Ghetto Style (1998)

About this title: This compilation features 21 tracks from Gil Scott-Heron's first three long-players -- Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970), Pieces of a Man (1971), and Free Will (1972) -- all for producer Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label. Although Scott-Heron's seminal recordings consisted of his radical street poetry set to a bombast of conga accompaniment, he honed his prose into socially conscious R&B. This would heavily influence rap music nearly a decade prior to its fruition in the early '80s and 1990s. The original recitation version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" -- which comes off as ... read more

Tracks:

1. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised [Scott-Heron]
2. Or Down You Fall [Scott-Heron]
3. The Needle's Eyes [Scott-Heron]
4. I Think I'll Call It Morning [Scott-Heron/Jackson]
5. When You Are Who You Are [Scott-Heron/Jackson]
6. Save the Children [Scott-Heron]
7. Did You Hear What They Said? [Scott-Heron]
8. Free Will [Scott-Heron/Jackson]
9. Speed Kills [Scott-Heron/Jackson]
10. Middle of Your Day [Scott-Heron/Jackson]
11. Pieces of a Man [Scott-Heron]
12. A Sign of the Ages [Scott-Heron]
13. The Get out of the Ghetto Blues [Jackson/Scott-Heron]
14. Lady Day and John Coltrane [Scott-Heron]
15. Home Is Where the Hatred Is [Scott-Heron]
16. No Knock [Scott-Heron]
17. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised [Early Version] [Scott-Heron]
18. Sex Education: Ghetto Style [Scott-Heron]
19. Small Talk at 125th and Lenox [Scott-Heron]
20. King Alfred Plan [Scott-Heron]
21. Billy Green Is Dead [Scott-Heron]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.