Customer Reviews

Moving Target

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It must be said that Gil Scott Heron was ahead of his time. Many of today's hip-hop artists are riding on his coat tails with their music. His songwritting ability takes a real look at the condition of the world. Gil aways sung about the true!!!!

I've seen Gil Scott-Heron in concert and he is one of the only artists I've seen that sounds as good as his album. He performed many of the cuts off of this fantastic album The songs have his trademark biting lyrics combined with his resonating voice and jazzy style. Listening to this CD will be as good as attending his show.

Gil Scott-Heron's last proper album for more than a decade, Moving Target was recorded after a period of intense touring (hence the title) and, perhaps understandably, finds the Midnight Band playing a larger role than usual. It also may reflect the group's travels, as the typical, tastefully jazzy R&B and funk grooves -- like set-opener "Fast Lane" and "Explanations" -- are supplemented with more exotic sounds. Like Stevie Wonder, for whom he and the Midnight Band opened a tour in 1980, Scott-Heron and his bandmates were experimenting with reggae. "No Exit" has clear echoes of Bob Marley, while "Ready or Not" is a sultry island jam. Both tunes also had themes more personal than political, a shift noticeable elsewhere on the album (even "Washington D.C.," with its seemingly obvious subject, is as much about the resilient spirit of D.C.'s citizens as it's about the city's politicians). That's somewhat surprising, given that Scott-Heron had recently enjoyed success with "B-Movie," a pointed attack on then-president Ronald Reagan. But "Blue Collar" is a populist manifesto that gives shout-outs to working folks in a variety of professions across the fruited plain before concluding with the dispirited chorus, "There ain't no place we ain't been down," and "Black History/The World" offers nearly ten minutes of Afro-centric theorizing, beginning with a spoken introduction that hearkens back to Scott-Heron's sarcastic, poetic beginnings and ends with a simple -- some would say simplistic -- plea for peace and world change.

Funny how near this Independence Day I've been on this huge Gil Scott Heron trip. Following the Reflections Gil took the Midnight Band back out on the road for an extended tour that would go on for a long time. Because the music world along with the rest of the country was about to come out of a recession during this time "GSH" certainly had a hotbed of inspiration for his material. Being that this was recording during (and likely for to a degree) tour the emphasis again was on a full band recording. It was certainly somewhat more produced than his previous two releases. On the other hand it also lacked the heavy techno and/or sophisticated flavor most funk/jazz/R&B records had at the time. In the end it was basically a heavier produced version of the previous release. Only it wasn't very successful and began a period of non recording for Gil and may have contributed to the Arista label dropping him once the tour was complete. Either way,creatively it's a very strong album.

A more furious and funk driven album than the previous in many ways it starts out in the vein with "Fast Lane" and keeps going from there. Weather dealing with economy in "Blue Collar",the capital and Gil's adopted city in "Washington DC" or just inner confusion itself with "Explainations" you can also see how there's a certain dizzying paranoia developing that even Gil finds tough to endure. Probably relates to the album title in many ways. "No Exit" and "Ready Or Not" are yet two more reggae numbers. By this point it does seem somewhat trendy but still he keeps the self-ethnicity involved by keeping the message in the music in both cases. "Black History/The World" is a fantastic closer and a great hard grooving prequel to "B-Movie" to a degree. Here we find "black history" itself as told by someone right from the source,stating how the exploitation of the black/African culture extends back to the years just before the slave trade. Not only that but it correctly points out how much racism is fueled by fear of foreign cultural standards and pleas to it's listener for "world peace" between those who are different over...world exploitation.

Not only was this the final Gil Scott Heron album of the 80's decade but this was also the end of an era as well. Following this album any music in the R&B/funk/jazz vein began to grow swiftly away from social commentary and a broad world view. The music became decidedly de-politized,expressing these viewpoints now largely only through sloganeering or witty irony. The type of direct dialog with the listener and the people people such as Gil Scott represented was simply not as wanted anymore. And even on the love song front you would never see this guy stoop to de-intellectualizing that aspect of his music either. So keeping his black power era "millitant" persona up,both physically and musically to the very end here we see how the title of the album again has a double meaning. He knows the days for his type of artist is very numbered and intends to draw every last drop he can out of that creative fountain. And even though there are probably even a few Gil Scott Heron fans who aren't particularly aware of this album it's certainly one of the most thoroughly funky,both in music and spirit than just about any of the minor combacks he'd make following this.

Gil Scott Heron's "Moving Target" is an album that I've always felt was the weaker stepchild of "Reflections". Featuring roughly the same band and a similar sound, the album is a slice electric jazz/funk/Motown sounds, but it just doesn't seem to hold together.

Admittedly, it starts off reasonably enough-- "Fast Lane" is a decent funk piece with some nice slap bass from Robert Gordon (the star of this record) and a fierce solos from guitarist Ed Brady and alto saxophonist Vernon James. This is followed by the great "Washington D.C.", a slow groove and a nice lambast at the sides of life in the nation's capital, but after that, it starts to fizzle.

The album slides between a few dull pieces ("No Exit", "Ready or Not") that don't feel to really go anywhere, and while "Blue Collar" is a work of lyrical genius, it doesn't have much going on musically. The closing track, "Black History / The World" blends a spoken word piece with a funky piece and works out to be a nice enough performance, but you get the impression both would have been served better by being split.

What it comes down to-- there's better places to look for Scott-Heron's music. If you're a fan, this is worth getting-- it's got enough good stuff on it, but newcomers should probably start with "From South Africa to South Carolina" or "Pieces of a Man".

Well, wouldn't you know it! Even people with ruthless passion have the ability to become nothing more than a by the numbers sloth. Issuing albums and making music is probably more because that's what's expected from him (Gil) rather than anything else. What can I say... Gil Scott Heron lost his spunk! Sorry Gil. Move over and let a young poet with a stronger hold on current events take your sorry place.