Gil Scott Heron - The Bottle

Here is an absolutely ground breaking Blackpool Mecca anthem by Gil Scott-Heron, "The Bottle". In 1998, while filming "The Strange World Of Northern Soul", we filmed this priceless footage and I am so glad that we did. The song was originally recorded in 1974 for Strata East Records, from New York. After The Carstairs, "It Really Hurts Me Girl", this was the other record to really break the mould in Blackpool Mecca. Gil Scott-Heron is an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word soul performer and his collaborative work with musician Brian Jackson. His efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron's recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". The Washington Post wrote that "Scott-Heron's work presaged not only conscious rap and poetry slams, but also acid jazz, particularly during his rewarding collaboration with composer-keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson in the mid- and late Seventies". Speaking personally, Gil's "Pieces Of A man" album was one of my all time lifelong major influences on my entire musical career and outlet, and his chord style remains with me in everything I write. It was a privilege to cover his wonderful song "Home Is Where The Hatred Is", with Motown legend Brenda Holloway.