Gil Scott-Heron: Free Will 180g AAA Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

BGP's edition is an all-analogue (AAA) remaster pressed on 180g vinyl. Scott-Heron splits the LP in two, a full band with Brian Jackson on side one and a spoken-word session on side two.

This edition

All-analogue (AAA) remaster
180g vinyl
Pressed in the EU
Stereo mix

About the album

Gil Scott-Heron followed his acclaimed debut Pieces of a Man by heading back to RCA Studios in New York in March 1972 with producer Bob Thiele, who'd brought him to Flying Dutchman. It was his second album with keyboardist Brian Jackson and his last studio record for the label.

Side one has a terrific band behind him, with Bernard Purdie on drums, Gerald Jemmott on bass, David Spinozza on guitar, Hubert Laws on flute and Horace Ott arranging. The title track opens with a meditation on personal responsibility, and "The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues" is one of his best-known performances, with Jackson's piano and Spinozza's guitar leaning into the blues. On side two Jackson switches to flute alongside percussionists Eddie Knowles and Charles Saunders, "Wiggy" is a haiku-like tribute to natural hair, and "No Knock" takes aim at a real police policy.

It's a record that shows both sides of Scott-Heron, the songwriter and the poet, with equal force. The whole thing took two days to record, which is less time than it has taken us to decide which section to file it in.

Also at Kops: more Gil Scott-Heron on vinyl · browse 70s Soul On Up

Tracklist

Side A
1. Free Will
2. The Middle Of Your Day
3. The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues
4. Speed Kills
5. Did You Hear What They Said?

Side B
1. The King Alfred Plan
2. No Knock
3. Wiggy
4. Ain't No New Thing
5. Billy Green Is Dead
6. Sex Education: Ghetto Style
7. ... And Then He Wrote Meditations