Ten Thousand Lightyears

About Ten Thousand Lightyears

Ten Thousand Lightyears is the seventh studio album by Boney M. and the first to feature new member Reggie Tsiboe, who had taken over Bobby Farrell's role as the band's leading man in early 1982. The first single to emerge from new recording sessions in 1982 was a cover version of The Seekers' 1965 hit "The Carnival Is Over" backed with a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Going Back West" in June 1982. "The Carnival Is Over" had an ominous ring to its title, and indeed would become the first Boney M. single not to enter the German Top 20, peaking at a disappointing #41. This prompted Hansa to send out a new mix of "Going Back West", promoting this as the A-side instead. After a break in the spring of 1983 when Liz Mitchell gave birth to her second child, and Marcia Barrett recorded demos with Eddy Grant, the band issued "Jambo - Hakuna Matata (No Problems)" backed with a new remix of "African Moon" from the Boonoonoonoos album. In Spain and Portugal, the single emerged with the original 1981 mix of "African Moon". The Iberian 12" singles furthermore included the full 7:44 mix of "Jambo" (the German 12" included a 5:35 edit) and another 1983 recording, "I Need A Babysitter" (a cover of French punk rocker Mahjun's 1980 hit), unavailable elsewhere. "Jambo" was originally intended to be the lead single for the seventh Boney M. album scheduled for release in the Autumn of 1983, but due to the poor chart performance of the single (#48 Germany, 5 weeks) both "Jambo" and "Babysitter" were omitted from the album, and the project postponed for another six months. more »