A really beautiful piece. Speaking as it does of the glory of the man, the ravages of the years and the magnificence of finaly having this CD in our hands.
For ten years I have logged on to Gilscott heron.com almost every day and the news just kept getting less frequent and worse.
A year or so ago, we began to dare to hope.
It will be just go good to see Gil again. He woke me up in 1985 and I havn’t seen him since 1990!
Comment left by james · Wednesday February 17, 2010 · #
All hail the blues[jazz and ll sounds of blackness] GREATEST MC of all time.
Y’all hail the vagabond, the voice, the physical and spiritual embodiment of the “blue” note.
G-H-S is back, whachagonna do?
-bongani madondo from Johannesburg
Comment left by Bongani Madondo · Thursday February 25, 2010 · #
You’ve dropped a heavy record, sir; Good to have you back.
Comment left by crompton · Tuesday March 2, 2010 · #
This Album is a “classic” GILLSCOTT has done it agin ! He still remains relevent and a teacher to the masses. GILLSCOTT symbolizes what some of these fake ass so called poets/rapper could only WISH !!! to be in their matureity…
GODSUPREME NUHITZ.COM/RADIO
Comment left by GOD SUPREME · Friday March 5, 2010 · #
Gods Blessings be upon Gill Scott.
Comment left by madtreasures · Sunday March 7, 2010 · #
A true artistic statement, coming from inside a human soul. Keep inspiring all who can listen.
Comment left by D Freeling · Sunday March 7, 2010 · #
031410
Congratulations Gil. To the world’s Most Talented Living Artist. Thanks for giving yourself entirely to the World.
Your life, your talent,your words,your music,your artistry, your honesty, and your Love of Humanity will continue to inspire artists and loving, caring,thoughtful, giving, people every where, in every way, forever.
Keep up the Great Work!!!
Love,
Regina, Doc, and Hannah “H” Jones, and everyone at Healthy Music especially Steve,Jazz,Robbie, Joss, Mac, Charli, Andy, Marty, Gerry, Mitch,Space, Mel, Astro, Jeannie, Beth, Mimi, and the Dennises.
After reading a recent copy of the N.Y.Amsterdam News, I learned of Gil’s recent album release. I immediately tapped into this website, and would like to leave the following expression, hoping he’ll read it.
Gil, you’ve inspired so many, and so many have missed your voice being heard.. it’s truly been a very, long..‘Winter in America’!
So glad you’re recording again. I’ll run out and pick up your CD tomorrow, but please, if you can.. let it not be the last.
We love you brother, and we need you.
Many blessings,
Rev. Ted Miller
Comment left by Ted Miller · Tuesday March 16, 2010 · #
Comment left by Ricardo Messina · Monday March 22, 2010 · #
So good to have you back! We need you now more than ever: the fourth estate has failed us and now we look to those who have been our voices in the past.
Stay good,
Frank
Comment left by Frank Cuzzone · Tuesday March 23, 2010 · #
this fella will change your life. just the greatest
Comment left by trigger · Thursday March 25, 2010 · #
Gill scott heron knew his gift. And he shared it with us. sing in heaven, gill scott heron
Dear Gil,
We want to adopt you. We live a bus ride from NYC.
Peace and Love, Angela
Comment left by Angela Gallinagh · Tuesday March 30, 2010 · #
one of my favorite artist, superb LP as always – J’aime..
“Me and the Devil” along “with i’ll take care of you” in heavy rotation… amongst other tracks.
Clearly this man has musical gods sending us all magically raw melodies via his vocals and finger tips…
The news buzz is that you will be playing a concert in Israel in May. Given your history in the anti-aprtheid movement, that deeply saddens me. I am Jewish with Israeli citizenship and I ask you please don’t play apartheid. In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call for boycott modeled after the ANC. Please heed that call with solidarity and refuse to play in Israel. Israel is committing apartheid and deepening its colonial oppression every day, and we need the force of people of the world coming together to say stop and standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine. If the news is wrong, please issue a statement that clarifies that so that we can all relax. Your appearance in Israel would a day of shame and sadness.
Comment left by Evildoer · Sunday April 18, 2010 · #
the gift to america when it was cold.YOU father gil scott.peace go with you .shalom.
Comment left by asberryButler · Monday April 19, 2010 · #
As you very well say it “No Matter How Far You Go, You Can Always Turn Around”: yes, no matter how advanced are your plans to perform in Israel, you can always remember what you have really stood for all through your life, and not go there, which can only be understood as an endorsement to the unjust and apartheid state it actually is. I love you and your songs.
Comment left by Ana Montesinos · Monday April 19, 2010 · #
GSH please cancel your concert in the apartheid zionist state of Israel
By agreeing to perform in Israel, you are giving sustenance to the continuing oppression and injustice. 1.5 million imprisoned in Gaza – Thousands of political prisoners in Israeli jails – Extra-judicial killing – An apartheid system in the West Bank – Millions of Palestinian refugees around the globe deprived of the right to return to their homeland to list just a few of Israel’s crimes
Please support the Palestinians people call for cultural boycott by cancelling you concert in Tel Aviv.
April 24th London
What can I say. My experience involved a journey..connecting to my dear son on his birthday with a special moment on skype..very 2010…reconnecting to Rita in her lovely flat and exotic oasis garden in Vauxhall..walking by the Thames..and then disconnection. A few hours of gazing at the river..waiting for the gig…wondering who I’d see..adapting to solitude again… Found my seat. Sitting inbetween couples. Spotted friend and more friends..back to seat. THEN we all stood and roared as Gil Scott Heron walked, strolled, sauntered stage left to the mike and began a mini standup routine. Waves of affection rolled across the auditorium towards this gentle giant of rap who has withstood… death threats.. FBI… CIA ..investigations..bannings..prison… Yet still spoken his truth..spoken his poetry and now his voice booms like a Bittern the depth the timbre shaking the walls of the hall… THEN suddenly I am in a paralllell universe where Gil Scott Heron is someone to be shouted at? Pilloried? Leaflets flying through the air. 98% of the audience roar back
in dazed outrage..WHAT? who are these people.. Suddenly memories of SWP flood into my mind..all the demos where people were herded into confrontations in innocence being set up by some other plan for the apparant ‘good’. Suddenly my aloneness in the row I am in becomes accentuated as some of the hecklers are two rows back. I watch frozen as two women leave as the hecklers continue to pillory them as they had challenged their outburst,..the pillory being ‘’‘xxx xxxxxx you middle class do gooders ‘’ as they swayed with the beer in the hand and the threat in the voice..How very brave. Clearly believeing that they were the puppet master of Gil..they will tell him where he performs and in this instance shout him down as he performs. Must be great fans.
‘So you travel 3,000 miles to meet some arseholes.. wasn’t there somewhere else on this planet you could have been tonite?’ quips Gil….
The very fact he didnt just walk away after repeated interruptions was I guess just so.. he’s more than that.
For me what felt even worse was when Gil was on a role of rhetoric..some git shouts ‘Shut up and play some music’. Oh..ok..Mr Gil Scott Heron apparantly..according to some wise audience member, is here to ‘entertain him’
Thats an interesting concept. When has Gil Scott Heron ever been anywhere to provide anything for anyone that hasn’t actually been his decision..other than jailtime.. Is he now personal property of some stupid ignorant individual or pressure group who decide to intimidate other people who have come to see this extrodinary man who has made this particular journey in order to let us know what is on his mind.
His voice is stronger than ever. His presence so potently there..It built and built throughout the evening to a crescendo as the band gathered together and sang Peace. For me all I wanted was to be very close and There. It overran but still wasn’t long enough. If this was the first gig in the UK watch out because it can only expand and get stronger. I quipped for me it was his Aslan moment. he’d returned and is stronger than ever before.
I’m a DJ in tel aviv, just got back from a gig and very much intoxicated.
all i want to say is, man this is a free country. everyone is welcome here. its a democracy and all the people are represented in the parliment incl. arabs jews christians you name it.
those who dont want you to play here have a fault of their own: they dont welcome me. yes im not welcome to play in beirut. or damascus. and if i show up in teheran i will be blown to pieces. but if they show up here no harm will be done to them. see where im getting at?
dont listen to the “righteous” folks who are only righteous as far as to people who think like them! yeah those who see democracy as an enemy because it allows views they dont like. come and speak out here. here where any man can come and speak out freely. speak out and make a change. we deserve a change because we allow it
sorry for this im so drunk…
please come
Comment left by Noam · Thursday April 29, 2010 · #
Mr. Scott Heron
First, I enjoy your music not so much your writing, but I only like dead Russian authors these days. I am neither a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, so I have no religious-ethnic connection to the State of Israel or Palestine. I am an Aboriginal-Canadian. I am saddened and angry that you chose to be a part of the cultural and political boycott against Israel. As an academic researcher in Middle Eastern policy and Levant History & Geography, I find this decision extremely nearsighted and reflective of a lack of understanding regarding the precarious situation that is the daily reality of that region. The systematic vilification of Israel and Israelis as the world’s number one human rights violator is a smoke screen and a scape goat for poor policy and bad governance of neighboring countries in the region, as well as a mask over a very real human rights violation occurring in the Sudan. Having traveled extensively in the region I can surely attest that Israeli fans would have been very appreciative and deserving of your concert. But from what I can garner you, rather, have decided to be swayed by “popular opinion” rather than reason and logic. I will no longer support you as an artist as I don’t support people who hold Israel to double standards and also allow themselves to be manipulated. Then again, I am influenced by authors who create characters that tend to what they felt like despite convention. I choose to stand by Israel for the reasons of logic, actual justice and a truthful commitment to peace, no matter how “illogical” this appears in the face of popular opinion, even if it is my undoing. Furthermore, as an indigenous North-American, I would also say it is slightly hypocritical considering the near “apartheid” like system that fellow First Peoples face in the United States and Canada, despite the glowing calls for diversity, our living conditions are at third world levels in many reservations. Yet, I don’t see a you canceling shows in your respective country. I find it baffling that so many people are willing to cast stones at another country but not acknowledge their own misdeeds as “colonialists.” It’s shameful.
Comment left by Sean Mashiskawa Pilon · Wednesday May 5, 2010 · #
I couldn’t disagree with the previous comment of Mr. Pilon more. I congratulate you for cancelling your shows in Israel, but I would encourage you to be what you are known for – an outspoken troubadour of the truth – on this issue. Presumably, you cancelled the show for the for Israel’s despicable treatment of Palestinians. To go on the record, I also believe that Arab states have a similar record of mistreatment of Palestinians while using them as a political football. If this is the reason that you cancelled the shows, you need to stand up and say it. As a long time fan and a “Whitey” I was drawn to your music in college by hearing “Whitey on the Moon” during a documentary called American Pictures. That song and that movie opened my eyes to the deep racism that still is very much present in America. I did not learn of these things through my public school upbringing, my family or friends. I learned it through music and film. It hit me like a club and changed my life because of its raw honesty just like The Bottle, Billy Green is Dead, Winter in America, and Message to the Messengers.
Despite all the new forms of communication people are too scared to actually say anything. My hat is off to Mr. Pilon for actually voicing an opinion. Americans are sheep too easily distracted by TV (sound familiar), face book, videogames, and material possessions to actually give a shit about most things. They need to be “shocked” into opening their eyes.
Israel is going down a an unsustainable path that even many Americans Jews are starting to realize. The American Political system is afraid to honestly deal with this issue, and many Palestinian children and families live in poverty and under oppression.
We need more artists and poets to wake America and the World to the injustices that surrounds us. You have that opportunity to help bring the plight of the Palestinians to your fans and the broader world. If people like Mr. Pilon choose not to listen, so be it. I suspect that might be the worry of your new management, but what do you say?
Your voice is needed Gil. Say it!
Comment left by Ray Scott · Wednesday May 19, 2010 · #
A really beautiful piece. Speaking as it does of the glory of the man, the ravages of the years and the magnificence of finaly having this CD in our hands.
For ten years I have logged on to Gilscott heron.com almost every day and the news just kept getting less frequent and worse.
A year or so ago, we began to dare to hope.
It will be just go good to see Gil again. He woke me up in 1985 and I havn’t seen him since 1990!
Comment left by james · Wednesday February 17, 2010 · #
welcome back Gil.
you’ve been sorely missed.
Comment left by Karen E. Dabney · Monday February 22, 2010 · #
All hail the blues[jazz and ll sounds of blackness] GREATEST MC of all time.
Y’all hail the vagabond, the voice, the physical and spiritual embodiment of the “blue” note.
G-H-S is back, whachagonna do?
-bongani madondo from Johannesburg
Comment left by Bongani Madondo · Thursday February 25, 2010 · #
You’ve dropped a heavy record, sir; Good to have you back.
Comment left by crompton · Tuesday March 2, 2010 · #
This Album is a “classic” GILL SCOTT has done it agin ! He still remains relevent and a teacher to the masses. GILL SCOTT symbolizes what some of these fake ass so called poets/rapper could only WISH !!! to be in their matureity…
GOD SUPREME
NUHITZ.COM/RADIO
Comment left by GOD SUPREME · Friday March 5, 2010 · #
Gods Blessings be upon Gill Scott.
Comment left by madtreasures · Sunday March 7, 2010 · #
A true artistic statement, coming from inside a human soul. Keep inspiring all who can listen.
Comment left by D Freeling · Sunday March 7, 2010 · #
031410
Congratulations Gil. To the world’s Most Talented Living Artist. Thanks for giving yourself entirely to the World.
Your life, your talent,your words,your music,your artistry, your honesty, and your Love of Humanity will continue to inspire artists and loving, caring,thoughtful, giving, people every where, in every way, forever.
Keep up the Great Work!!!
Love,
Regina, Doc, and Hannah “H” Jones, and everyone at Healthy Music especially Steve,Jazz,Robbie, Joss, Mac, Charli, Andy, Marty, Gerry, Mitch,Space, Mel, Astro, Jeannie, Beth, Mimi, and the Dennises.
Comment left by Doc · Sunday March 14, 2010 · #
After reading a recent copy of the N.Y.Amsterdam News, I learned of Gil’s recent album release. I immediately tapped into this website, and would like to leave the following expression, hoping he’ll read it. Gil, you’ve inspired so many, and so many have missed your voice being heard.. it’s truly been a very, long..‘Winter in America’!
So glad you’re recording again. I’ll run out and pick up your CD tomorrow, but please, if you can.. let it not be the last.
We love you brother, and we need you. Many blessings, Rev. Ted Miller
Comment left by Ted Miller · Tuesday March 16, 2010 · #
welcome back we missed you
Comment left by yoni · Friday March 19, 2010 · #
* sounds like nothing but a burning light *
Comment left by Ricardo Messina · Monday March 22, 2010 · #
So good to have you back! We need you now more than ever: the fourth estate has failed us and now we look to those who have been our voices in the past.
Stay good,
Frank
Comment left by Frank Cuzzone · Tuesday March 23, 2010 · #
this fella will change your life. just the greatest
Comment left by trigger · Thursday March 25, 2010 · #
Gill scott heron knew his gift. And he shared it with us. sing in heaven, gill scott heron
Comment left by BRO · Tuesday March 30, 2010 · #
Dear Gil,
We want to adopt you. We live a bus ride from NYC.
Peace and Love, Angela
Comment left by Angela Gallinagh · Tuesday March 30, 2010 · #
one of my favorite artist, superb LP as always – J’aime..
“Me and the Devil” along “with i’ll take care of you” in heavy rotation… amongst other tracks.
Clearly this man has musical gods sending us all magically raw melodies via his vocals and finger tips…
Merci & keep bringing it Gil..
www.oscarworthy.net
http://oscartheromantic.blogspot.com/
Comment left by oscar worthy · Thursday April 1, 2010 · #
Just got home with the new CD, haven’t had a proper opportunity to listen to it yet, so building up with anticipation.
While there are the disenfranchised of this world, we need all the GSHs we can get.
Good to see you back home again Gil, doing what you do best.
Comment left by JB · Sunday April 18, 2010 · #
The news buzz is that you will be playing a concert in Israel in May. Given your history in the anti-aprtheid movement, that deeply saddens me. I am Jewish with Israeli citizenship and I ask you please don’t play apartheid. In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call for boycott modeled after the ANC. Please heed that call with solidarity and refuse to play in Israel. Israel is committing apartheid and deepening its colonial oppression every day, and we need the force of people of the world coming together to say stop and standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine. If the news is wrong, please issue a statement that clarifies that so that we can all relax. Your appearance in Israel would a day of shame and sadness.
Comment left by Evildoer · Sunday April 18, 2010 · #
the gift to america when it was cold.YOU father gil scott.peace go with you .shalom.
Comment left by asberryButler · Monday April 19, 2010 · #
As you very well say it “No Matter How Far You Go, You Can Always Turn Around”: yes, no matter how advanced are your plans to perform in Israel, you can always remember what you have really stood for all through your life, and not go there, which can only be understood as an endorsement to the unjust and apartheid state it actually is. I love you and your songs.
Comment left by Ana Montesinos · Monday April 19, 2010 · #
GSH please cancel your concert in the apartheid zionist state of Israel
Comment left by Any Means Necesssary · Monday April 19, 2010 · #
By agreeing to perform in Israel, you are giving sustenance to the continuing oppression and injustice. 1.5 million imprisoned in Gaza – Thousands of political prisoners in Israeli jails – Extra-judicial killing – An apartheid system in the West Bank – Millions of Palestinian refugees around the globe deprived of the right to return to their homeland to list just a few of Israel’s crimes
Please support the Palestinians people call for cultural boycott by cancelling you concert in Tel Aviv.
Comment left by CR · Tuesday April 20, 2010 · #
April 24th London
What can I say. My experience involved a journey..connecting to my dear son on his birthday with a special moment on skype..very 2010…reconnecting to Rita in her lovely flat and exotic oasis garden in Vauxhall..walking by the Thames..and then disconnection. A few hours of gazing at the river..waiting for the gig…wondering who I’d see..adapting to solitude again… Found my seat. Sitting inbetween couples. Spotted friend and more friends..back to seat. THEN we all stood and roared as Gil Scott Heron walked, strolled, sauntered stage left to the mike and began a mini standup routine. Waves of affection rolled across the auditorium towards this gentle giant of rap who has withstood… death threats.. FBI… CIA ..investigations..bannings..prison… Yet still spoken his truth..spoken his poetry and now his voice booms like a Bittern the depth the timbre shaking the walls of the hall…
THEN suddenly I am in a paralllell universe where Gil Scott Heron is someone to be shouted at? Pilloried? Leaflets flying through the air. 98% of the audience roar back
in dazed outrage..WHAT? who are these people.. Suddenly memories of SWP flood into my mind..all the demos where people were herded into confrontations in innocence being set up by some other plan for the apparant ‘good’. Suddenly my aloneness in the row I am in becomes accentuated as some of the hecklers are two rows back. I watch frozen as two women leave as the hecklers continue to pillory them as they had challenged their outburst,..the pillory being ‘’‘xxx xxxxxx you middle class do gooders ‘’ as they swayed with the beer in the hand and the threat in the voice..How very brave. Clearly believeing that they were the puppet master of Gil..they will tell him where he performs and in this instance shout him down as he performs. Must be great fans.
‘So you travel 3,000 miles to meet some arseholes.. wasn’t there somewhere else on this planet you could have been tonite?’ quips Gil….
The very fact he didnt just walk away after repeated interruptions was I guess just so.. he’s more than that.
For me what felt even worse was when Gil was on a role of rhetoric..some git shouts ‘Shut up and play some music’. Oh..ok..Mr Gil Scott Heron apparantly..according to some wise audience member, is here to ‘entertain him’
Thats an interesting concept. When has Gil Scott Heron ever been anywhere to provide anything for anyone that hasn’t actually been his decision..other than jailtime.. Is he now personal property of some stupid ignorant individual or pressure group who decide to intimidate other people who have come to see this extrodinary man who has made this particular journey in order to let us know what is on his mind.
His voice is stronger than ever. His presence so potently there..It built and built throughout the evening to a crescendo as the band gathered together and sang Peace. For me all I wanted was to be very close and There. It overran but still wasn’t long enough. If this was the first gig in the UK watch out because it can only expand and get stronger. I quipped for me it was his Aslan moment. he’d returned and is stronger than ever before.
Comment left by Kate · Sunday April 25, 2010 · #
I’m a DJ in tel aviv, just got back from a gig and very much intoxicated.
all i want to say is, man this is a free country. everyone is welcome here. its a democracy and all the people are represented in the parliment incl. arabs jews christians you name it.
those who dont want you to play here have a fault of their own: they dont welcome me. yes im not welcome to play in beirut. or damascus. and if i show up in teheran i will be blown to pieces. but if they show up here no harm will be done to them. see where im getting at?
dont listen to the “righteous” folks who are only righteous as far as to people who think like them! yeah those who see democracy as an enemy because it allows views they dont like. come and speak out here. here where any man can come and speak out freely. speak out and make a change. we deserve a change because we allow it
sorry for this im so drunk…
please come
Comment left by Noam · Thursday April 29, 2010 · #
Mr. Scott Heron
First, I enjoy your music not so much your writing, but I only like dead Russian authors these days. I am neither a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, so I have no religious-ethnic connection to the State of Israel or Palestine. I am an Aboriginal-Canadian. I am saddened and angry that you chose to be a part of the cultural and political boycott against Israel. As an academic researcher in Middle Eastern policy and Levant History & Geography, I find this decision extremely nearsighted and reflective of a lack of understanding regarding the precarious situation that is the daily reality of that region. The systematic vilification of Israel and Israelis as the world’s number one human rights violator is a smoke screen and a scape goat for poor policy and bad governance of neighboring countries in the region, as well as a mask over a very real human rights violation occurring in the Sudan. Having traveled extensively in the region I can surely attest that Israeli fans would have been very appreciative and deserving of your concert. But from what I can garner you, rather, have decided to be swayed by “popular opinion” rather than reason and logic. I will no longer support you as an artist as I don’t support people who hold Israel to double standards and also allow themselves to be manipulated. Then again, I am influenced by authors who create characters that tend to what they felt like despite convention. I choose to stand by Israel for the reasons of logic, actual justice and a truthful commitment to peace, no matter how “illogical” this appears in the face of popular opinion, even if it is my undoing. Furthermore, as an indigenous North-American, I would also say it is slightly hypocritical considering the near “apartheid” like system that fellow First Peoples face in the United States and Canada, despite the glowing calls for diversity, our living conditions are at third world levels in many reservations. Yet, I don’t see a you canceling shows in your respective country. I find it baffling that so many people are willing to cast stones at another country but not acknowledge their own misdeeds as “colonialists.” It’s shameful.
Comment left by Sean Mashiskawa Pilon · Wednesday May 5, 2010 · #
I couldn’t disagree with the previous comment of Mr. Pilon more. I congratulate you for cancelling your shows in Israel, but I would encourage you to be what you are known for – an outspoken troubadour of the truth – on this issue. Presumably, you cancelled the show for the for Israel’s despicable treatment of Palestinians. To go on the record, I also believe that Arab states have a similar record of mistreatment of Palestinians while using them as a political football. If this is the reason that you cancelled the shows, you need to stand up and say it. As a long time fan and a “Whitey” I was drawn to your music in college by hearing “Whitey on the Moon” during a documentary called American Pictures. That song and that movie opened my eyes to the deep racism that still is very much present in America. I did not learn of these things through my public school upbringing, my family or friends. I learned it through music and film. It hit me like a club and changed my life because of its raw honesty just like The Bottle, Billy Green is Dead, Winter in America, and Message to the Messengers.
Despite all the new forms of communication people are too scared to actually say anything. My hat is off to Mr. Pilon for actually voicing an opinion. Americans are sheep too easily distracted by TV (sound familiar), face book, videogames, and material possessions to actually give a shit about most things. They need to be “shocked” into opening their eyes.
Israel is going down a an unsustainable path that even many Americans Jews are starting to realize. The American Political system is afraid to honestly deal with this issue, and many Palestinian children and families live in poverty and under oppression.
We need more artists and poets to wake America and the World to the injustices that surrounds us. You have that opportunity to help bring the plight of the Palestinians to your fans and the broader world. If people like Mr. Pilon choose not to listen, so be it. I suspect that might be the worry of your new management, but what do you say?
Your voice is needed Gil. Say it!
Comment left by Ray Scott · Wednesday May 19, 2010 · #