3 Gil ScottHeron And Brian Jackson

From South Africa To South Carolina ARISTA, 1975

You say: “Gil is unique. He makes you think and dance.” Steve King, via e-mail

At his most prolific in the early to mid-’70s, Scott-Heron was averaging an album a year and 1975 saw two, with The First

Minute Of A New Day (see Number 9) and this, which expands the political remit, with S-H (and Jackson and the Midnight Band) expressing the civil rights struggle within an international frame. The glorious disco-funk of Johannesburg is the apotheosis, a song about oppression delivered in a musical medium that promoted liberation and empowerment. At the other end of the musical spectrum, the nine-minute-plus Essex, penned by Midnight Band’s Bilal Sunni-Ali, seeks cultural change through spiritual jazz transcendence.