-
10.0
|
State
...it’s taut, an emotional sucker punch, and inspired wailing blues like ‘New York Is Killing Me’ is proof that Gil Scott-Heron’s furnace is still stoked
Read Review
-
9.0
|
Drowned In Sound
Whether these 15 tracks have helped him lay some demons to rest is impossible to say, what’s beyond all doubt however, is that I’m New Here is a seriously good record
Read Review
-
9.0
|
NME
The title track is similar in delivery and intensity to Johnny Cash’s ‘The Man Comes Around’, but this is no deathbed testimonial
Read Review
-
9.0
|
No Ripcord
With I’m New Here, Scott-Heron isn’t there to judge anyone. On the contrary, in a way, he’s seeking absolution for his mistakes, but not for his past or his present
Read Review
-
8.5
|
Pitchfork
If Gil Scott-Heron's creative resurgence continues after this reintroduction to his poignantly aging voice, we could be looking at one of the most memorably resurrected careers of our time - a man renewed
Read Review
-
8.5
|
The Quietus
This is a artist who deals in the 'real'. On that point, you can be truly assured. Unworldly and beautiful, even when he sings about pulling on his socks
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Observer Music Monthly
I'm New Here might turn out to be a footnote rather than an American Recordings-style new chapter, but this is as striking a return as we're likely to hear all year
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Mojo
Print edition only
-
8.0
|
Q
Print edition only
-
8.0
|
Uncut
As a radical overhaul of a career, it's a brave, brilliant and highly personal statement
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Guardian
Harrowing poetry is mixed with choice covers, from Smog's road-to-redemption title track to a particularly haunted take on Robert Johnson's Me and the Devil. It's blistering stuff
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Irish Times
I’m New Here may be sketchy (28 minutes in length) and relies more on covers than new Scott-Heronpenned material, but it’s still a stentorian and bracing blast of reality
Read Review
-
8.0
|
music OMH
Some may find I'm New Here a strange and alienating listen, but those with patience will be well rewarded; most of this album is stunning and so different from the norm that you can't help but be drawn in
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Independent
As with the man, so with this album: it might fall short in some regards, but such is the heart and the mind involved that what little is left should be treasured accordingly.
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Evening Standard
The record is a triumph for a returning heavyweight, bloody but unbowed
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Times
Me and the Devil could be an alternative theme to The Wire, with Damon Albarn on keyboards and beats like clanking jail bars
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Scotland on Sunday
The electro voodoo of his reading of Robert Johnson's Me And The Devil makes the hairs stand up on the back of the neck
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Scotsman
I'm New Here is a mix of spoken word and song, delivered in a voice as weathered and authoritative as Johnny Cash
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Tiny Mix Tapes
I'm New Here is undoubtedly a bleak record, and given Scott-Heron's trials, it's hard to imagine it being anything else. But his take recognizes a hard-earned beauty, as well
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Daily Telegraph
...this is everything you might want from an older artist: lyrics of depth, wisdom and experience, a voice rich with musicality, all set in a sonic context that locates him in the present moment
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Line Of Best Fit
...sounds altogether fresh – an album he couldn’t really have released at any other point in his career
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Skinny
Understated, wrought with genuine feeling and emotion, and put together with a respectful and intelligent amount of thought and planning, I'm New Here is hard to fault, and an early contender for album of the year
Read Review
-
8.0
|
The Sunday Times
...an extraordinarily powerful album
Read Review
-
8.0
|
Sydney Morning Herald
...elements of African, electronica, jazz and very old-school styles...fleshing out the backgrounds. The result is an album of understated power and direct heart
Read Review
-
8.0
|
FasterLouder
Just under a half an hour it is a brief, but a gripping, slice of where Gil is now
Read Review
-
7.0
|
Spin
I'm New Here isn't so much a comeback as a testament to spiritual resilience
Read Review
-
7.0
|
Rave Magazine
It feels like Scott-Heron experimentally dipping his toes in the water when he should be diving straight in, because it’s plain the man can still swim
Read Review
-
6.0
|
Rolling Stone
It's a steely blues record at heart — the sound of a damaged man staring in the mirror without self-pity but not without hope
Read Review
-
5.5
|
onethirtybpm
With a 28 minute running time, recycled beats, four covers and seven interludes, this album, which could have been the perfect start to the decade and a welcoming reminder of this man’s talent, seems forced and painfully rushed
Read Review
-
3.0
|
Pop Matters
I’m New Here is a thin affair—musically weak and lyrically narrow. The songs are philosophical and personal rather than social or political, yet they don’t feel powerfully real
Read Review
-