''Pulse'' is the second solo album by American session

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, vocalist, and arranger. A session musician, Phillinganes has contributed to numerous albums over a broad array of artists and genres. He has toured with artists includin ...

. Released on July 17, 1984, the album includes Phillinganes' best-known solo song, a cover of " Behind the Mask" by

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (abbreviated to YMO) was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals, occasional keyboards) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, ...

arranged by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. The track "Countdown to Love" was also featured in the 1984 film ''

Streets of Fire ''Streets of Fire'' is a 1984 American action crime neo-noir film directed by Walter Hill, from a screenplay by Hill and Larry Gross. Described on the poster and in the opening credits as "A Rock & Roll Fable", the film combines elements of ...

'', while both "Playin' with Fire" and "Signals" would later appear in the 1986 film '' Touch and Go''. More recently, "Behind the Mask" was used for a montage in the sixth episode of the Max Original Series ''Fired on Mars'' (2023).

Track listing

# " Behind the Mask" (

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

, Chris Mosdell; arr.

) (4:48) # "Won't Be Long Now" (

Robbie Nevil Robert S. Nevil (born October 2, 1958) is an American pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and guitarist who had five ''Billboard'' top 40 hits including his songs " C'est la Vie" (#2, 1986), "Dominoes" (#14, 1987), and " Wot's It to Ya" (#1 ...

Mark Mueller Mark Mueller (born July 11, 1957) is an American songwriter. A two-time winner of the ASCAP Pop Award for writing one of the Most Performed Songs of the year, he has had three ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Top Ten singles and one #1 Adult Contemporary hi ...

) (5:05) # "Playin' With Fire" (

Jackie Jackson Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jac ...

, Pamela Phillips-Oland, Jack Wargo) (4:46) # "I Have Dreamed" (

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Award ...

) (4:39) # "Come As You Are" (Brock Walsh, Nevil) (4:18) # "Lazy Nina" (

Donald Fagen Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who is the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker ...

) (5:25) # "Signals" (

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and from 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the so ...

, John Lang,

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...

) (5:00) # "Countdown To Love" (

Kenny Vance Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg, December 9, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer who was a founding member of Jay and the Americans. His career spans from the 1950s to today, with projects ranging from starting doo-wo ...

, Marty Kupersmith) (2:56) # "Shake It" ( Anthony Marinelli, Share Stallings, Brian Banks) (6:08)

Personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, arranger *Brian Banks, Anthony Marinelli –

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the ea ...

programming, "special effects" *Richard Perry – production *Michael Brooks – engineering

Additional track-by-track personnel

"Behind the Mask"

* David Williams –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s *Brian Banks, Anthony Marinelli – synthesizer programming *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthes ...

–

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

*Howie Rice – clap effects *

– additional backing vocals *

– arranger, possible backing vocals *John Arrias and John Vigran – engineering

"Won't Be Long Now"

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

– backing vocals *

– guitars *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion *Brian Banks, Anthony Marinelli – synthesizer programming *Robbie Nevil – arranger

"Playin' With Fire"

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song. After beginning his career ...

Howard Hewett Howard Hewett Jr. (born October 1, 1955) is an American singer–songwriter. Hewett rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the group Shalamar. In 1985, he left the group to pursue his solo career, but he later returned to the group in 2001. He si ...

Phillip Ingram Phillip Ingram (born 1958) is an American musician. He is perhaps best known as one of the founding members of the Motown Group Switch and is the younger brother of James Ingram. Biography Ingram was raised in Akron, Ohio. He came from a musica ...

– backing vocals *Carlos Rios – guitar * Carlos Vega – drums *Bo Tomlyn – synthesizer programming *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...

– horns *Michael Boddicker – synthesizer *

, Jerry Hey – arranger *John Vigran, Gary Skardina, Roger Paglia, Alex Schmoll – engineering

"I Have Dreamed"

*Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli – synthesizer programming * John Robinson – percussion *John Vigran – engineer

"Come as You Are"

*Robbie Nevil – guitar *Paulinho da Costa – percussion *Julia Tillman, Maxine Willard, and Clydene Jackson – backing vocals *Brock Walsh, Robbie Nevil – associate producers *Robbie Nevil – arranger *Bert Battaglia – engineer

"Lazy Nina"

*Michael Boddicker – synthesizer programming *John Robinson – drums *Philip Perry, Maxi Anderson, Darryl Phinnessee, Gwen Matthews – backing vocals *Greg Phillinganes, Cherron Taylor-Phillinganes, Shyra Mason, and Howard Dresden – claps *

– arranger *Jeremy Smith and John Vigran – engineering

"Signals"

*Bo Tomlyn – synthesizer programming *

– bass guitar *Paulinho da Costa – percussion *

, Steve George – backing vocals

"Countdown to Love"

*Howie Rice – synthesizer *Dennis Herring – guitar *Howie Rice – arranger *John Arrias, Roger Paglia – engineering

"Shake It"

*Anthony Marinelli and Brian Banks – synthesizers, synthesizer programming, engineering, associate producers *Daryl Phinnessee – backing vocals *Anthony Marinelli, Brian Banks

Production credits

*Assistant engineers: Greg Holguin, Bob Loftus, and Alex Schmoll *Remix engineers: Bill Schnee, Michael Brooks, John Arrias, and Lew Hahn *Mastering engineer: Stephen Marcussen

References

{{Authority control 1984 albums Albums produced by Richard Perry Planet Records albums Greg Phillinganes albums