Spirits (Gil Scott-Heron album)

1994 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron

Spirits

Studio album by

Gil Scott-Heron

Released| March 29, 1994
Recorded| April 1993
Genre| Jazz, poetry, blues
Length| 56:34 (CD)
Label| TVT Records
Producer| Gil Scott-Heron, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Malcolm Cecil
Gil Scott-Heron chronology
| Moving Target
(1982)  | Spirits
(1994)  | I'm New Here
(2010)

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Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [1]
Christgau's Consumer Guide| [2]

Spirits is the 1994 album by Gil Scott-Heron. The title track is an interpretation of the John Coltrane piece Equinox, and "The Other Side" is a live version of Scott-Heron's 1971 track "Home is Where the Hatred Is" with a new arrangement and many new verses that expand the original to nearly twenty minutes. It was later sampled for "Home" on the 2011 Jamie XX collaboration album, We're New Here.

In the liner notes, Scott-Heron discusses the new, jazzier tone of the record, and the attempts to define his sound:

> What do you call reggae, blues, African vibration, jazz, salsa, chants and poetry?... Seriously trying to define it, I've said it's Black music. Or Black American music. Because Black Americans are now a tremendously diverse essence of all the places we've come from and the music and rhythms we brought with us.

This was Scott-Heron's first album in twelve years, and it would be sixteen more years before he would release another. "Lady's Song" and "Work for Peace" were omitted from the vinyl issue, while other songs were edited slightly for runtime.

## Track listing

[edit]

All lyrics and music composed by Gil Scott-Heron; except where indicated

### CD

[edit]

1. "Message to the Messengers" (4:57)
2. "Spirits" (John Coltrane) (7:49)
3. "Give Her a Call" (5:44)
4. "Lady's Song" (3:14)
5. "Spirits Past" (music: Brian Jackson) (3:00)
6. "The Other Side, Part I" (5:25)
7. "The Other Side, Part II" (6:11)
8. "The Other Side, Part III" (6:40)
9. "Work for Peace" (7:33)
10. "Don't Give Up" (music: Ali Shaheed Muhammad) (5:58)

### LP

[edit]

1. "Message to the Messengers"
2. "Spirits"
3. "Give Her a Call"
4. "Spirits Past"
5. "The Other Side" (Parts I-III)
6. "Don't Give Up"

## Personnel

[edit]

* Gil Scott-Heron - vocals, piano
* Ed Brady - guitar
* Fima Ephron, Robbie Gordon - bass guitar
* Malcolm Cecil \- bass guitar, piano
* Brian Jackson, Kim Jordan, Vernard Dickson - piano
* Rodney Youngs - drums
* Larry McDonald, Tony Duncanson - percussion
* Leon William, Ron Holloway \- saxophone
* Ibrahim Shakur - flute

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Henderson, Alex. "Spirits". AllMusic. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide: Gil Scott-Heron". Retrieved August 23, 2016.

* v
* t
* e

Gil Scott-Heron

Studio albums|

* Pieces of a Man (1971)
* Free Will (1972)
* The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron (1978)
* Real Eyes (1980)
* Reflections (1981)
* Moving Target (1982)
* Spirits (1994)
* I'm New Here (2010)
* Nothing New (2014)

| Co-billed with Brian Jackson|

* Winter in America (1974)
* The First Minute of a New Day (1975)
* From South Africa to South Carolina (1975)
* Bridges (1977)
* Secrets (1978)
* 1980 (1980)

|

with Jamie xx|

* We're New Here (2011)

with Makaya McCraven|

* We’re New Again - A Reimagining By Makaya McCraven (2020)

Live albums|

* Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970)
* It's Your World (1976; with Jackson)
* Minister of Information: Live (1994)
* Tour de Force (Live) (2004)

Compilations|

* The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974)
* The Best of Gil Scott-Heron (Arista) (1984)
* Tales of Gil Scott-Heron (1990)
* Glory: The Gil Scott-Heron Collection (1990)
* Ghetto Style (1998)
* The Gil Scott-Heron Collection: Sampler 1974-1975 (1998)
* Evolution (And Flashback): The Very Best of Gil Scott-Heron (1999)
* Save the Children (2004)
* Anthology: Messages (2005)
* The Revolution Begins: The Flying Dutchman Masters (2011)

Singles|

* "Home Is Where the Hatred Is"
* "The Bottle"
* "Johannesburg"
* "B-Movie"
* "Superman"
* "Hello Sunday! Hello Road!"
* "Storm Music"
* "Re-Ron"
* "Winter in America"
* "Space Shuttle"
* "Don't Give Up"
* "The Klan"
* "Me and the Devil"

Other songs|

* "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
* "Rivers of My Fathers"
* "Whitey on the Moon"

Related topics|

* Discography
* Brian Jackson
* Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.
* Flying Dutchman Records
* Strata-East Records
* Proto-rap
* Orange Man

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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