THE LAST POETS

TIME HAS COME

  1/  The King Is Home                           (Babatunde)                   1.36
  2/  Kings of Pain                              (Hassan)                      6.18
  3/  The Time Has Come                          (Oyewole)                     4.17
  4/  Trapped                                    (Hassan,Oyewole,Showard)      5.02
  5/  Panther                                    (Dieng,Hassan)                5.03
  6/  Down To Now                                (Piper,Hassan,AO,Chuck D.)    4.25
  7/  For the Millions                           (Oyewole)                     5.06
  8/  Silence of the Jams                        (Hassan)                      5.23
  9/  Do You Feel Good?                          (Oyewole)                     2.53
  10/ Hollow Wood                                (Hassan)                      3.00
  11/ The King Is Home (Reprise)                 (Babatunde)                   1.23

          Recorded at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Track 6 recorded and mixed at The Spot
          Engineered by Robert Musso
          Track 6 engineered by Keith Shocklee
          Track 6 mixed by Keith Shocklee
          Produced by Bill Laswell
          Track 4 produced by DXT
          Track 6 produced by Thomas (Tic-Tac) Piper
          Compiled and mastered at Greenpoint Studio by Oz Fritz
Umar Bin Hassan & Abiodun Oyewole: voices; Don Babatunde Eaton: congas; Chuck D. (6): voice; Pharoah Sanders: saxophone; DXT: turntables; Aiyb Dieng: percussion; Bill Laswell: bass, beats, loops, sounds; Khalil Hassan & Jamal Whatley: voices.

          1997 - Mouth Almighty/Mercury (USA), MELP 149 (Vinyl)
          1997 - Mouth Almighty/Mercury (USA), 314 534 467-2AD (CD)
Note: The vinyl version contains the album cuts 2,4,5,6 and 7 as well as acapella versions of tracks 2,4,5 and 7.

REVIEWS :

Picking up where Holy Terror and Omar Ben Hassan's solo album Be Bop or Be Dead left off, The Time Has Come is a scalding blend of avant-jazz, bebop and hip-hop, highlighted by cameos from Chuck D and Pharoah Sanders. These two guests may be impressive, but they don't steal the show -- they merely demonstrate that the Last Poets are too diverse and way too smart to be pigeonholed into one particular category. Occasionally, the record may be a bit unfocused, and its relentless barrage of avant-poetry may be headache-inducing to some, but few records are as politically powerful and articulate as this.

Leo Stanley (courtesy of the All Music Guide via the Get Music website)