Reviews

Now and Then... by Gil Scott-Heron

somestuff's review

It is not as important that I be understood. I believe that this is a matter of respect; your most significant asset is your time and your commitment to invest a portion of it considering my ideas means it is worth a sincere attempt on my part to transmit the essence of the idea. If you are looking, I want to make sure that there is something here for you to find. 

Many of my favorite ideas are here. It is kind of you to take an interest. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed preparing them to be shared. I do hope you enjoy these things that I have been taught along the way. They are the most valuable things I have.

lovegriefandgender's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

5.0

It's certainly strange reading this in Britain in 2022; the narratives around police brutality and government officials who ignore unemployment statistics as energy bills rise whilst pointing to the threat of international war as a scapegoat for their bad decisions feel prescient.
That or we haven't really changed at all. 

charlotteblatherwick's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

clarityandchaos's review

5.0

I'll need to write more about this piece of timeless dissent, of 'poetry as an insurgent art', so expect a blogpost on this in the not so distant future. Tbc.

killajan's review

5.0

man. myth. legend. in the words of a dear friend, GSH is not simply a poet, nor rapper, not artist but an enigma. this book has been curated so beautifully that i started the first poem in tears and ended the very last poem in the same way. his way with words, his connect to life, to art, to the issues that plagued the ordinary black people of his time; many of which still haunt their kindred, is something i cannot explain. i have never seen such Beauty in poetry until the moment i picked up this. may he rest in peace and i hope that he is crafting more songs of life wherever his soul now resides.

killersmurf's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

shameeralin's review

5.0

Maybe I'm biased (I am, after all, writing a dissertation on Gil Scott-Heron), but he was a true visionary. Read this whilst listening to the original recordings for a full sense of what he was trying to achieve.