Needle Time

  Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces Of A Man [XXQLP2 094 UK 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] The post-MoFaux world has thrown up more interest in the provenance of vinyl reissues and we are now seeing more and more labels using the source & process of their reissues as a selling point.  Late last year, this UK reissue of Gil Scott-Heron's classic 1971 album  Pieces Of A Man snuck out on the back of 'Black Friday' on BGP Records (the home of the Acid Jazz label). According to the press release, the original analogue master tapes were sent to Frank Merritt at The Carvery Mastering Studio in Leyton, East London who cut them on an all-analogue desk at 45rpm. The metalwork was despatched to GZ Media in the Czech Republic who pressed up this double 45rpm edition (hence the need for your blogger to spend two days declicking). Despite GZ Media's efforts, this release does sound amazing, and in a world where it is very difficult to find good clean OG pressings, this release was very much...

  Gil Scott-Heron And Brian Jackson - Messages [LP SBPJ 26 UK 2006 24-Bit FLAC] As a young man, Gil Scott-Heron's The Bottle was an anthem at the more discerning clubs that I frequented between 1985 & 1987. These were the days were the DJ wasn't the hero, it was thankfully the musician. Back then, you wouldn't be surprised to hear Trouble Funk, Tackhead, A Certain Ratio, Mantronix, Cabaret Voltaire, Death Cult, Sisters Of Mercy, War, The Beginning Of The End, Funkadelic & James Brown mixed around some early house, go-go and hip-hop all in the same set. Back then, a banger was the beat-up motor vehicle you cruised the provincial towns in search of a house party - mixtape in back pocket (always).  I recall forking out a lot of my hard earned cash for an original seven-inch of The Bottle (a 1975 French pressing from memory) and it remained a centre piece of my party mixes until I sold it on to another collector at the end of the eighties. Since then I have built a ...