FREE SHIPPING ANYWHERE IN AUSTRALIA

Released in 1971, Gil Scott-Heron's second album "Pieces
Of A Man" is a stone-cold classic and rightly seen as one
of the greatest albums of all time.
" There is a reason why a full album of songs did not appear
as a follow-up. Both producer Bob Thiele and ScottHeron's writing partner Brian Jackson had been keen to
move forward quickly with song-based material, but ScottHeron saw himself first and foremost as a writer. A new
novel, The Nigger Factory, would be published in 1972 and
he also enrolled for writing seminars at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
" Once the decision was made to combine poetry and song,
sessions were booked for the 2nd and 3rd March 1972. The
first session with Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie (drums), Hubert
Laws (flute/piccolo), David Spinozza (guitar), Jerry
Jemmott (bass) and Brian Jackson (electric and acoustic
piano) recorded the songs with Horace Ott taking care of
the arrangements. The second session was dedicated to
poetry, recorded with Scott-Heron, Jackson, Eddie
Knowles and Charlie Sanders from their college group
Black & Blues. "Free Will" was released in 1972.
" The song side included the heart-rending Vietnam war
commentary of 'Do You Hear What They Said?', the
propulsive title track and the beautiful 'The Middle Of Your
Day'. The poetry side immerses you in the radical politics
of the day via 'No Knock' and 'The King Alfred Plan', and
ends with his heartfelt tribute to John Coltrane '...and then
he wrote Meditations'. Like "Pieces Of A Man" it is a
classic and a cornerstone of any record collection.
" When BGP inherited the honour of looking after the Flying
Dutchman legacy we discovered that, as well as being
almost unparalleled in his discovery of great talent, Bob
Thiele also recorded it immaculately. The label's master
tapes sounded exceptional and when it has come to our
reissue series have only ever required the most minimal of
EQ before transferring them onto disc.