Such a caustic firebrand in the 70’s and early 80’s, Gil Scott-Heron has lost none of his spirited outrage in the interim years. His latest album, I’m Not Here, bristles with the kind of righteous indignation and world-weary stories of bitter acceptance that fans of his earlier work have come to expect from him. Whereas an album like Pieces Of A Man showed him pleading for a revolutionary change in societal standards, I’m Not Here plays more as a confession and a personal reflection on the world which he fought so hard to change, and these changes, as he sees them, are part of something he hadn’t necessarily intended, or wanted. The songs and spoken-word tracks that comprise I'm Not Here paint a vivid, if scathing, picture of Scott-Heron's mind and where his thoughts drift from day to day. Tracks like the striking "New York Is Killing Me" or the statement-of-intent confession of "On Coming From A Broken Home (Pt.1)" place his voice first and fore-most at the head of these songs, leading the twisting way through the broken cities described within. As Gil Scott-Heron has grown older, he has seen many of the injustices he rallied against in his youth done away with, only to be replaced with newer and fiercer problems. And when we have overcome those, I'm Not There will still be here to remind us that the fight can only be finished within ourselves, and this is the soundtrack to that interminable struggle.
Tracklisting:
01. On Coming From A Broken Home (Pt. 1)
02. Me And The Devil
03. I’m New Here
04. Your Soul And Mine
05. Parents (Interlude)
06. I’ll Take Care Of You
07. Being Blessed (interlude)
08. Where Did The Night Go
09. I Was Guided (Interlude)
10. New York Is Killing Me (listen to the mp3 below)
11. Certain Things (Interlude)
12. Running
13. The Crutch
14. I’ve Been Me (Interlude)
15. On Coming From A Broken Home (Pt. 2)
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