Moving Target (Gil Scott-Heron album)

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

Moving Target
Studio album by Gil Scott-Heron
Released	September 1982
Recorded	March–June 1982
Length	37:33
Label	Arista
Producer	Malcolm Cecil, Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron chronology
Reflections (1981) Moving Target (1982) Spirits (1994)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Sounds

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 (there are echoes of Bob Marley 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, 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

1. "Fast Lane" (lyrics: Scott-Heron; music: Robbie Gordon) – 4:55
2. "Washington D.C." – 4:13
3. "No Exit" – 4:08
4. "Blue Collar" – 5:18
5. "Explanations" – 4:12
6. "Ready or Not" (lyrics: Scott-Heron; music: Larry McDonald) – 4:33
7. "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 – tenor saxophone
• Kenny Sheffield – trumpet
• Larry McDonald – percussion
• "High Note" Harry Kim – trumpet on "Washington D.C."
• Malcolm Cecil – horn arrangement on "Fast Lane"

Technical personnel

• Malcolm Cecil - 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, London (April 9–12, 1982); The Manor Studio, Oxford (April 19–21, 1982); and Record Plant, Los Angeles (June 7–17, 1982). Mixed at Record Plant. Mastered at A&M Studios, Los Angeles (July 1982).