I'm sure that by now everyone here will have seen the piece on page one about Gil's new album and the blog that goes with it and will probably by now have listened to it. Since 'I'm new here' was mentioned a couple of days ago it's been a regular topic around the gf ranch, both my wife and I have strong feelings about Gil and this has led to some interesting chat. Over the years we both had the opportunity to see him many times and I photographed both him and his family. I have mixed feelings about the new album but I'm absolutely delighted that he's back on the scene, 'there's so much new to say right now' as another poet once said. Just wish that he hadn't wasted all that time and talent.
What this album might do is expose a new audience to his early work all of which is brilliant, if there's anyone here who's not familiar with his work here's a couple of cuts that will give you a starting point. B Movie is from his 1983 album 'Reflections', check out the relevance of his thoughts of 30 years ago to today's situation, a brilliant piece of commentary, poetry and music: 'Your life ain't nothing but a movie.'
There's also a good page on info at Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron
7 comments:
Thanks, Goneforeign. Nicely written, as always. I can't wait to hear the album.
Saw the man at Glastonbury once (I think, although I wasn't that day - another story)
Kind of think on him as the American = of Zephaniah. In the same way that Mos Def is not quite = to Tricky (Tricky has the better tunes).
Wish we could ween you off Podbean. Once you can do a dropbox there's no going back. Faster, easier, downloadier & you can listen to all the latest & greatest 'Spill posts on the page when you have the time (we're not all retired, you know). Sometimes it pays to move with the times, man. Anyhow, great to see some new GF posts in whatever format.
Same goes for you FP. Where are you? How was the New Year party? Any recipes for us?
I have not been able to figure out how to post at dropbox and simultaneously have it show here. I have in the past posted on Podbean for here and at dropbox for those who prefer it for whatever....
Hmmm...I could maybe see a Gil Scott Heron - Linton Kwesi Johnson comparison. I like Saul WIlliams, but I think he's in his 30s, so it's hard to somehow see him as having made the same cultural impact.
And...all other considerations aside, I think of Tricky as being more of a producer, and Mos Def as being all about words. Brilliant words.
GF, Uploading to both db & podbean is double work. Not sure I'm capable of giving clear instructions, but here goes an attempt:
1. Copy the line of HTML code down below into your blogger post without the 1st or last quotation marks.
2. Go to the tune you have downloaded in dropbox, right click on it & select COPY PUBLIC LINK & left click to copy.
3. Select between the quotation marks over the text that currently says "Goneforeign's tune from dropbox" in your blogger post, and paste the the dropbox link you just copied.
4. To give the tune a name label, type whatever you want to call it over the text that says "Name of GF's tune" between the >< marks.
5. Repeat as necessary for each track you want to post
Here is the code (between " and "):
"Name of GF's tune"
Give it another try, If not, no big deal.
Bah, that didn't work, thought I fooled it, but blogger is posting the code as a link - just like last time I tried this, come to think of it. One more try, here's the code: but you need to replace % with < and @ with >
%a href="Goneforeign's tune from dropbox">Name of GF's tune</a@
Still confused? Maybe TFD or Steen can explain.
I just watched a very good interview with GSH on a BBC program "Hardtalk", not sure when it was recorded but he dealt with a very antagonistic interviewer very articulately and with a lot of dignity.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1790093
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