GIL SCOTT-HERON — Gil Scott-Heron And Brian Jackson : From South Africa To South Carolina (review)

GIL SCOTT-HERON — Gil Scott-Heron And Brian Jackson : From South Africa To South Carolina album cover Album · 1975 · RnB Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
Another GSH & BJ collaboration featuring a poignant and impressive artwork, but unfortunately the music inside has a bit of a hard time living to its epic album sleeve and title. Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are still often in the region of the CRM, but they don’t have the poignancy of GSH’s early days. Indeed, while some lyrics and texts still are still quite denunciatory, the music is definitely and resolutely in the middle of the road and insipidly mid-tempo.

On the opening South Africa side, only Summer of 48 seems to really deliver some kind of worthy energy, but there isn’t much else to write home about. The South Carolina flipside opens on its strong title track (about a toxic waste dump) then follows on a plaintive blues with an interesting sax-filled intro, before breaking into an interesting piece, that is probably the album’s highlight. After an also-interesting jazzy flute-filled Fell Together, but the insipid Lovely Day closes the album on a dwn note.

Definitely not GSH’s stronger album, but it is not exactly one of his weaker ones either… Just something that can be called a “run-of-the-mill” album, whose best assets come too late in the album to save it from averagedom.
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