FLAC / MP3 in COMMENTS 'Vildgolia' excerpt
Gil Scott-Heron - genius, activist, brilliant poet, jazz-funk pioneer, rap pioneer, possessed of a beautiful spoken and singing voice, possessed of both a searing intelligence and a sense of humour. The guy's had his troubles with drugs in recent years, and we can only hope he gets it together and keeps going, because the world needs more people like him. And in combination with Brian Jackson he's just unbeatable. Gil for President! Brian for VP (with his hair in a bun)!
Some unreleased live recordings sound like they've been recorded from the venue's bathroom, then there are the quality ones like this one. This fantastic, powerhouse two hour performance was recorded straight from mixing desk at the Bottom Line club into a PCM, an early digital recorder, then transferred to WAV and then FLAC. It sounds great, and is now my favourite live Gil Scott-Heron album. It just needed a cover, so I made one. (Today's downloads have the FLACS, and also a 320kb MP3 version I've made from the FLACS)
'Home Is Where The Hatred Is' excerpt
This performance comes a year after the mostly-live album "It's Your World" and the week before the release of "Bridges". It's comprised mostly of tracks from the latter, with some favourites and one-offs added. These are not just renditions of album tracks - the Midnight Band is steaming, with long percussion sections and improvisation. So even if you've got all of these tracks, and all of his live albums, you really, really need this.
Gil starts with a ten minute monologue that turns into the poem "New Deal". He starts seemingly casually talking about the state of the world, and builds into a scathing media commentary, an africanist world perspective and an account of a black hostage taker in Cleveland whose demands were "All white folks leave Earth!". The starker and darker his commentary becomes, the more humour he brings in ... It's extraordinary to hear his summation of "change" at the end of the monologue and to realise the resonance of his discourse on contemporary thought and politics.
"Hello Sunday Hello Road" excerpt
This band is HOT - up to three people on rhodes with Brian Jackson at the forefront - check the fifteen minutes of keyboard and brass workouts on "Home is Where the Hatred Is" - three or more people on percussion under the guidance of Barnett Williams, latin-tinged trumpet solos from Delbert Taylor, great sax work from Allan Barnes ...
The percussion workouts here are insanely good. The band follow the monologue with the five minute percussion / chanting of "Gumbai", and there are six minutes in the middle of "The Bottle" with just latin percussion and voice. Check out this excerpt :
'The Bottle' (percussion excerpt)
I first saw Gil perform in 1994, around the time his comeback "Spirits" was released. He was pretty lost at the time, and kept wandering off stage to do ... something ... it wasn't a great show. But then I saw him in January 1999, also at the Bottom Line, in a special reformation gig of the Midnight Band with Brian Jackson - and they were spectacular. I think there's something about the intimacy of that club that brings out the best in people.
I could go on all day and all night about how good this 1977 concert is - but i'll hold back and say : just download it and enjoy it.
SIDEBAR : ALLAN BARNES (woodwinds & synth)
Some of these players had cut a limited edition jazz-funk album the year before called "Freedom Serenade" under the name Malone & Barnes and Spontaneous Simplicity. It's got a Blackbyrds/Mizells feel. Together with keyboardist/vocalist Johnny Malone, saxophonist Allan Barnes (who was also in the Blackbyrds) co-led the series of graduates from Donald Byrd's influential jazz program at Howard University. The album also featured other players from this live session : trumpeter Delbert Taylor, bassist Siggie Dillard and some guest work from Brian Jackson. Malone and Barnes also wrote the funky track "Disco Dancin" on the 1979 Taste Of Honey album "Boogie Oogie Oogie". TRACKLIST
01. New Deal - 10:19
02. Gumbai - 5:05
03. Intro to Race Track In France - 1:22
04. Race Track In France - 8:06
05. Band Intros ~ Lead in to 95 South - 2:45
06. 95 South - 4:49
07. Intro to Hello Sunday, Hello Road - 1:02
08. Hello Sunday, Hello Road - 3:45
09. Intro to It's Your World - 0:38
10. It's Your World - 6:59
11. Home Is Where The Hatred Is - 15:29
12. Almost Lost Detroit - 5:59
13. Intro to Vildgolia - 1:36
14. Vildgolia (Deaf, Dumb & Blind) - 12:24
15. Winter In America - 6:54
16. Under The Hammer - 5:12
17. The Bottle - 15:07
18. Intro to Johannesburg - 0:53
19. Johannesburg - 5:37
MUSICIANS
Gil Scott-Heron - electric piano, vocals
Brian Jackson - piano, electric piano, clavinet, synths, flute, vocals
Allan Barnes - flute, tenor sax, synthesizer
Reggie Brisbane - percussion, drums
Siggie Dillard - bass
Tony Duncanson - timbales, percussion, djembe
Delbert Taylor - trumpet, electric piano (on "95 South" & "Home Is Where the Hatred Is")
Barnett Williams - djembe, congas
PRODUCTION
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
Live at the Bottom Line
New York, NY
August 20th, 1977
Recorded SBD - PCM - FLAC.
POST CREDITS
Covers and conversions by Simon666
Files reposted from Dexondaz with permission.
"It's Your World" link at Radio Transistor
"Bridges" link at Milkcratebreaks.
"Freedom Serenade" link at Martian Shaker
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" link at Groove Eternal
GIL SCOTT-HERON DISCOGRAPHY
See Blaxploitation Jive for full discography with links
MORE AT THIS BLOG
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Village Gate" (1976)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at Berkeley" (1977)
MORE GIL STUFF
- 2007 interview with Gil Scott-Heron
- 2007 interview with Brian Jackson
- Good documentary at Djalma's Soul Food
FLAC / MP3 IN COMMENTS
54 comments:
These are BIG files guys, it’s a 2 hour show ….
** COVERS (not included in audio downloads)
Mediafire – 4mb
(Front / back covers - better than post versions - also pre-formatted pdf CD cover)
** AUDIO - MP3 @ 320 (270 mb total)
Rapidshare 1 and Rapidshare 2
or
Mediafire 1 and Mediafire 2 and Mediafire 3.
** AUDIO - FLACS (651 mb total)
Rapidshare ONE TWO THREE FOUR
Comments please ...
Comments are not enough, you sir are a champion among us who deserves to be lionized for your contributions. Meaningfull work on one of, if not the best blogs in the biz
Oh yeah the MPS Rhodes comp sic in the mix
a little chill with some thrill from Gill.
Damn! I am ready for this week!
Deepest Thanks
Great music, great work! many, many thanx!
Thanks dude - always good to hear one of the most distinctive voices in recorded sound, period
Soon as I saw this at the top of the page I thought "Cor what if it's got Racetrack in France on it" - and it has! Seriously can't wait to hear this, had a vinyl copy of "It's Your World" for nearly 20 years now but it never occured to me that there might be some serious Gil bootlegs out there too.
Thanks for a superb blog, you and The Bodega are killin' it right now!
Thanks for making this one available Simon--I won't be able to listen to it fast enough!
By coincidence, I've been listening to "It's Your World" on the drive home from work the last couple of nights. That version of "Home..." is the best I've heard so far--killer four-minute electric piano section! But I have a feeling this set will stack up favorably.
Thanks always for the monster work you do.
nice one simon! gotta love the heron. thanks for the heads up on the bodega blog too... right up my alley. i wonder if ish knows about it?
Thanks for the comments guys ...
Johnv, this one does stack up, quite different versions of "Home ... " and "The Bottle", and all the other tracks are different ones, hope u enjoy.
Sawanotsuru, I sent Ish over to Bodega yesterday on another tip so I think he'll be hitting "Freedom Serenade" too .. :)
thanks for this, Simon. And for the usual leads to other great albums.
I really love Gil Scott-Heron, but he makes me a little sad. Not for wrecking his life on non-recreational drugs, but for being so right in so much of his analysis and emotion and for being so wrong his in estimation of how bad things could get. I give him a pass on the drug use... a man who sees that much is entitled to freak out and no longer want to see it anymore.
Here's an example of what I mean: One of his long raps... I think it's "The Bicentennial Blues" goes on to dissect American society. Now to date myself, the seventies when Gil was "preaching" was when my political consciousness was formed. Me and my radical friends snapped up songs like "Winter in America." Anyway, in "Bicentennial Blues" he starts to justifiably make fun of varous American politicians. Jimmy Carter, he calls "skippy" after the peanut butter. The crowd laughs. Ronald Reagan, he says, acted like General Franco (I think I have that right) when he was governor of California "and now he acts like somebody's gonna vote for him for president?" The crowd roars in disbelief and hilarity.
At the risk of injecting too much politics into Musicblog land, well, Reagan did get elected president and those were dark days in America despite what the nostalgic establishment says. If only we had known that coming out the other side of that crucible laughable Jimmy Carter by comparison would turn out to be one of the last American leaders with moral authority before institutionalized corruption, indifference, greed, and military adventurism would become so characteristic of American society, defeating all that 1970s optimism that the people were gonna make it better, that unity and righteousness were soon to bring liberation.
Gil Scott-Heron was a prophet in his day. If only we had listened! Oh yeah, he also made GREAT music. Thanks again Simon.
Thanks for your comments Ish.
As mentioned in the post, it really struck me how (sadly) his optimistic finish to the long conversation of "New Deal" referred to the necessary work ahead, and to see it still undone 31 years later ... though at the same time it's intriguing to see some of that discourse of change and public/personal responsibility echoed in Obama's platform. I would hope that an Obama victory could have, as one of its immediate base effects, the capacity to give people some sort of sense of renewed optimism - perhaps even Gil himself.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!
WOW! Fantastic. Thanks for the players to sample the sound. This looks to be one of the best posts of the year. Can't wait to hear it start to finish. Cheers.
thanks !
well, every time I come by here I expect quality, but this is super extra bonus cool!
i'm speechless.....after reading through all those comments it's a good feeling to see that it's people out there that have a pulse for social commentary and music that enlightened that interest....such a shame we don't have any heros willing to use the medium of music like this today.....thank you simon....i can't wait to get into this one....Peace
Messiah
Simon, I am so glad that I have discovered your blog.
It's erudite, looks great, features the fabulous Fender Rhodes, and is still funky as all shit.
You’re the best, thanks for sharing!
Guy Magic
Oh~ Simon
Oh~ Simon
Thank you for such a brilliant!!
eG
This is fantastic! it's difficult to get classic GSH, let alone live material.
big thanks
Simon--just finished listening to this one and I am really blown away. Truly I can't thank you enough for making this one available.
Love this version of "Bottle," the added horn section is almost (dare I say) disco-ish to my ears but it really grooves. The rest of the set just doesn't let up from beginning to end.
Ish--you are dead on in your assesment of Gil's vision. He was so right on target. And he actually had something to say, a quality that is lacking throughout society these days--whether in music, politics etc.
Another thing I find interesting is how educated the audiences at Gil's shows seemed to be--they really seem to be up on their current events and had a feeling for what was going on in the world. And this was before the internet age too; it's a shame we as consumers don't know more and ask more questions.
Well, I'll put the soapbox away. Thanks for the great post Simon and thanks to all who shared their thoughts on a true giant of music.
just thought i would come back to say thankyou so much for this extra special recording. i wish there were more live LPs with this much talking in between the songs (any reccs, anyone?). really enjoying all the comments here too. i guess the kinds of music being shared on blogs like this attracts certain types of people, eh? its really cool to (virtually) be in such awesome company. rock on!
thanks
Simon, thanks for this superb album.
It is really difficult for us, living outside the US, to understand why McCain is so popular. If it was up to the rest of the world, I think Obama would win with a landslide victory (Obama's approval in a recent poll here in the Netherlands was around 80 percent, but who cares).
Let's pray that Obama wins and that he will bring some real social change and be able to restore international relationships. Otherwise, we would desperately need a new Gil Scott Heron
SImon, Can't thank you enough for this live date. I saw Gil in the 1970s no less than five times (he played Detroit a lot since his family is from there and he was liviung between CHicago and NY at the time. These cats tore it up live. Just TORE it up. Brian Jackson and his musical units --there are about three currently--still do. I am SOOOOOO lookinf forward to this..
I think I forgot to leave a comment bout this burner....
but wow what a burner it is!
I know this may sound "ignorant" but were a lot of people hip to Gil Scott and Brian back in the day during the "peak" of their powers? Not that they have fallen off or anything but a lot of what Gil says is sooo on point it just blows me away that he is not studied and poured over in academia like they do Mozart, Joyce, or Hemingway. I just think his words are on another level and always will be.
Really thanks a lot Simon I often get goosebumps and tear up after hearing a lot of the records you share and this one is certainly no different.
cheers.
thank you.
Hello,
We are trying to set up a jazz "flac only" blog : "Sing My Body Electric" / http://smbe.blogspot.com/
We have put you in our blogroll. Maybe, you could include us in your blogroll. That would be great.
You could also check our website : "radio.jazz.club" / http://www.radiojazzclub.com/
Many thanks in advance.
Pauline
Yeah Simon, I just saw your comment, that's cool...
Amazing post bro! As always...
Peace...
Djalma
yes yes yes
thanks simon!
absolutely great!
Cool! Looks like they really stretch out on here, can't wait to listen!
I just found your blog; looks like I'm right on time. Many thanks.
Thinking back to the days when sessions like this were just mythical to us in the UK, it hard to believe anyone can now not only find it, but listen to & download it. My generation (born late 60's early 70's) filled in the spiritual, political & musical gaps left I by our parents with the help from artists like Gil. In the mid/late 80's he played a free concert in Clapham Common, London, in celebration of Mandela. As he shouted "what's the word?" it wasn't 30 & 40-somethings shouting back "Johannesburg", it was 1000s in their teens and 20's who were picking their own way through Stevie, JB, Sly, Parli/Funk, Miles, Coltrane, etc, etc. In some there was renewed passion for political & cultural revolution. Imagine then a discussion about global neighbourhoods where we can share any music for free!; What else would we have demanded? Free literature & poetry? Free art (Can anyone link me to a decent file of this [http://christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?pos=2&intObjectID=5111077&sid=])?
Now we have much of this - what are we gonna do??? And while I'm on it, please support http://laptop.org/vision/index.shtml
On the Bottom Line tapes, I remember trodding the streets of Soho, Camden, and elsewhere searching for tunes like Revolution, Bottle, B-Mobie, Racetrack, Deaf-Dumb-Blind. Boy! I still remember the moments I actually found some of those. I have exactly the same feeling finding something via the blog. I don't really care about the covers, dates & times, for me its the tunz, the tunz, the tunz and the guys and gals who created them.
I discovered this blog business over at Orgy - I couldn't believe what that cheeky monkey was serving up. This guy Simon is looking to the next level - Rhodes is a serious place to hang out this year. Anyone got any plans for Christmas?
Peace (to you too brother Gil).
Simon, superb as always. Great insights in your essay and the comments. Home Is and The Bottle versions are k-i-l-l-e-r.
I think there's a lot of reasons they don't study Gil's writing in academia since he doesn't fit neatly into an easily labeled package.
Greetings and many thanks for this.
I certainly hadn't come across it before, so many many thanks.
As always, a brilliant post: we really do appreciate!
TN
Can't wait to listen to this. Thanks.
Thanks so much for this, truly fantastic!!!
great album! nice to hear extended versions of the song
thanks
Thanks Simon
I am in musical heaven now I've found your blog.
I've seen Gil about 3 times live over the years including a memorable gig at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury Kent...the band really cooked that night I can tell you!
Looking forward to hearing this
Thank you so much-will be back for sure...
Fabulous to hear live versions of the Bridges tunes. Thank you!
this is a great find, i've really been enjoying this this last couple of weeks.
thanks for posting this - that's much appreciated.
hi can someone tell me how to download this album, sorry for being dum! cheers
aldousjohn@hotmail.com
Hi Liberation,
Download links are in the first comment.
cheers for that matey, i saw the band loads in the 80's but he never did "race track in france" live so this a treat.
bit of a long shot here but you might be the man. i used to a pharo saunders album (cassette) left it in my car when i sold it! guess is was made in the late 70's early 80's. one track had female vocal and one lyric went "think about the one who made us" any ideas what the album..it's driving me nuts not knowing, fingers crossed and thanks again. john
ohhhh that's a bit hard for me, maybe the knowledgeable readers here can hlep :)
Liberation, that's on Pharoah's Journey to the One, on Theresa (and later Evidence) from 1980.
Pretty sure I've seen that both in shops and on the web for free, but you'll have to check amazon or google for yourself.
thanks ish :)
cheers ish that's made my day, been humming it for ten years!
simon666 the gill live gig is going down a treat : )
Excellent presentation, Simon! And a wonderful find. It'll be the first Gil performance I've heard since his 2003(?) prison release. :-)
So glad he's managed to keep his chin-up and still performs. Hopefully a new following will develop and result in better understanding of 1960-70s culture & class tensions which spawned so much artful expression.
Cheers! from USA-Maine.
Ooops. Got release date mixed with recording date.[/headinhand]
A much needed recording nonetheless.
Thanks,massive!
You're welcome Andy, thanks for all the comments :)
Thanks
Hi guys,
I've posted FLACs/MP3s of another Gil Scott-Heron live bootleg from six months after this one : "Live at Berkeley (1978) , come check it out :)
Guess what ....
Just posted ANOTHER Gil Scott-Heron live show, this it's "Live at the Village Gate" in NYC in 1976. Come get it here
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