Bridges (Gil Scott-Heron album)

Last updated
Bridges
Bridges (Gil Scott-Heron Brian Jackson album) cover art.jpg
Studio album by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
Released September 1977
Recorded 1977
Genre Soul, jazz-funk, funk, jazz, spoken word
Label Arista
Producer Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson
Co-producer Larry Fallon, Tom Wilson
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson chronology
It's Your World
(1976)		Bridges
(1977)		 Secrets
(1978)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide B [2]

Bridges is an album by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, released in the fall of 1977 on Arista Records.

Gil Scott-Heron American musician, poet and author

Gilbert Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".

Brian Jackson (musician) American musician

Brian Robert Jackson is an American keyboardist, flautist, singer, composer, and producer known for his collaborations with Gil Scott-Heron in the 1970s. The sound of Jackson's Rhodes electric piano and flute accompaniments featured prominently in many of their compositions, most notably on "The Bottle" and "Your Daddy Loves You" from their first official collaboration Winter in America.

Arista Records, Inc. is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment and previously handled by Bertelsmann Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for Columbia Records. Until its demise in 2011, it was a major distributor and promoter of albums throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, the label's reissues and catalogue releases are handled by RCA Records and Legacy Recordings.

Contents

"We Almost Lost Detroit"

The song "We Almost Lost Detroit", which shares its title with the 1975 John G. Fuller book of the same name, recounts the story of the nuclear meltdown at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station near Monroe, MI, in 1966. [3] It was performed at the No Nukes concert in September 1979 at Madison Square Garden. This song was also contributed to the No Nukes album in November 1979 and No Nukes concert film in May 1980. [4] [1]

John Grant Fuller, Jr. was a New England-based American author of several nonfiction books and newspaper articles, mainly focusing on the theme of extraterrestrials and the supernatural. For many years he wrote a regular column for the Saturday Review magazine, called "Trade Winds". His books include We Almost Lost Detroit, The Ghost of Flight 401, Incident at Exeter, and The Interrupted Journey.

We Almost Lost Detroit, a 1975 Reader's Digest book by John G. Fuller, presents a history of Fermi 1, America's first commercial breeder reactor, with emphasis on the 1966 partial nuclear meltdown.

Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station nuclear power plant

The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe, in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan on approximately 1,000 acres. All units of the plant are operated by the DTE Energy Electric Company and owned by parent company DTE Energy. It is approximately halfway between Detroit, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio. It is also visible from parts of Amherstburg and Colchester, Ontario as well as on the shore of Lake Erie in Ottawa County, Ohio along with Ohio Turnpike. Two units have been constructed on this site. The first unit's construction started on August 4, 1956 and reached initial criticality on August 23, 1963, and the second unit received its construction permit on September 26, 1972. It reached criticality in June 21, 1985 and was declared commercial on November 18, 1988. The plant is connected to two single-circuit 345 kV Transmission Lines and 3 120 kV lines. They are operated and maintained by ITC Transmission.

Track listing

All tracks written by Gil Scott-Heron except as noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hello Sunday! Hello Road!" 3:37
2."Song Of The Wind" 3:53
3."Racetrack In France"Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson 4:15
4."Vildgolia (Deaf, Dumb & Blind)"Scott-Heron, Jackson7:31
5."Under The Hammer" 3:59
6."We Almost Lost Detroit" 5:19
7."Tuskeegee #626" 0:33
8."Delta Man (Where I'm Coming From)" 5:45
9."95 South (All Of The Places We've Been)" 4:51

Personnel

Tontos Expanding Head Band British-American electronic music duo

Tonto's Expanding Head Band was a British-American electronic music duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were influential because of their session and production work for other musicians, extensive commercial advertising work and the unique warmth and personality of their work.

Marlo Henderson was an American guitarist and saxophonist, who played in mainly blues and R&B genres. As a session musician he played on albums such as Off the Wall by Michael Jackson, Them Changes by Buddy Miles, Face to Face by Evelyn "Champagne" King, I Am. He also played on the "Girlfriend" song by Paul McCartney.

Charts

YearAlbumChart positions [5]
US US
R&B 		Jazz Albums
1977Bridges130—16

Legacy

<i>Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star</i> 1998 studio album by Black Star

Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star is the only studio album by Black Star, a hip hop duo consisting of emcees Talib Kweli and Mos Def. The album was released on September 29, 1998, to critical acclaim. The title is a reference to the Black Star Line, a shipping line founded by Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. The album deals with modern-day issues, philosophical ideas, and life in Brooklyn, New York City, as the two artists know it.

<i>Finding Forever</i> 2007 studio album by Common

Finding Forever is the seventh studio album by Common, released on July 31, 2007 on GOOD Music and Geffen Records. Like Common's previous album, Be (2005), Finding Forever is primarily produced by Kanye West. The album debuted at the number one on the Billboard 200, selling 155,000 units in the first week, becoming Common's first chart-topper. Selling over 500,000 units in the US, it has been certified Gold. Finding Forever was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, losing to Kanye West's Graduation at the 50th Grammy Awards.

Related Research Articles

Musicians United for Safe Energy

Musicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Harvey Wasserman and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979. MUSE organized a series of five No Nukes concerts held at Madison Square Garden in New York in September 1979. On September 23, 1979, almost 200,000 people attended a large rally staged by MUSE on the then-empty north end of the Battery Park City landfill in New York.

<i>Doubelievengod</i> 1995 studio album by Natas

Doubelievengod is the third album by Natas, released in 1995.

<i>No Nukes: The Muse Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future</i> 1979 live album by various artists

No Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future was a 1979 triple live album that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective. Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall were the key organizers of the event and guiding forces behind the album.

<i>No Nukes</i> (film) 1980 film

No Nukes is a 1980 documentary and concert film that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key organizers of the event and guiding forces behind the film. Also included were scenes of the organizers getting the event together, expounding upon the dangers of nuclear power, and staging an anti-nuclear rally at Battery Park in New York City.

<i>From South Africa to South Carolina</i> 1975 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson

From South Africa to South Carolina is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was released in November 1975 by Arista Records. Scott-Heron performed "Johannesburg" and "A Lovely Day" on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in December 1975.

<i>Pieces of a Man</i> 1971 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron

Pieces of a Man is the first studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron. It was recorded in April 1971 at RCA Studios in New York City and released later that year by Flying Dutchman Records. The album followed Heron's debut live album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970) and departed from that album's spoken word performance, instead featuring compositions in a more conventional popular song structure.

<i>Winter in America</i> 1974 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson

Winter in America is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Records. Scott-Heron and Jackson produced the album in a stripped-down fashion, relying on traditional African and R&B sounds, while Jackson's piano-based arrangements were rooted in jazz and the blues. The subject matter on Winter in America deals with the African-American community and inner city in the 1970s.

<i>The First Minute of a New Day</i> 1975 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson and the Midnight Band

The First Minute of a New Day is an album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron, keyboardist Brian Jackson, and the Midnight Band—an eight-piece musical ensemble. It was released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's and Jackson's critically acclaimed collaboration effort Winter in America. The First Minute of a New Day was the first album to feature "Winter in America", the title track of Scott-Heron's previous album which was not featured on its original LP release. The album was reissued on compact disc by Scott-Heron's label Rumal-Gia Records in 1998.

The Bottle 1974 single by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson

"The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "The Bottle" was written by Scott-Heron and produced by audio engineer Jose Williams, Jackson, and Scott-Heron. The song serves as a social commentary on alcohol abuse, and it features a Caribbean beat and notable flute solo by Jackson, with Scott-Heron playing keyboards.

<i>Its Your World</i> 1976 studio album / Live album by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson

It's Your World is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson, released in November 1976 by Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in studio and live in July 1976 at Paul's Mall in Boston, Massachusetts, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and American Star Studios in Merrifield, Virginia. Scott-Heron and Jackson recorded the album with the former's backing ensemble, The Midnight Band. It's Your World was originally released on vinyl and was later re-released in 2000 on compact disc by Scott-Heron's Rumal-Gia label.

<i>The Revolution Will Not Be Televised</i> (album) 1974 compilation album by Gil Scott-Heron

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a compilation album by American singer and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron. It was released in 1974 by Flying Dutchman Records and titled after Scott-Heron's 1971 song of the same name.

<i>The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron</i> 1978 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron

The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron is a 1978 album by spoken word and rap pioneer Gil Scott-Heron. Like many of Scott-Heron's albums, the album's content primarily addresses political and social issues; however, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron relies far more on his spoken word delivery than his other albums. Whereas much of the artist's earlier albums contained backup jazz-funk music from Brian Jackson, many of these tracks, which address contemporary issues such as Watergate, the pardon of Richard Nixon and the Attica Prison riot, are either live recordings or studio-recorded songs with little more than sparse drum backing or occasional instrumentation. Many of the tracks featured were included on previous Gil Scott-Heron albums.

<i>Were New Here</i> 2011 remix album by Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx

We're New Here is a remix album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron and English music producer Jamie xx, released on February 21, 2011, by Young Turks and XL Recordings. A longtime fan of Scott-Heron, Jamie xx was approached by XL label head Richard Russell to remix Scott-Heron's 2010 studio album I'm New Here. He worked on the album while touring with his band The xx in 2010 and occasionally communicated with Scott-Heron through letters for his approval to rework certain material.

<i>Spirits</i> (Gil Scott-Heron album) 1994 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron

Spirits is the 1994 album by Gil Scott-Heron. The title track is an interpretation of the John Coltrane piece, 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.

Moving Target is a studio album by American spoken-word poet and blues musician Gil Scott-Heron.

<i>Secrets</i> (Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson album) 1978 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson

Secrets is a 1978 studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson.

<i>1980</i> (Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson album) 1980 studio album by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson

1980 is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded from August to October 1979 and released in February 1980 by Arista Records.

References

  1. 1 2 Schwachter, Jeff. Bridges - Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron at AllMusic. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Gil Scott-Heron/Brian Jackson: Bridges". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the '70s. Da Capo Press. ISBN   0306804093 . Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  3. ↑ Spignesi, Stephen J. (December 1, 2004). Catastrophe!: The 100 Greatest Disasters Of All Time. Citadel Press. p. 304. ISBN   978-0806525587.
  4. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. No Nukes - Various Artists at AllMusic. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  5. ↑ Bush, John. Gil Scott-Heron at AllMusic. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Black Star's Brown Skin Lady sample of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson's We Almost Lost Detroit". WhoSampled. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Common feat. Dwele's The People sample of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson's We Almost Lost Detroit". WhoSampled. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.