''Moving Target'' is a studio album by American spoken-word poet and blues musician Gil Scott-Heron.

Background, production, release

The album, released on Arista in 1982, was to be his last for more than a decade. On ''Moving Target'', Scott-Heron and his "Midnight Band" recorded their "typical, tastefully jazzy R&B and funk grooves", though flavored with "more exotic sounds" and influenced by

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

(there are echoes of

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

in some songs). The final song, the almost ten-minute long "Black History/The World", is in part a spoken-word performance by Scott-Heron ending with a "plea for peace and world change". The album, co-produced by

Malcolm Cecil Malcolm Cecil (9 January 193728 March 2021) was a British jazz bassist, record producer, engineer and electronic musician. He was a founding member of a leading UK jazz quintet of the late 1950s, the Jazz Couriers,

, was released in September 1982 on LP (#204921), and issued as a CD in February 1997, under the same number. Robert Christgau gave the album a B.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Gil Scott-Heron; except where indicated #"Fast Lane" (lyrics: Scott-Heron; music: Robbie Gordon) – 4:55 #"Washington D.C." – 4:13 #"No Exit" – 4:08 #"Blue Collar" – 5:18 #"Ready or Not" (lyrics: Scott-Heron; music:

Larry McDonald Lawrence Patton McDonald (April 1, 1935 – September 1, 1983) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 until he was killed ...

) – 4:10 #"Explanations" – 4:33 #"Black History/The World" – 9:42

Personnel

*Gil Scott-Heron – vocals; electric piano on "Washington D.C." *Vernon James – alto saxophone; flute on "Ready or Not" *Robbie Gordon – bass *Kenny Powell – drums *Ed Brady – guitar *Glen Turner – keyboards *Carl Cornwell – tenor saxophone (tracks 2, 3, 7) *

Ron Holloway Ronald Edward Holloway (born August 24, 1953) is an American tenor saxophonist. He is listed in the ''Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "Hard bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow auth ...

– tenor saxophone *Kenny Sheffield – trumpet *

– percussion *"High Note" Harry Kim – trumpet on "Washington D.C." *

– horn arrangement on "Fast Lane"

Technical personnel

- engineer, co-producer * Alan Douglas - second engineer *Richard Mannering - second engineer *Denis Heron - coordinator, production assistant *Bob Carboni - mastering *Donn Davenport - artwork *John Ford - photography *Recorded at Bias Studio, Springfield, Virginia (March 25–27 and May 28–29, 1982);

Townhouse Studios The Town House (also known as Townhouse Studios) was a recording studio located at 150 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush in London, built in 1978 under the direction of Richard Branson for Virgin Records. The studios changed ownership and eventuall ...

, London (April 9–12, 1982);

The Manor Studio The Manor Studio (a.k.a. The Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. Overview The Manor and its outbuildings are listed Grade II on the Na ...

, Oxford (April 19–21, 1982); and Record Plant, Los Angeles (June 7–17, 1982). Mixed at Record Plant. Mastered at

A&M Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serv ...

, Los Angeles (July 1982).

References

{{Authority control 1982 albums Gil Scott-Heron albums Albums produced by Malcolm Cecil Arista Records albums Rhythm and blues albums by American artists