First Minute of a New Day
If you're considering digging into the stack of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson reissues, this is the place to start.First Minuteis one fantastic, seminal album--just bursting with Jackson's serious piano, Bilal Sunni Ali's deluxe woodwinds, and Barnett Williams and Charlie Saunders's relentless percussion. The entire Midnight Band, in fact, positively struts, cajoles, and freaks the funk out all over this 1975 powerhouse. Scott-Heron himself raps ("Pardon Our Analysis"), rocks ("The Liberation Song"), and rolls ("Alluswe") in that magic voice that critic Neil Tesser once described as "mahogany, sunshine, and tears."First Minutealso boasts the Scott-Heron classics "Ain't No Such Thing As Superman" and "Winter in America." The 11-minute bonus track, "A Talk," makes this set nearly indispensable.--Michael Ruby