Monkey Island (album)

This article is about the album. For other uses, see Monkey Island (disambiguation).

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Robert Christgau	B+
Rolling Stone	(favorable) link

Monkey Island is the ninth album by American rock band The J. Geils Band (credited simply as "Geils"), released in 1977 (see 1977 in music).

The album did not perform well in the marketplace, and would be the J. Geils Band's last original album for Atlantic Records after almost eight years with the label. It was, however, the band's first album on which they did not use an outside producer, as well as their first project with recording engineer David Thoener, with whom they later collaborated on their best-selling albums Love Stinks and Freeze Frame.

The album contains the studio version of "I Do," a live recording of which (from the album Showtime!) would be the J. Geils Band's last hit single in 1982.

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Wolf and Seth Justman except as noted

1. "Surrender" – 3:49
2. "You're the Only One" – 3:05
3. "I Do" (Melvin Mason, Johnny Paden, Frank Paden, Alfred Smith, Willie Stephenson) – 3:09
4. "Somebody" – 5:13
5. "I'm Falling" – 5:41
6. "Monkey Island" – 9:02
7. "I'm Not Rough" (Louis Armstrong) – 3:03
8. "So Good" – 3:19
9. "Wreckage" – 5:23

Personnel

• Peter Wolf - vocals
• J. Geils - guitar
• Seth Justman - keyboard, vocals
• Danny Klein - bass
• Magic Dick - harmonica, trumpet, chromatic harmonica
• Stephen Bladd - percussion, drums, vocals

Additional personnel

• Evette Benton - background vocals on 8
• Michael Brecker - saxophone, tenor saxophone, tenor solo on 5
• Randy Brecker - trumpet
• Michelle Cobbs - background vocals on 1 & 6
• Ronnie Cuber - saxophone
• Lew Del Gatto - saxophone
• Cissy Houston - lead vocals on 1
• Barbara Ingram - background vocals on 8
• Arif Mardin - strings conductor
• Theresa Reed - background vocals on 1 & 6
• Alan Rubin - trumpet
• Lew Soloff - trumpet
• G. Diane Sumler - background vocals on 1 & 6
• Harriet Tharpe - background vocals on 8
• Luther Vandross - background vocals on 1 & 6
• Frank Vicari - saxophone

Production

• Producers: J. Geils Band
• Engineer: David Thoener
• Assistant engineers: Jay Krugman, Rod O'Brien, Corky Stasiak
• Mixing: David Thoener
• Remastering: George Marino
• Design: Peter Corriston
• Photography: Alen MacWeeney

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1977	Pop Albums	51

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1977	"You're The Only One"	Pop Singles	83

Later Samples

• "I'm Not Rough"
  • "Rewind" by Nas from the album Stillmatic
• "Monkey Island"
  • "Going To Switch The Lights On" by Grand National (band) from the album A Drink and a Quick Decision