Search - Gil Scott-Heron :: Mind of Gil Scott-Heron

As relevent today as in its era.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 02/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron" is a compilation of spoken word pieces by one of the true masters of the form. Scott-Heron, inspired in his own words by Amiri Baraka and Oscar Brown, Jr., is probably best known for his spoken word piece, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", and while his music by-and-large was founded more in jazz then simply spoken word, this collection nonetheless provides a fine overview of a critical aspect of Scott-Heron's music.



This release contains seven tracks (one more than the original issue)-- three tracks were previously released-- "H2OGate Blues" (from "Winter in America"), "We Beg Your Pardon (Pardon Our Analysis)" (from "The First Minute of a New Day") and "Bicentennial Blues (from "It's Your World"). The remaining four tracks are all available nowhere else. What the pieces do is paint a picture of the political climate durin ghte 1970s. Scott-Heron is relentless in his attack on his belief that the government and legal system, as an organization of people, is suspectible to corruption and, as the disasterous second Nixon administration illustrates, is often in fact corrupt. His fire and passion is obvious and his performances are stunning.



What's perhaps most frightening is that with a few name changes, it seems as if Scott-Heron could be talking about modern politics rather than '70s politics. Gil Scott-Heron is well missed, this serves as a reminder of who he was and allows us to hope that he'll come back to music to share his wisdom."

Open your third eye

Gary Wise | Houston, Texas | 10/07/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What an entertaining historical document!



'The Ghetto Code' is alone worth the price of this great collection of poetry and music. H2O Gate Blues is a close second.



Like Bill Hicks' (later) point of view, Gil Scott-Heron humurously cautions us not to become 'sheep', but dare to question everything.



Pure genius."