''Mental Floss for the Globe'' is the debut album by Dutch rap rock band

Urban Dance Squad Urban Dance Squad was a Dutch rap rock band formed after what was originally intended as a one-time jam-session at a festival in Utrecht on December 20, 1986. The band consisted of a guitarist, bassist, drummer, rapper, and DJ. Urban Dance Squ ...

. Released in 1989 (in the US, 1990) and produced by Belgian guitarist

Jean-Marie Aerts Jean-Marie Aerts (Zeebrugge (Bruges), 25 May 1951) is a Belgian guitarist and producer, best known as the guitar player for TC Matic. Aerts was a session musician who had worked with Kaz Lux, Raymond van het Groenewoud, and Plastic Bertrand when ...

, the album features a crossover of several

music genres A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

, such as

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, hip hop, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

. It spawned the hit single " Deeper Shade of Soul," which gained the band international recognition, including in the United States, where they toured with

Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). S ...

. The album got to #54 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart. "Deeper Shade of Soul" reached #21 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and two other singles were taken from the album, "No Kid" and "Fast Lane". The album won an

Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

in the Netherlands, and in 2008 was named the best Dutch pop album of all time by Dutch music magazine ''

OOR ''OOR'' is the oldest currently published music magazine in the Netherlands. ''Oor'' is the Dutch word for ear. Until 1984 it was published as ''Muziekkrant Oor''. History The magazine was first published on 1 April 1971, being founded by Ba ...

''.

Critical reception

The album was released in the United States to positive reviews; the ''

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue o ...

'' commented on the unusual combination of rock instrumentation with a rapper and a DJ, and of hip hop rhythms with heavy metal music, and called it "refreshing".

Track listing

CD release

# "Fast Lane" – 3:29 # "No Kid" – 3:39 # " Deeper Shade of Soul" – 4:32 # "Prayer for My Demo" – 3:40 # "Big Apple" – 3:30 # "Piece of Rock" – 4:59 # "Brainstorm on the U.D.S." – 4:03 # "The Devil" – 3:33 # "Famous When You're Dead" – 5:15 # "Mental Floss for the Globe" – 3:05 # "Struggle for Jive" – 4:04 # "Man on the Corner" – 3:40 # "God Blasts the Queen" – 4:11

Vinyl release

Cassette release

Europe

United States

* A1. "Fast Lane" * A2. "No Kid" * A3. " Deeper Shade of Soul" * A4. "Brainstorm on the U.D.S." * A5. "Big Apple" * A6. "Piece of Rock" * B1. "Prayer for My Demo" * B2. "The Devil" * B3. "Famous When You're Dead" * B4. "Mental Floss for the Globe" * B5. "Struggle for Jive" * B6. "Man on the Corner" * B7. "God Blasts the Queen" The international releases of the album have track length variances due to removal of uncleared samples. For example, "The Devil" originally contained samples from "Orange Claw Hammer", performed by

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

, from his 1969 album ''

Trout Mask Replica ''Trout Mask Replica'' is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. The music was composed by Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) and arran ...

''.

Personnel

Adapted credits from the liner notes of ''Mental Floss for the Globe''. ;Urban Dance Squad * Magic Stick – drums, percussion, backing vocals * DNA – turntables, special FX, backing vocals * Rudeboy – leads, backing vocals * Silly Sil – bass, standing bass, hollow bass, backing vocals * Tres Manos – guitar, national steel, pedal steel, backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Luther Renaldo Francois – sax ("Deeper Shades of Soul") * J.M.X. – guitar ("Piece of Rock", "Mental Floss") ;Production * J.M.A. – artistic producer, mixing * Michel Dierickx – engineer * Christian Ramon – engineer, mixing * U.D.S. – mixing

References

External links

*
Mental Floss For The Globe
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{Authority control 1989 debut albums Urban Dance Squad albums Arista Records albums