Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2010

Courtesy of XL/Hostess ©

When ambitious producers have had enough of grooming bright young things, they sometimes get the urge to “rediscover” aging talent. And if a fading superstar of yore still has something to say, why not? In the 13 years since his last album (including some time spent in jail for cocaine possession), street poet laureate Gil Scott-Heron still has plenty to mouth off about. His voice cracked but not broken, the singer tells harrowing tales of the dark night of his soul on brooding tone poems like “Me And The Devil” and “Where Did The Night Go.” But there are also bittersweet folk-blues musings on what it’s like to be back in action after more than a decade. Setting Scott-Heron’s aging but still resonant voice in the context of his minimal electronic soundscapes, XL label owner Richard Russell may just achieve what Rick Rubin did with Johnny Cash, or Jack White with Loretta Lynn.