Customer Reviews

Small Talk at 125th & Lenox

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There are only three essential records for the formation of rap: "The Last Poets"-The Last Poets, "Sex Machine"- James Brown, and this one. It is his best work, probably because it's so raw and informed, but still believable. Though released a generation ago, he still packs a punch talking about issues that have plagued America since the days of William Lloyd Garrison. His politics are gritty to anyone who isn't black, but that is the point. It takes brains to appreciate art and wit. It takes none to be offended by them.
Sonically, it's even more current. The sessions are basically off-the-cuff numbers with his piano, vocals, and some congero friends of his. As much as you might call him a provocateur, he forces you to look at the problems we would otherwise sweep under the rug.
Rap groups like Public Enemy are descended from this work, but they don't have the originality of this. Personally, I think rap has been dead since 1989 with De La Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising". You be the judge and review these. However, I shall always miss the days when rap really was something and not just the watery disco and cliche' samples that today's groups call rap/hip-hop.

In 1970, Gil Scott-Heron was a young man, expressing his frustration in the most honest means he knew-- his poetry. He performed it live, backed on this particular record mostly by two percussionists (with three tracks featuring his piano playing a couple of those with another vocalist). The words are of the period, and of the age he was, and they range from brilliant ("The Revolution Will Not Be Televised") to amusing ("Whitey on the Moon") to somewhat embarassing ("The Subject Was F*****s") social commentary. I suspect Scott-Heron would be somewhat embarassed by at least some of this material, but it is largely brilliant.

Musically it is straightforward, with simple hand percussion rhythms set up behind him, Scott-Heron let's forth his words in a suitably dramatic fashion. Honestly, I think his words speak best for him, so I'll quote a few pieces:

"Martin is dead. With Martin as our leader, we prayed and marched and marched and prayed. Things were changing, things were getting better, but things were not together.

"With Malcolm as our leader, we learned and thought and thought we had learned. Things were changing, things were getting better, but things were not together.

"And now it is your turn: we are tired of praying and marchign and thinking and learning. Brothers want to start cutting and shooting and stealing and burning. You are 300 years ahead in equality, but next summer may be too late".

The above quote is from "Evolution (and Flashback)". If it appeals to you, check this record out, the truly great material on the album is like this.

I love Gil Scott Heron-I wish he could be president instead of the apologetic, behind kissing cop-out I voted for only not to have Palin. But he would be prophetic if Prophet Muhammed, PBUH, hadn't been the ultimate one in his message. This was made in 1969 and it's still relevant-even moreso now than then. ESPECIALLY Whitey on the Moon (Based on a poem by Kalamu Ya Salaam-a writing mentor of mine and one of my many older brothers who provided guidance)the space program is the biggest waste of all of the above and only devised to colonize other folk's lands because lands are all stolen and vandalized on earth. I hope I get to meet and talk to this bad mutha-shut-yo-mouth before he passes. I hope someday a brother like him can run for president and win, let alone not get killed...it's winter in the penal colony of America

A blues poet even if the only sound you hear, apart for the last two tracks, is his voice and bongos. But this is the scheme and the inner seed of blues. He uses terms Robert Johnson was not allowed, the rage of someone who doesn't want to be in an underdog position and his attack to the systems has names and faces.
At the same time he makes you laugh teasing and fooling the central power in Washington D.C. Ok it was many years ago but this sort of modern "call and response" (all by hisself) can still scare.
The music in the end arrives with "Who'll pay repairation on my soul": same political and social topic but, hey, that's pure soul.
A big applause.

SMALL TALK AT 125th STREET & LENOX AVENUE is the genius launch pad of the late Gil Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 - May 27, 2011). Taking his cue as a spoken word artist with a collection of poetry in a set to percussion and vocal accompaniment from Eddie Knowles, Charlie Saunders, and David Barnes. This Jazzy Afro-Rhythms fusion is Gil's battle cry using wit, spark and political satire as his forum to illustrate the conditions and dismay of Black America at the close of the 1960s (still relevant today thanks to the recession). Recorded live at a New York nightclub located on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, this cd is a packed with a powerful picture of this nation at a singular time and place. Scott-Heron's verse is relentless and uncompromising with a voice that infused passion, anger and a demand to be heard. The incendiary subject matter and critical tone of tracks like "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and "Enough" foreshadow the politics of future hip-hop acts like Public Enemy and X-Clan. While the albums that followed are made up of more conventionally structured songs, SMALL TALK is primarily spoken word, with Scott-Heron and company working piano-driven grooves on just three tracks--"The Vulture," "Who'll Pay Reparations on My Soul?" and "Everyday."


Gil Scott-Heron: Black Wax Plus 'Is That Jazz?'

If you are looking for the musical brilliance that you hear on other Gil Scott Heron records with seoaring woodwinds and lyrical piano/keyboard look at another album such as "Winter in America."

"Small Talk" is Gil's critical dissertation on the state of America as we were awakened from the Psychedelic daze of the '60's and dillusions of triumph only to realie that little had been accomplished and darker days lay ahead.

The majority of the tracks on this album are Gil reading poetry accompanied only by bongos. If you have litened to the more musical albums by Gil Scott Heron and have been moved by his lyrics and messages then check this out. These are the original poems out of which was born his musical career. It's especially interesting, especially on "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", to compare the rawness of the original lyrics to corporate censored versions of later releases.

As with any message it is important to remember not to critique it for where it may go astray but rather where it hits the nail on the head. No one person can have all of the answers. As a community we can draw upon the positives from each member to make the world an overall better place. Gil may go astray at times but we should support one another rather than become divided.

Of not, track 7, "Evolution (and Flashback)" is a brilliant standout.

Okay, before I go any further, yes, there is a track on this LP that uses a term that is considered derogatory of homosexuals. Yes, it is perhaps an illustration of ignorance. But I think it's important that it is continuously included in reissues of this unique and important album.

Gil Scott-Heron was a man, an outspoken man. That was his beauty as a poet, as a street reporter, as the original rapper. On this album he speaks as he sees things. This isn't about image or album sales like most "rap artists" albums are these days.

So yeah, his outlook isn't politically correct. However, it is important that Gil Scott-Heron is not approaching the subject of homosexuality in judgmental manner really... Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see it that way and I think it would be a shame if that was the only reason you did not expierence this piece of art.

This is the recorded example of one man's poetry, one man's expierence, one man's hopes, one man's call for action - This is a recording of a small talk (with percussion!) on 125th and Lenox Avenue and it is powerful enough for me to claim 'it needs to be heard.'