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Gil Scott-Heron - Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970)
Gil Scott-Heron R.I.P
01/04/1949 - 27/05/2011
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
In light of the recent passing of Gil Scott-Heron, this post is to honor the works of a freedom fighter, poet, singer, and Black revolutionary man by sharing his debut album from 1970. His words and music express the harsh realities of injustice, oppression, and racism in Amerika. He does so with a wry, witty sense of humor and a burning passion to express and reveal the bare truth of hypocrisy in Amerika through the eyes of a Black man.
A live recording of Gil's poetry, set to congas and on a couple of tracks, piano, recorded in front of an audience of what sounds like about 6 people, no doubt taped at the address mentioned in the title. He expresses the tone of the times, the struggle for freedom and equality, and the anger of the oppressed. The original version of Gil's best known song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" opens this set in its stripped back version before it was set to a more funky tune in a future release.
Legendary artist Gil Scott-Heron was, by many accounts, a pioneering genius. Largely considered one of the progenitors of modern hip-hop, he was an artist that transcended both genre and medium to speak truth to power, and leaves behind a vast body of work that includes poems, albums and novels. So when it was announced late last Friday that the man mostly known for his song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” had died at the tender age of 62, many admirers were left grappling with what to make of a man who for decades had shown both strength and vulnerability to his fans.
To be sure, his influence was skewed in later years by his very public personal battles. While many high-profile figures keep their demons locked away from the public eye, Scott-Heron shared his long battle with cocaine addiction, his time in and out of prison, and later, his battle against HIV. In recent years, be bounced back and teamed up with younger artists like Mos Def to perform at Carnegie Hall, and released his last album “I’m New Here” to rave reviews in 2010.
Gil Scott-Heron is somebody who’s transcended a number of generations and he’s transcended a number of genres. He wasn’t quite blues, even though he described himself as a blues-ologist. He wasn’t quite jazz even though many people associated him with that. And he was a predecessor to rap, so he wasn’t really in that particular generation, though people could reference the style. Regardless of how he's categorized, the man was a warrior of the streets, and spoke the truth about the experience of minority oppression in the so called 'free' world.
1.The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (3:21)
2.Omen (1:45)
3.Brother (2:35)
4.Comment No. 1 (4:26)
5.Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1:21)
6.The Subject Was Faggots (3:11)
7.Evolution (And Flashback) (3:21)
8.Plastic Pattern People (2:53)
9.Whitey on the Moon (1:59)
10.The Vultures (4:31)
11.Enough (4:15)
12.Paint It Black (0:34)
13.Who'll Pay Reparations on My Soul? (5:15)
14.Everyday (4:29)
**explicit language and content
MUCH Peace n luv to my friends at 1337x and blazinseedboxes
Media Info:
Bitrate: 192 kbps
Channels: stereo
Samplerate: 44100
Encoder: LAME 3.96
MPEG-1 layer 3
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