Worlds Apart (Blackjack album)

Worlds Apart is the second and final album of the American rock band Blackjack. The album was met with nearly total indifference,[2] sold poorly[3] and Blackjack disbanded shortly after its release.[4][5]

Worlds Apart
Studio album by
Blackjack
Released1980
Recorded1980
Criteria Studios, Miami
GenreHard rock, AOR
Length37:37
LabelPolydor
ProducerEddy Offord
Blackjack chronology
Blackjack
(1979)		 Worlds Apart
(1980)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

The album contains the song "Welcome to the World", which opens with a live audio recording clip of a baby birth.[6] A YouTube user by the name of Chris Cassone, engineer for Blackjack's band manager Phil Lorito, wrote on YouTube that the audio clip was of the birth of his son.[7][8] Cassone made the recording (March 29, 1980) of his first wife, Dale Weigel Cassone, in White Plains Hospital during the delivery. Phil Lorito and members of Blackjack frequented nearby North Lake Sound Studios where Chris was chief engineer. Chris played the newly recorded tape at a recording session visited by Blackjack and they loved it. Casey Cassone, the boy born on the recording, received album liner credit from the band. The nurse coincidentally announces after he was born, "Open your eyes. Welcome to the world."[9]

Jay-Z sampled the song "Stay" for his song "A Dream" from his 2002 album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.[10]

In 2004, Kanye West re-recorded a section of "Maybe It's the Power of Love" for inclusion on his song "Never Let Me Down"; it was released on his triple platinum selling debut album The College Dropout which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Speaking to the website Genius in 2015, Bolton gave his approval of the sampling, stating that "the song turned out beautifully."[11]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."My World Is Empty Without You"Holland-Dozier-Holland3:08
2."Love Is Hard to Find"Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick3:13
3."Stay"Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick4:33
4."Airwaves"Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick3:43
5."Maybe It's the Power of Love"Michael Bolton3:46
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Welcome to the World"Michael Bolton4:43
2."Breakaway"Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick4:13
3."Really Wanna Know"Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick3:47
4."Sooner or Later"Michael Bolton3:35
5."She Wants You Back"Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick2:51

Personnel

Additional personnel

References
  1. "Worlds Apart". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  2. Runtagh, Jordan (22 January 2018). "30 Fascinating Early Bands of Future Music Legends". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 2744. ISBN 9780857125958.
  4. Cheang, Michael (18 August 2017). "Michael Bolton is looking for the next big Asian star". Star2.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  5. "New LP/Tape Releases". Billboard Magazine. 30 August 1980.
  6. "Blackjack (USA) - 1980 Worlds Apart". GloryDazeMusic.com. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2018. 'Welcome To The World' is preceded by an audio clip of a baby being born, an obvious reference to the song title
  7. Blackjack - Welcome to the World on YouTube
  8. "REVIEW: Blackjack – Worlds Apart (1980)". mikeladano.com. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2018. The hardest rocker of the album is the side two opener, "Welcome to the World", which bizarrely opens with an actual recorded baby birth.
  9. "REVIEW: Blackjack – Worlds Apart (1980)". 12 October 2016.
  10. Weiss, Brett (2016). Encyclopedia of KISS: Music, Personnel, Events and Related Subjects. McFarland & Company. p. 24. ISBN 9780786498024.
  11. "Kanye West's "Never Let Me Down" Annotated by Michael Bolton on Genius". 27 February 2015.
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