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10.0
8941
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
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9.0
8954
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
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9.0
9248
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
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9.0
11327
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
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8.5
8932
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
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8.5
9095
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
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8.0
8286
8.0 |
AU Magazine
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
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8.0
8351
8.0 |
Mojo
Print edition only
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8.0
8358
8.0 |
Q
Print edition only
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8.0
8421
8.0 |
Uncut
As a radical overhaul of a career, it's a brave, brilliant and highly personal statement
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8.0
8798
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
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8.0
8802
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
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8.0
8812
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
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8.0
8823
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.
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8.0
8825
8.0 |
Evening Standard
The record is a triumph for a returning heavyweight, bloody but unbowed
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8.0
8830
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
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8.0
8894
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
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8.0
8902
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
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8.0
8996
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
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8.0
9074
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
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8.0
9100
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
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8.0
9159
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
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8.0
9315
8.0 |
The Sunday Times
...an extraordinarily powerful album
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8.0
9500
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
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8.0
10834
8.0 |
FasterLouder
Just under a half an hour it is a brief, but a gripping, slice of where Gil is now
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8.0
21469
8.0 |
Q
This isn't remixing, it's storytelling. Print edition only
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8.0
22138
8.0 |
AU Magazine
Produced with Scott-Heron’s consent but without his direct involvement, Smith has not so much remixed the tracks as produced an entirely new record from the same sessions
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7.0
8745
7.0 |
Spin
I'm New Here isn't so much a comeback as a testament to spiritual resilience
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7.0
9123
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
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6.0
8909
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
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5.5
8888
5.5 |
One Thirty BPM
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
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3.0
8960
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
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