I felt a wee bit guilty the other week omitting Gil Scott-Heron from my Friday Three Name Series because of the use of a hyphen.
However the rules is the rules and you got fellow poet Linton Kwesi Johnson instead
So I thought I would make amends and sneak in some Gil today.His work spans soul, jazz and blues with liberal use of the spoken word with an argument that he was a prototype rapper.
Like Linton he was also a bit of a political activist as these songs will testify.
As I am Scottish, I feel obliged to pass on the bit of trivia that I suspect everyone knows by now - his father was the first black player to play football for Glasgow Celtic.
I suspect next week's soul offering may have a tinge of Christmas about it.
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Gil Scott-Heron - Johannesburg
And don't the 'tic supporters keep reminding us of it.
ReplyDeleteLove GSH was playing the Jamie xx collaboration album on Thursday funnily enough and played my 12" version of this the other week and it sounded like I was eating kettle chips with headphones on, duly ordered a pristine 7" re-release from ACE records.
We could use a voice like Gil Scott-Heron's in these troubled times. "The Revolution . . ." somehow feeds into my gloomy mood regarding the diabolical forces at work in the world (especially recently with the Brexit decision and the election of the dummy who'll soon be sitting on Putin's lap in the White House.) Electronic voting machines should be banned!! (Sorry, I'm in a mood today after reading the news.)
ReplyDeleteGil was very very good wasn't he?
ReplyDeleteIs this the start of a "singer with double-barrelled last name" series?
ReplyDeleteNow, there's an idea!
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