Although the recent CD, I'm New Here has been generally lauded as a return to form after years in the chemically assisted wilderness, this classic GSH from 1973 serves as a timely reminder of just how high his own discography has set the bar. From the opening salvo, the quite heavenly anthem, ‘Peace Go With You Brother’ to the stinging spoken word of ‘H2Ogate Blues’ via the superb ‘The Bottle’ and ‘Your Daddy Loves You,’ this is a grandstanding display of a musical talent at its zenith. Like some of his other great works from the period, Winter In America reveals Scott-Heron to be a fine vocalist as well as proto-rapper and the heightened sensitivity with which he deploys his baritone is impressive to say the least. Lest we forget, this is a joint record and it belongs as much to pianist Brian Jackson as Scott-Heron. Jackson's playing and co-writing were a key element of Scott-Heron's artistic development and their combined ability to mould jazz, soul, gospel and Afro-Cuban influences into one coherent whole is not to be underestimated. In the fairly limpid, pared-down setting of drums, bass and keys, Scott-Heron's voice really seems to come alive and the astute use of glowing harmonic and tonal colour simply reinforces that. As exciting as it is to have him back in 2010, there is nonetheless a slight regret that GSH has returned without a man by the name of Brian Jackson, as this work makes clear.