Gil Scott-Heron - Reflections (1981, Pitman Pressing)

1981 US pressing, Arista AL 9566, Pitman Pressing

Arista issued Reflections in the United States in 1981 under catalogue number AL 9566, and this copy is catalogued as the run made at Columbia's pressing plant in Pitman, New Jersey. On Pitman copies of AL 9566 the etched runout opens with a lowercase p ahead of the matrix, where the Terre Haute run of the same number carries a T in that position.

The object

One 12-inch LP, with centre labels reading AL 9566 SA and AL 9566 SB and a printed barcode of 0 7822-19566-1. Donn Davenport is credited with design and art direction, Mei Tei Sing Smith with the artwork collage, and Vincent Frye with the photography.

Context

Album and pressing both date to 1981, so this Pitman copy belongs to the year of first release rather than to the European reissues of the mid-1980s. Recording took place at T.O.N.T.O. in Santa Monica from April to June 1981, with further sessions at Bias Studios in Springfield, Virginia, that June. Gil Scott-Heron produced with Malcolm Cecil, and the band is credited as The Amnesia Express and Guests. Side B opens with the Marvin Gaye and James Nyx song Inner City Blues, set against Scott-Heron's poem "The Siege Of New Orleans", while side A carries Bill Withers's Grandma's Hands.

The album

For Reflections as a work, turn to its album page; this listing is concerned only with Arista's Pitman run of AL 9566.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Storm Music
2. Grandma's Hands
3. Is That Jazz?
4. Morning Thoughts

Side B

5. Inner City Blues (Poem: "The Siege Of New Orleans")
6. Gun
7. "B" Movie