Winter in America (Reis)

Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 7, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Tvt
• ASIN: B000005ZCX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,980 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #100 in Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Poetry

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the early 1970s Gil Scott-Heron's tough-talking jazz-rock came across like a slap in the face, fiercely filling the Establishment in on issues ranging from substance abuse to the poverty and desperation raging through the black community. Winter in America was his breakthrough, with pianist Brian Jackson's dense arrangements matching the words blow for blow on the uncompromising title track (actually a bonus cut), the stinging "H20gate Blues," and the grooving anti-alcohol warning of "The Bottle"--"Don't you think it's a crime," Scott-Heron riffs, "the way time after time, people hit the bottle?" Some of Jackson's music may now sound a bit dated, but the years have done little to dull what writer Nathan George called Scott-Heron's "uncomfortable truths." --Michael Ruby

Product Description

UK pressing features four bonus tracks. Snapper. Vintage blues and then some from revered bluesman. Picture the wooden shack stove and pull up a rocking chair for this splendid reissue of 1959's disc, augmented with a different take on `I'm So Worried Baby' and a chilled-out `Unfriendly Woman'. Remarkably prescient blues sounds live here in the shape of Hooker classics like `Dimples', `Crawlin' King Snake' and the standard `Boogie Chillun'. It's a quiet storm of controlled chaos from the man who put the grits in the Grammies --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry, politics and power, August 12, 2001

By 

Tyler Smith (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winter in America (Reis) (Audio CD)

Gil Scott-Heron turned out during the '70s what may be the best body of overlooked work of the era. "Winter in America" followed the excellent "Pieces of a Man" and at least equaled the quality of that album.

"Winter in America" kicks off with what was to become one of Gil's best-known and most often played tunes, "The Bottle." The tune exemplifies the power of his work. He captures life in vivid, poetic images, and he joins the lyrics to street rhythms, in this case, Latin flavored. His often overlooked partner, Brian Jackson, contributes a fine, jazz flute solo.

There are, of course, politics aplenty in "Winter." The title tune itself is a dirge, a prediction of America's failure, which hasn't occurred, of course, if you take Gil literally. His goal -- and Brian's -- was never to predict a Marxist revolution, but to point out the inherent contradictions in a society that celebrates wealth at the same time that it turns a blind eye to the dispossessed and forgotten. And "H2OGate Blues" is one of the best commentaries on the disastrous second term of Tricky Dick Nixon that I've ever heard.

Lest one think that "Winter in America" is a purely political album, however, one should remember that Gil was also capable of penning and singing unabashedly romantic tunes like "A Very Precious Time." If there is any male who remembers anything at all about being 19 years old in the 1970s and can resist lyrics like "Was there a touch of spring?/And did she have a pink dress on?/And when she smiled her shyest smile/Couldn't you almost touch the warmth?" -- well, I guess we need to check that guy's pulse.

Great album -- toughness and tenderness from one of our best-kept secrets.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I guess it's 5 stars since I keep listening after 20+ years!, November 9, 1999

By 

Mary Dresser (Oakland, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winter in America (Reis) (Audio CD)

I first saw Gil Scott-Heron when I was 16 at the Oakland Coliseum. What an inspiration to a white girl in the 70's. I loved him ever since. Such fabulous lyrics, with great music, and quite direct and blunt in his social commentary. Gil Scott-Heron has always had and will continue to have an incredible "voice" in all senses of the word. The Bottle, Peace Go With You Brother, and H2O Gate Blues were great for us brought up in the 60's and 70's. What I would still like is to see his great album "Secrets" re-released on CD.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winter Of Discontent, July 19, 2001

By 

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Winter in America (Reis) (Audio CD)

Gil Scott-Heron was an innovator who combined, jazz, funk and soul sounds over which he spoke/sung messages of protest and outrage at the condition of Black America. His delivery is a forerunner of rapping. His music is heavily sampled by hip hoppers and his afro-centric attitude has a strong foothold in the hip hop community. For Winter In America he combines with pianist Brian Jackson for another set of songs of social commentary. While some of his lyrics are clearly dated, the song's power and fury are enduring. "The Bottle" is a stinging, open-ended question to the problem of alcohol abuse among urban blacks. This problem lingers today as there still are liquor stores on every corner in the ghettos. Mr. Heron's music can be shocking, but it forces you think.