1983 studio album by George Duke
Guardian of the Light Released 1983 Studio Le Gonks West (Hollywood, California) The Complex (Los Angeles, California) Ocean Way Recording (Los Angeles, California) Genre Label Epic Producer George Duke Dream On (1979) Guardian of the Light (1983) Rendezvous (1984)
"Reach Out" Released: 1983 "Celebrate" Released: 1983 "Born to Love You" Released: 1983
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating AllMusic [ 1]
Guardian of the Light is the sixteenth studio album by American keyboardist and record producer George Duke . It was released in 1983 through Epic Records . Recording sessions for the album took place in Los Angeles at The Complex, Le Gonks West, and Ocean Way Recording . Duke used a variety of keyboard instruments, such as Rhodes electric piano , Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 , Korg Polysix , ARP Odyssey , Clavitar Solo, Minimoog , melodeon, melodica , and also Sennheiser and Roland vocoders , and LinnDrum machine . The album features contributions from various musicians, including vocalists Jeffrey Osborne and Lynn Davis, guitarists Michael Sembello and Charles Fearing , bassists Louis Johnson and Byron Miller, drummers John Robinson and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler , percussionist Paulinho da Costa , trumpeters Gary Grant and Jerry Hey , trombonist Lew McCreary, conductor George Del Barrio with a musical ensemble of string instrument players.
The album peaked at number 147 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and number 46 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. Guardian of the Light spawned three singles : "Reach Out", "Celebrate" and "Born to Love You". Its lead single, "Reach Out" reached number 59 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
All tracks are written by George Duke
Title 1. "Overture" 1:38 2. "Light" 3:23 3. "Shane" 3:14 4. "Born to Love You" 3:10 5. "Silly Fightin'" 5:06 6. "You (Are the Light)" 4:15 7. "The War Fugue Interlude" 1:13 8. "Reach Out" 4:57 9. "Give Me Your Love" 4:19 10. "Stand" 2:14 11. "Soon" 2:43 12. "Celebrate" 3:54 13. "Fly Away" 4:01
George Duke – vocals (tracks: 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13) , lead vocals (tracks: 4, 5, 9) , backing vocals (tracks: 5, 9) , acoustic piano (tracks: 1–6, 8, 13) , Sennheiser vocoder (tracks: 2, 3) , Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (tracks: 2, 3, 7–9, 12, 13) , Korg Polysix (tracks: 2, 10, 12) , Rhodes electric piano (tracks: 3, 4, 6, 9, 12) , melodica (track 4) , ARP Odyssey and handclaps (track 8) , melodeon (track 9) , LinnDrum and Minimoog (tracks: 10, 12) , Clavitar Solo and Roland vocoder (track 13) , liner notes , producer Jeffrey Osborne – backing vocals (tracks: 4, 5) , vocals (track 10) Lynn Davis – backing vocals (tracks: 4, 5, 9) , handclaps (track 8) Portia Griffin – backing vocals (tracks: 4, 5) , handclaps (track 8) Patti Austin – backing vocals (track 9) Erik Zobler – vocals (track 13) Michael Sembello – guitar (tracks: 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11) Charles Fearing – guitar (tracks: 2, 3) Johnny McGhee – guitar (track 12) Louis Johnson – guitar (track 5) , bass (tracks: 1–3, 5, 8, 9, 13) Byron Lee Miller – bass (tracks: 4, 6) John Robinson – drums (tracks: 1–4, 8, 9) Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums (tracks: 5, 6, 13) Paulinho da Costa – percussion (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6) Steve Forman – tabla (track 11) Larry Bunker – timpani (track 13) Rachelle Fields – handclaps (track 8) Larry Williams – tenor saxophone (tracks: 1, 6, 8) Lew McCreary – trombone (tracks: 1, 6, 8) Gary Grant – trumpet (tracks: 1, 8, 13) , flugelhorn (track 6) , piccolo trumpet (track 13) Jerry Hey – trumpet (tracks: 1, 8, 13) , flugelhorn (track 6) , piccolo trumpet (track 13) Craig Harris – vocoder programming (tracks: 2, 3) Paul Shure – violin, concertmaster (tracks: 1, 2, 6–8, 11) Charles Veal Jr. – violin, concertmaster (track 13) Sherrill Coltrin Baptist – violin Marcia Van Dyke – violin Israel Baker – violin Endre Granat – violin Franklin Foster – violin Arnold Belnick – violin Bonnie Douglas – violin Brenton Banks – violin Ronald Folsom – violin Reginald Hill – violin Sheldon Sanov – violin Robert Sushel – violin Kenneth Yerke – violin Murray Adler – violin Mari Botnick – violin Henry Ferber – violin Dorothy Wade – violin Karen Jones – violin Nathan Ross – violin Carol Shive – violin Assa Drori – violin Bob Sanov – violin David Schwartz – viola Virginia Majewski – viola Barbara Thomason – viola Allan Harshman – viola Denyse Buffum – viola Rollice Dale – viola Myer Bello – viola Raymond Kelley – cello Daniel Rothmuller – cello Douglas L. Davis – cello Paula Hochhalter – cello Julianna Buffum – cello Dennis Karmazyn – cello Earl Madison – cello Nils Oliver – cello Jan Kelley – cello George Del Barrio – conducting (tracks: 1, 2, 6–8, 11) Technical Tommy Vicari – engineering Mark Ettel – assistant recording engineer (tracks: 1–11) Nick Spigel – assistant recording engineer Peter Chaikin – additional recording (track 12) Danny Kopelson – assistant mixing engineer (tracks: 1–11, 13) Wally Buck – assistant mixing engineer (tracks: 1–11, 13) Steve Schmidt – assistant mixing engineer (track 10) Brian Gardner – mastering Herb Cohen Management – management "Born to Love You" was also covered by Phil Perry in 1998.
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