SCATMAN JOHN - SCATMAN'S WORLD

1) Welcome to Scatland; 2) Scatman's World; 3) Only You; 4) Quiet Desperation; 5) Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Da-Dop-Bop); 6) Sing Now!; 7) Popstar; 8) Time (Take Your Time); 9) Mambo Jambo; 10) Everything Changes; 11) Song of Scatland; Bonus tracks: 12) Hi, Louis; 13) Scatman (Game Over Jazz)

The unlikely eurodance hero, and the first album I ever owned all to myself.

This next museum exhibit here, on your left ladies and gentlemen, is the seminal album by the First Artist That I Ever Loved. In the days when various artists hit compilations were my main source of music (the majority of which I just "borrowed" from my sisters), Scatman John arrived with such a force that I begged my parents to buy the album for me. I've lost my old cassette to god knows where but oh boy that tape was on repeat play so, so very much. Scatman John was my childhood musical hero and I played this album loudly in my bedroom over and over again, singing along to the English words which I didn't even understand.

John Larkin stood out in the 90s eurodance scene. He wasn't a handsome young man paired with a model-perfect lady to sing the choruses. If you look at his music videos he looks completely out of place in them among all the young folks, with his wrinkles, old man mustache and retro garbs - truly a person from an entirely different time and space. His music was the trendiest thing there was at the time but John himself looked like someone who would have been more in his element in a smoky jazz club band. Which is where he started from, with his drift into the eurodance scene being a series of coincidences following his move from the US to Germany, with his success an unexpected outcome to everyone involved.

I'm all grown up now and I can see what John was trying to do. Give a listen through Scatman's World and pay attention to the lyrics. In fact, it's enough if you just read through the words in his two big hits. John wants world peace and racial equality, teaching us to respect our fellow humans no matter the colour or background. He's teaching us to finish our education and to follow a straight and honest path. He wants us to know that we need to leave this world in a good condition for the generations who will eventually follow us. He teaches how we can overcome any of our obstacles if we try, frequently leaning on his own stammering as an example which he turned around and found empowerment in as he channelled it to excel in jazz scat singing. He's telling us about the darker sides of life, shining a spotlight on those without our fortunes and priviledges and who are misjudged for it, and what we should do to fight against it. And he is telling us about the utopian ideal of Scatland where peace and love towards all man reign, and which human race will - hopefully - eventually drift towards.

He wanted to reach out to us kids and tell us about these important lessons in life. What better way to do that than to place his messages over the trendiest, catchiest music of the moment? Of course it's cheesy beyond belief, but the power of Scatman John is that he never comes across insincere when he drops these obvious anvils and he carefully dodges coming off corny like a lecturing grandad. He goes for the hug-the-world mentality and pulls it off. The only awkwardly tacky moment is the closing ballad "Song of Scatland" but even that's a little bit heartwarming if you can get over just how camp it is. In retrospect, given his untimely loss to cancer, it actually becomes quite touching, hearing the album end in a thank you and a good night.

The songs are still ace. The two hit singles are both classics and though "Scatman" gets all the nostalgic love and it is brilliant as well, I've always felt that "Scatman's World" is the definitive classic, using the same elements but in a more refined fashion. What makes both so brilliant is how they are such bright and sparkling pop anthems but like with a good meal, those elements are complemented by countering tones for a more impactful final result: certain parts like counter synth melody in the "pii-pa-pa-padappo" sections of "Scatman" and the synth pads and textural elements in the background of "Scatman's World" are downright wistful in their tone, cutting that high energy with a tinge of not-quite melancholy bittersweetness. The verses are downright contemplative in their somewhat more down-toned atmosphere until the synth riff kicks in and John switches to the next gear in his flow (which, genuinely, is quite admirable - he's rapping down all his Eurodance peers) "Quiet Desperation" carries that wistful tone and is a surprisingly, powerfully introspective moment hiding within an eurodance album. The more overt pop songs are great too, of course - particularly the hi-energy "Sing Now!", the sunshine shuffle "Popstar", the obvious single attempt "Only You", all which simply deliver a great set of hooks set to wonderfully 90s production. Only the Latin influenced "Mambo Jambo" (here because as mandated by law, any 90s pop album had to have a Latin song) fails to leave much of a positive impression, much like most of these tacked on Latin excursions in eurodance albums. Scatman's World is eurodance in its best bliss - solid beats, 90s house pianos, awesome vintage synth sounds, and of course John's vocals, flicking between the speak-singing and the immortal scatting. The two bonus tracks tacked on to the end of the album are rather terrible - one a pure jazz scat exercise and the other a superflous remix of "Scatman" - but easily discardable in the digital age.

It is absolutely impossible for me to rate this album in any sort of way that would have any meaning in comparison to all my other ratings, because this is where it all began for me and for that, it will always be a great record for me. I guess the main takeaway for all the people who aren't me is that there's more to the album than "Scatman" and if you find yourself in favour of that song for absolutely any reason, there's an album full of the same vibe that keeps up pretty well with its biggest hit. Scatman John put a lot of heart into his music and though he and his songs are confined by modern audiences in novelty hell and endless one hit wonder retrospectives, there's a really charming pop album waiting to be discovered by those who dig a little deeper.

Physically: Standard jewel case. The booklet features lengthy thank yous, the lyrics to the two main singles as well as "Song of Scatland" and a lengthy manifesto of Scatland which is honestly so difficult to accurately describe that I've simply uploaded it for everyone's reading pleasure. Based, to be honest.

[Reviewed: 14/03/2025]