The anger and poetry of Gil Scott-Heron

The first I was really aware of Gil Scott-Heron - and I mean really aware - was hearing Paul Ubana Jones perform an a cappella take on Home Is Where the Hatred Is. (Here's the Gil Scott-Heron original.)

I had heard of Gil Scott-Heron; I knew this famous piece. But hearing Jones speak and sing the words...well, that really made me take notice.

The compilation album Evolution and Flashback: The Very Best of Gil Scott-Heron was one of the most important/influential/amazing albums to come into my collection. I picked it up at Fisheye Discs - the place you could always go to find something like that (pity not enough people had the same idea; maybe they would still be there).

And I followed up that purchase with a copy of the book, Now and Then: The Poems of Gil Scott-Heron - it's one of the very few books on my shelf that I have read and re-read; several slithers of paper bookmarking favourites...favourites such as:

Paint It Black:

Picture a man of nearly thirty
who seems twice as old with clothes torn and
dirty.
Give him a job shining shoes
or cleaning out toilets with bus station crews.
Give him six children with nothing to eat.
Expose them to life on a ghetto street.
Tie an old rag round his wife's head and
have her pregnant and lying in bed.
Stuff them all in a Harlem house.
Then tell them how bad things are down South.

On the page and on compact disc I devoured the work of Gil Scott-Heron. There is so much to enjoy in this work - the "godfather of rap" antecedents; the connections to R'n'B, soul and jazz; the work with Brian Jackson, Ron Carter and Bernard Purdie; the politics - the humour...the anger...

Often - as with Whitey on the Moon - the politics, humour and anger would all flow, informing one another - then falling in on each other.

It is possible to listen to Gil Scott-Heron just for the words; he is a writer first and foremost, a poet of the page and for the stage. But it is also possible to listen to his poems and songs for the music; for the arrangements and playing of Brian Jackson, of Gil himself (a very soulful singer and a talented composer/pianist) and of the jazz and funk musicians who contributed to the records. Then there's the musicality of his spoken-pieces, the sound of his voice telling you the words. There are also the early percussion-and-poem jams, combining the rhythms of the tongue with conga and cowbell rhythms. Check out his 1970 debut album, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, for the best of that sound.

Gil Scott-Heron released poems as songs, recorded songs that were based on his earliest poems and writings, wrote novels and became a hero to many for his music, activism and his anger. There is always the anger - an often beautiful, passionate anger. An often awkward anger. A very soulful anger. And often it is a very sad anger. But it is the pervasive mood, theme and feeling within his work - and around his work, hovering, piercing, occasionally weighing down; often lifting the work up, helping to place it in your face.

And for all the preaching and warning signs in his work, the last two decades of Gil Scott-Heron's life to date have seen him succumb to the pressures and demons he has so often warned others about.

It stands to reason...you can't write a song like Home Is Where the Hatred Is without first living it, or later dreading it; without being so close to it as to feel it. That's the difference in this work as a hip-hop antecedent and so much of what it allegedly (often very indirectly) influenced.

Gil Scott-Heron turned up on an album (Blazing Arrow) by Blackalicious. This introduced him to a few. And served as a reminder for others. There were some gigs. But there also some arrests. Possession of cocaine. Parole violations. Always the anger.

This week Gil Scott-Heron released I'm New Here. He sings about his close companion with Me and the Devil; he shows plenty of anger on Where Did the Night Go.

But most important, he reminds/reintroduces the vitality and passion that was there (and is still present) in his best work. It's been 15 years since his last album. And this is an album that was delayed by another arrest.

Here's the title song. A cover of a Smog tune. (Here's the Smog original.) You'll notice, comparing them, just what a quality Gil Scott-Heron's very lived-in voice brings to a song.

And if you go here you can discover more from of that (and other qualities) with a preview of the album.

It's been worth the wait for fans - and it's a thrill to hear the anger being channelled once again. The wisdom, the pain, the sorrow, the social commentary - again it all overlaps and rolls under, one facet informing another. Nothing is ever, as Chuck Klosterman pointed out, ever in and of itself. And that's what matters. And with I'm New Here you will hear what matters most to Gil Scott-Heron right now. And it's great. A highlight of the 2010 music releases.

So, will you be checking it out? Are you a fan already? Or have you heard the name and never got around to hearing any of his music? Or have you heard the album already and you are not impressed?

What do you think of Gil Scott-Heron? Do you have favourite pieces/albums?

» Join Blog on the Tracks on Facebook

» Fancy yourself as a blogger? Whoever wins Blog Idol 2 will blog on contract at Stuff as well as win a new Nokia phone. Put on your blogging hat and enter!

Newest First

Oldest First

Rick   #1   08:57 am Feb 10 2010

"Give him six children with nothing to eat." How do you do that ? Drop six babies off on the doorstep ? This person gave himself six children. Why not stop at two kids, and raise them properly ? Personal responsibility anyone ? Heron pushes the standard rhetoric of everything being everyone else's fault. How does that help someone get themselves out of poverty ?

Blair   #2   09:08 am Feb 10 2010

Thanks for raising the mans genius, get the nerve lambasting or talking to the hip hop fraternity is brilliant and relevant on one of his later works, think thats what its called, its stat as he is, he is playing the all tomorrows parties, doh think maui neeeds to get fishin again, jokes people jokes, chur ciao.

Danny Riviera   #3   09:23 am Feb 10 2010

Gil Scott Heron is the greatest, a true pioneer in every sense of the word. B-Movie has to be one of my favourites.

Danny Riviera   #4   09:29 am Feb 10 2010

Crawl back into the neocon woodwork Rick.

If you knew anything about the work of Gil Scott Heron you would know how well he covers themes of empowerment and deprivation in the african american community. Try a bit of empathy or 'walking a mile in someone elses shoes' before you start denigrating an entire race with your rhetoric of 'free market' 'personal responsibility'.

M   #5   09:31 am Feb 10 2010

His new record is streaming free and legally on the Guardian's website.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/feb/02/gil-scott-heron-new-here

Elle   #6   09:33 am Feb 10 2010

1) It's poetry, it's not literal 2) It's a comment on the civil rights situation. His point is that the in the North, which was seen as a place of "freedom" to African Americans in the South, was just as racist but in a covert, unspoken, just accepted kind of way. It's probably best his writings in the context of the time.

(not regular posting) Don   #7   09:41 am Feb 10 2010

Jeez Rick, this is rock'n'roll not ACT party policy - where's your cool man?

Many years ago I was made redundant from a job. It didn't come out of the blue and there was lots of stress, rumors, and general bad feeling around the workplace for several months prior to us finally getting our pink slips. I woke up early one morning during this severely bleak tine, heavy of heart and hungover of head. I switched on the radio (and it must have been very early because the lovely Vicky Mckay was just finishing her midnight to 6am slot on National Radio) to hear the opening chords of 'I Guess I'll Call it Morning from Now On'.

Everything seemed better after hearing that brilliant tune.

Natalie F   #8   09:42 am Feb 10 2010

Great review. Love it.

The Trickster   #9   09:45 am Feb 10 2010

I love Gil-Scott Heron's stuff. I was introduced to it after hearing Esther Phillips version of Home Is Where The Hatred Is. Both are hauntingly beautiful but so painful to listen to.

Have to say my fav GSH track though is 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'. Its both angry but fricking hilarious at the same time and quite true.

scarfaceclaw   #10   09:49 am Feb 10 2010

@Rick #1: There does seem to be a lot of weighting towards 'everyone else's fault', but you should check the personal responsiblity angle on 'Brother': "All we need for you to do is shut up and be black".

@Blair #2: I think the track you are talking about is 'Message to the Messengers', from the Spirits album.

The 'Black Wax' DVD is also good value, Gil even gives a few genuine smiles & seems a real person as well as an activist. Haven't heard the new one yet, looking foward to it - chur for the preview link Simon.