Monday, September 18, 2023

Track Of The Day: Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson - Angel Dust (Arista)


Angel Dust’ was Gil Scott – Heron and Brian Jackson’s biggest selling single while signed to Arista. I first heard it as a consequence of listening to ‘Secrets’, the album it features on. I remember going to Reaction Records in New Brighton in the early eighties and buying all the GSH albums they had at the time, three I think, of which ‘Secrets’ was one. Others were ‘It’s Your World’ and ‘Bridges’. I had been introduced to Heron, like a lot of people, by ‘B Movie’, which I first heard around this time and I wanted more. ‘Angel Dust’ represented a shift to a more synthesised sound for Heron & Jackson, rather like ‘B Movie’, and comments on the big drug scourge of the day in The US. Buying these albums turned me into a lifelong fan although, for some reason, I only got to see him play live once. It was a seminal gig though, at The Commonwealth Institute in Kensington with DBC (Dread Broadcasting Company) as support. Myself and some friends travelled down from Merseyside for it. I have very little recollection of the gig, but remember talking to some tramps in the park before we went in for the show.

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