Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Secrets (1978) [Reissue 2009]

Secrets was released in September 1978 by Arista Records[3] and debuted at number 31 on the Billboard magazine's jazz chart on September 9.[4] According to Arista executive Clive Davis, the album was Scott-Heron's first since 1975's The First Minute of a New Day to reach the top 100 of Billboard's top albums chart, while the single "Angel Dust" nearly became a hit.[5]

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1979, Robert Christgau lamented the lack of hooks on songs such as "Third World Revolution" but appreciated "Show Bizness"'s "tribulations-of-stardom" theme and "educational refrain". His main point of praise was for Scott-Heron's political flair, writing that he "stokes the protest-music flame more generously than any son of Woody, and in sheer agitprop terms 'Angel Dust,' one of those black-radio hits that somehow never crossed over, is his triumph--haunting music of genuine political usefulness."[6] People magazine appreciated the record's jazz sounds from Jackson and the Midnight Band, while calling Secrets "another angry, robust collection of song-poems, this time exploring injustice, drug addiction and revolution".[7] Tristan Bath of The Quietus later said it departed from the jazz chords, faint keyboard, and Afrocentric themes of Scott-Heron and Jackson's previous recordings together in favor of "disco and futurist dance music tropes".[8] Colin Larkin gave the album three out of five stars in his Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music (2002).[9] AllMusic assigned it three-and-a-half stars on its website and three stars in the print All Music Guide to Soul, but omitted a review in both instances.[3][10]

The album track "Better Days Ahead" was later reworked and released on Scott-Heron's 2014 posthumous compilation Nothing New