
| 5. | "Dreamin'" |
| 5:47 |
| 6. | "You Are" | Gary Henry | 4:51 |
| 7. | "The Message" |
| 7:12 |
| No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover, Gabrielle Jackson, Jiggs Chase, Gwendolyn Chisolm, Cheryl Cook, Michael Wright, Guy O'Brien, John Richard Deacon, Joseph Saddler, Angela Brown | 7:06 |
| No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "Message II (Survival)" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 6:46 |
| 9. | "New York, New York" | Sylvia Robinson, Edward G Fletcher, Reginald Lamar Griffin, Melvin Glover | 7:19 |
| 10. | "The Adventures of Grandmaster Himself" | Unknown - see '2010 Expanded Edition' notes | 5:45 |
| 11. | "The Message (Instrumental Version)" | Edward G Fletcher, Clifton Chase, Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 7:11 |
| No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover, Gabrielle Jackson, Clifton Chase, Gwendolyn Chisolm, Cheryl Cook, Michael Wright, Guy O'Brien, John Richard Deacon, Joseph Saddler, Angela Brown | 7:06 |
| 9. | "The Message (Instrumental Version)" | Edward G Fletcher, Clifton Chase, Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 7:08 |
| 10. | "New York, New York" | Sylvia Robinson, Edward G Fletcher, Reginald Lamar Griffin, Melvin Glover | 7:25 |
| 11. | "Message II (Survival)" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 6:46 |
| 12. | "The Birthday Party" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 8:19 |
| 13. | "Freedom (Instrumental Version)" | Sylvia Robinson | 8:13 |
- Sample credits
- "She's Fresh" contains samples from "It's Just Begun" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch and "The Lovomaniacs" by Boobie Knight.
- "It's Nasty" contains samples from "Genius of Love" by Tom Tom Club and the opening interpolates Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland.
- "It's a Shame" contains samples from "Mt. Airy Groove" by Pieces Of A Dream.
- "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" contains samples from "Good Times" by Chic, "Apache" by The Incredible Bongo Band, "Rapture" by Blondie, "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen, "8th Wonder" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Monster Jam" by The Sequence, "Glow of Love" by Change and "Life Story" by The Hellers.
Personnel
[edit]- Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler) – turntables, drum programming, Flashformer transform DJ device, background vocals
- The Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover Jr.) – lead and background vocals, writer and arranger
- Keef Cowboy (Keith Wiggins) – lead and background vocals, writer and arranger
- Grandmaster Melle Mel (Melvin Glover) – lead and background vocals, writer and arranger
- Scorpio (Eddie Morris) – lead and background vocals, writer and arranger
- Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams) – lead and background vocals, writer and arranger
- Doug Wimbish - bass
- Skip McDonald - guitar
- Reggie Griffin, Jiggs, Sylvia Robinson - Prophet Sequential
- Gary Henry, Dwain Mitchell - keyboards
- Keith Leblanc - drums
- Ed Fletcher - percussion
- Chops Horn Section - brass
Charts
[edit]Album
[edit]| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Albums (RIANZ)[15] | 14 |
| UK Albums Chart[9] | 77 |
| U.S. Billboard 200[9] | 53 |
| U.S. Top Black Albums[16] | 8 |
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
| Australian (Kent Music Report) | 78[17] |
Singles
[edit]| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Hot 100 [18][19] |
U.S. R&B [18][19] |
U.S. Club Play | NZ [15] |
UK [20][21] | ||
| 1981 | "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)" | — | 22 | — | — | — |
| "Scorpio" | — | 30 | — | — | 77 [21] | |
| 1982 | "The Message" | 62 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 8 |
References
[edit]- ^ "The Message". AllMusic.
- ^ a b Wynn, Ron. "The Message - Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five". Allmusic. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
- ^ a b Christgau 1990, p. 270.
- ^ Larkin 2006, p. 308.
- ^ a b Lewis et al. 2004, p. 341.
- ^ a b Richardson, Mark (July 14, 2005). "Grandmaster Flash / Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The Message / They Said it Couldn't Be Done". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
- ^ Hull, Tom (April 26, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
- ^ Staunton, Terry (November 2010). "Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The Message". Uncut. No. 162. p. 84.
- ^ a b c d Strong 2004, p. 619.
- ^ Palmer, Robert (December 22, 1982). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (February 22, 1983). "Pazz & Jop 1982: Dean's List". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
- ^ Breihan, Tom (August 24, 2020). "1982: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five—the Message". sole.digital. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
- ^ Dimery, Robert; Lydon, Michael (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. New York City: Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.
- ^ Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (Vinyl, LP, Album). Discogs. Retrieved on July 27, 2010.
- ^ a b "Discography Grandmaster Flash". charts.nz. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
- ^ "The Message - Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five : Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 129. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ a b "Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five". Rolling Stone. July 8, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
- ^ a b Billboard chartings. Accessed October 17, 2009.
- ^ "The Official Charts Company - Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
- ^ a b "The Official Charts Company – Grandmaster Flash". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
Bibliography
[edit]- Christgau, Robert (1990). Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 067973015X.
- Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Selected Albums. Bibliographies (4th ed.). Muze. ISBN 0195313739.
- Lewis, Miles Marshall; et al. (2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate U.S. p. 4. ISBN 1841956155.
External links
[edit]- Groups Official Website
- The Kidd Creole's Official Website
- The Message (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
- The Message at Discogs (list of releases)
