Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (2xLP Vinyl)

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The Message is the debut studio album of 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".

The Message was released in October 1982 by Sugar Hill Records. The album charted at number 53 in the United States and at number 77 in the United Kingdom.

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." Robert Christgau ranked it as the 21st best album of 1982 his list for The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. 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".

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". 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.

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."

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.

The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

 

 



Debut album for Joseph Saddler aka Grandmaster Flash, Bronx rapper originally from Barbados, and the Furious Five.

Inconsistent effort stuck between rap and R&B (with two mediocre fillers, sung) with its party funk which basically presents mediocre, gray, forgettable songs: the revolutionary of "Scorpio / It's Nasty (Genius of Love)" is truly appreciable by electro lovers, and the unique exception on the whole record, is the classic "The Message".

"The Message" is the true precursor of the whole genre. With its socially conscious, serious rap, it shows that this neo-genre has its own potential to convey a real message. Excellent funky rhythm, enveloping, vibrant, lively, cheerful synth and five verses between Grandmaster Melle Mel and Duke Bootee (despite is credited to Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five), composed of raw and timeless lyrics that allow it to become the most influential song in hip hop without fear of contradiction, in particular the last, the fifth verse, wonderfully delivered by Melle Mel, is pure poetry.

The LP has a good commercial success: it comes close to the top fifty in the pop charts, it breaks the top ten of the R&B charts (at times, "Black Albums"), charting #8, setting new records in the rankings of New Zealand (#14), UK (#77), and Australia (#78). Three singles are extracted, which are classified among the rnb songs, with "The Message" becoming the first rap song to obtain a notable international response.

From here hip hop definitively detaches itself from the womb of the disco music, cuts the umbilical cord and since then, is son of the world.

By: Backin99.


A1 She's Fresh
Written-By – Knight*, Edwards* - 4:58
A2 It's Nasty (Genius Of Love)
Written-By – Frantz*, Weymouth* - 4:18
A3 Scorpio
Written-By – Morris*, Williams*, Wiggins*, Glover*, Glover* - 4:54
A4 It's A Shame
Written-By – Napoleon*, Harmon*, Lloyd*, Garrett*, Wonder*, Wright* - 4:58


B1 Dreamin'
Written-By – Morris*, Henry*, Williams*, Wiggins*, Glover*, Glover* - 5:45
B2 You Are
Written-By – Morris*, Henry*, Williams*, Wiggins*, Glover*, Glover* - 4:49
B3 The Message
Written-By – Chase*, Fletcher*, Glover*, Robinson* - 7:11


C1 The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
Written-By – Brown*, Cook*, Chase*, Jackson*, O'Brien*, Chisolm*, Deacon*, Saddler*, Glover*, Wright*, Robinson* - 7:06
C2 The Message (Instrumental Version)
Written-By – Chase*, Fletcher*, Glover*, Robinson* - 7:08
C3 New York New York (Extended Version)
Written-By – Fletcher*, Glover*, Griffin*, Robinson* - 7:25


D1 Message II (Survival)
Written-By – Glover*, Robinson* - 6:46
D2 The Birthday Party
Written-By – Glover*, Robinson* -8:19
D3 Freedom (Instrumental Version)
Written-By – Robinson* 4:13



sticker reading
"THE MESSAGE"
EXPANDED DOUBLE ALBUM FEATURING
BONUS TRACKS AND INSTRUMENTALS

[on back sleeve]
Recorded at Sweet Mountain Studios.

Thanks to "Willie" & Duke Bootee.
Special thanks to: the creator God, our parents, Mrs. Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rick & Tina, Sugar Ray Leonard and Mohammed Ali for giving us the fighting spirit and to all our dedicated fans plus the talented musicians who worked with us. Extra special thanks to all the ladies.
Barcode: 4050538834949