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First, I'll agree with the consensus, buy more than three. that said, Victor Brown's vocals on "The Liberation Song," "Western Sunrise," and "A Toast to the People," are transcendent, so even though From South Africa to South Carolina and First Minute of the New Day are really of a piece, the both belong in a GSH collection. As a third pick, I'd go with his penultimate album, Spirits. Individually, each song on that album is practically flawless. I mean, I'd probably listened to "Message to the Messengers" a dozen times before I realized that the poem rhymed, his flow was so natural. The vibe on that album as a whole...it's an album that was worth the twelve year wait from his last. The thing is, all of that can be seen as a bonus to "The Other Side" which is worth the price on its own. It is the bookend and revisitation of (his oft-visited) "Home is Where the Hatred Is." It's not the celebration that song became in in his middle career, but the completion of the circle. Where the first recording of that song is him watching the junkie walking through the twilight, on "The Other Side," he is the junkie, he's inside the song in a way he never was before.
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box ___ Just looking out of the window Watching the asphalt grow Thinking how it all looks hand-me-down
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