The three albums that Gil Scott-Heron recorded for Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman label are among the most important in black music history. They showed a multi-talented artist coming to full fruition with his first efforts on wax. “The Revolution Begins” contains every piece of music he released for the label from 1970–1971. In recent years Gil has become a lauded as one of the all-time greats. This music is the reason why.
It includes classic performances, including both the spoken word and band versions of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’, ‘Lady Day and John Coltrane’, ‘Pieces Of A Man’, ‘Whitey On The Moon’ and ‘Free Will’.
Taken from the original master tapes, the sound quality on this release trumps all previous reissues. The bonus material includes an alternate version of Gil’s third album ‘Free Will’ and the previously unreissued ‘Artificialness’, which Gil recorded with Bernard Purdie on his “Stand By Me” album.
The in-depth sleeve notes contain previously unpublished interview material from both Gil and his songwriting partner Brian Jackson. The booklet also includes previously unpublished photographs of Gil taken by Raymond Ross at the sessions for “Free Will”.
Packaged in a digipak and slipcase with a separate booklet containing a note by project supervisor Dean Rudland.