''Seven Souls'' is a 1989 album by New York based music group

Material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

. A collaboration with author

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

, the album features his narration of passages from his novel '' The Western Lands'' (1987) set to musical accompaniment. The album was re-released in 1997 with bonus tracks, three re-mixes that were added to the beginning of the album. In 1998, a new title, ''The Road to the Western Lands'', was issued, composed of new mixes of the tracks. "Equation" / "Ineffect" was released as a single in 1989 (Virgin America, PR 3380).

Track listing

#"Ineffect" (

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, ...

Nicky Skopelitis Nicky Skopelitis (born January 19, 1960) is an American guitarist and composer of Greek descent. He also has performed on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments. Although Skopelitis has recorded few albums as a bandleader, he has ap ...

Simon Shaheen Simon Shaheen (Arabic: سيمون شاهين, he, סימון שאהין; born Tarshiha, Upper Galilee, Palestine, 1955) is a Palestinian-American oud and violin player and composer who holds Israeli citizenship. At the age of 2, Shaheen move ...

) – 7:34 #"Seven Souls" (Laswell, Burroughs) – 5:42 #"Soul Killer" (Laswell, Burroughs) – 4:32 #"The Western Lands" (Laswell, Skopelitis, Burroughs) – 6:54 #"Deliver" (Laswell, Skopelitis,

Foday Musa Suso Foday Musa Suso (born 9 December 1953, in Sarre Hamadi, Wuli District, in the Upper River Division of The Gambia) is a Gambian musician and composer. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a griot. Griots are the oral historians ...

) – 5:48 #"Equation" (Laswell, Skopelitis,

Rammellzee Rammellzee (stylized RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, pronounced "Ram: Ell: Zee"; December 15, 1960 – June 28, 2010) was a visual artist, gothic futurist "graffiti writer", painter, performance artist, art theoretician, sculptor and a hip hop musician from Ne ...

) – 5:06 #"The End of Words" (Laswell, Burroughs) – 5:06

Seven Souls (Remix)

#"The Western Lands" Dangerous Road Mix(Laswell, Burroughs) – 8:31 #"Seven Souls" im Simenon Mix(Tim Simenon, Burroughs) – 7:06 #"Soul Killer" emote Control Mix by Terre Thaemlitz(Terre Thaemlitz, Burroughs) – 8:15 The rest of the album as per the original release

The Road to the Western Lands

#Bill Laswell – "The Seven Souls" (Burroughs, Laswell) – 5:47 #

Talvin Singh Talvin Singh OBE (born 1970) is an English musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica s ...

– "The Western Lands" (Burroughs, Talvin Singh) 6:36 #DJ Soul Slinger – "The Western Lands" (Burroughs, DJ Soul Slinger) 5:09 # Spring Heel Jack – "The Road to the Western Lands" (Burroughs, John Coxon, Ashley Wales) 6:17 #The Audio Janitor ( DJ Olive) – "Joan's Haunted Hints at the Gate to the Western Lands" (Burroughs, DJ Olive) 6:37 #Bill Laswell – "Seven Souls" he Secret Name(Burroughs, Laswell) 10:37 #Material – "The Western Lands" Dangerous Road Mix(Burroughs, Laswell) – 8:31

Personnel

Material *

– 4, 6 and 8-string basses, acoustic guitar, tapes, percussion Additional personnel *

– voice *

– voice ("Equation") *

– voice ("Deliver") *Fahiem Dandan – voice ("Ineffect") *

– 6 and 12 string guitars, baglama, coral sitar, saz,

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

– violin * L. Shankar – violin *

Jeff Bova Jeff Bova (born Jeffrey Bova in 1953) is an American musician. He has been active in the music industry since the mid-1970s, contributing to recordings by significant mainstream artists like Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Eric Clapton, ...

– electronic keyboards * Sly Dunbar – drums, Fairlight *

Aïyb Dieng Aïyb Dieng is a Senegalese drummer and percussionist specializing in hand drums. He has recorded two solo album, including '' Rhythmagick'' (1995), and has worked with a wide range of musicians, including as a regular collaborator of bassist/pr ...

– percussion "The Western Lands" Dangerous Road Mix'' *

Jah Wobble John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...

– bass *Bill Laswell – bass samples *Nicky Skopelitis – guitar *Tetsu Inoue – electronics *

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntabli ...

– noise "The Seven Souls" he Secret Name'' *Alicia Renee aka Blue Eyes: vocals *Nicky Skopelitis: guitar *Bill Laswell: bass, keyboards, turntable

Production

*Recorded at Platinum Island Studio and BC Studio, New York. *Produced by Bill Laswell / Material.

Release history

*''Seven Souls'' – 1989 – Virgin, CDV 2596 (CD) *''Seven Souls (Remix)'' – 1997 – Triloka Records, 314 534 905-2 (CD) *''The Road to the Western Lands'' – 1998 – Triloka / Mercury, 314 558 021-2 (2x 12" / CD)

In popular culture

The track "Seven Souls" is featured in the opening scene and in the closing credits of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'' Season 6 episode, " Members Only".

References

External links

*
''Seven Souls''
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

{{Authority control 1989 albums Material (band) albums Albums produced by Bill Laswell Virgin Records albums William S. Burroughs