Scritti Politti | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Scritti Politti is the primary vehicle for Welsh singer/songwriter Green Gartside. Few figures in pop music can claim Gartsides distinctive credentials: an artist who began in Londons subcutaneous underground in the late 70s but ultimately rose to the top of the U.K. pop charts, a serious devotee of linguistic structuralism who can hold his own in a conversation with his friend, arch deconstructionist Jacques Derrida, and a handsome, dreamy-eyed gentleman who has, in the opinion of one critic, "a voice thats eternally 14 years old" yet nonetheless stands six foot six in his stocking feet. Gartside grew up in South Wales, a brainy underachiever and, in his teen years, a member of the Young Communist League. Through the League he met future Scritti Politti bassist Nial Jinks. Gartside earned a scholarship to Leeds Art College, where he made the acquaintance of Scrittis future drummer, Tom Morley. In June 1978 Gartside and Morley dropped out of school and took up a flat in London, and Gartside invited Jinks to come out and join them. Inspired by the example of another little-known English group of that time, Desperate Bicycles, Scritti Politti made their first record when they were barely three months old, hand printing the covers and rubber-stamping the labels themselves. This record, Skank Bloc Bologna, sold a surprising 2,500 copies in this handmade edition. Afterward, Rough Trade took it over, ultimately moving about 15,000 copies of the title. Although listed as a member of the group on records and in photographs, Matthew Kay was the bands business manager and had little to contribute to Scritti Polittis music. At this stage, Scritti Polittis sound was scrappy, taut, and forthrightly experimental in style, utilizing abrupt changes, rhythmic displacements, and gritty and discordant harmonies tempered by Gartsides sweet vocalizing of impenetrably obscure lyrics, vaguely political in sense but temporal and abstract in meaning. Yet there was something catchy about what they were doing that stuck with the listener, and Rough Trade in particular was very excited about it. In quick succession, Rough Trade released the 12" EP 4 A-Sides (also known as Pre-Langue EP) and a four-track single of Scritti Polittis second Peel Session. The band was then added to a U.K. tour featuring Gang of Four and Joy Division, but Gartside was consumed by stage fright and anxiety, leading to his first heart attack at age 23. After completing the tour, Gartside decided to take a year off from music and returned to South Wales to refresh himself. When Gartside returned, it was a with a new Scritti Politti sound, now centered in pop but still retaining the obscure lyrical elements. A demo track, "The Sweetest Girl," was issued on a giveaway cassette in conjunction with an issue of NME, and it soon proved extremely popular in England. While the finished single of "The Sweetest Girl" did not appear for several months, sapping some of the momentum gained by the pre-release, the follow-up album, Songs to Remember, was issued to considerable critical acclaim in September 1981. The album made it to number one on the U.K. independent album chart and number six on the main U.K. pop chart. By this time, however, the band had fallen apart, and the last original member, drummer Tom Morley, departed that November. Gartside once again took time out to review his position, and in the meantime a bidding war began among major labels for his talents. Gartside had spent some time in New York on holiday during the making of Songs to Remember and had met another aspiring Rough Trade songwriter, David Gamson, who in turn introduced him to the drummer from Material, Fred Maher. They began to record as Scritti Politti in 1983 in sessions produced by Nile Rodgers, but Gartside decided, rightly, that Rough Trade didnt have the kind of budget that could support the type of pop music that he was then interested in pursuing. With Gartside and Rough Trade parting ways, the Rodgers-produced sessions never saw the light of day. After negotiating with various labels, including Atlantic Records, Gartside finally settled on an offer made by Virgin. Then he, Gamson, and Maher began slowly recording the group of singles that ultimately made up Cupid & Psyche 85. Cupid & Psyche 85, released in June of 1985, was a landmark album in many respects. No prior pop album had integrated the techniques of sampling and sequencing to such a great degree, and the technology of that time was both expensive to use and barely up to the task Scritti Politti demanded of it. Gartsides typically high-flown verbiage was as evident here as anywhere, but you didnt need to understand what he sang in order to enjoy the music. Certain songs are dialogues between Gartside and a female singer; as such, "A Little Knowledge" is a rare pop song that retains the characteristics of a mini-tragedy. Likewise, the bonus track of "Flesh and Blood," featuring Jamaican rapper Ann Swinton, sounds remarkably fresh and contemporary 20 years on. But the big hits from Cupid & Psyche 85 were "Wood Beez" and "The Word Girl" in the U.K., and "The Perfect Way" in the U.S., which reached number 11 in the Billboard Hot 100 and got heavy rotation on MTV. Not many albums from smack in the middle of the "Big 80s" can be said to possess the quality of timelessness, but Cupid & Psyche 85 most certainly does. The innovative aspects of Cupid & Psyche 85 were not lost on other musicians, who absorbed the technological lessons therein so quickly that few, if any, critics stopped to take note of where these ideas originally came from. After touring and promoting Cupid & Psyche 85, Gartside took some time off to work with other artists, notably Chaka Khan. Scritti Politti returned in 1988 with a new album, Provision, of which the intended hit, "Boom! There She Was," featured the talents of the late Roger Troutman. Provision found favor in the U.K., but had no effect whatsoever in the U.S., and worse, Gartside was personally unhappy with the album. By this time Gartsides stage fright had caused him to abandon live performance altogether, and the only promotional outlet for him was to do a grueling round of local talk shows answering dumb questions from interviewers who hadnt the slightest clue about Gartside or his work. Disgusted with music as a whole, Gartside dropped from sight again, and this time he did so for nearly a decade. Released in 1999, Anomie & Bonhomie marked Gartside and Scritti Polittis return to music, and it shows that he had by no means lost touch with current trends, working with rappers Mos Def and Jimahl and extending the Scritti Politti compass to include a full-blown hip-hop sound. It was a fine comeback effort, but received only a lukewarm response from the public. White Bread Black Beer, recorded entirely by Gartside, followed seven years later and had the benefit of closely tailing a wave of newfound interest in his career. (Rough Trade had released the Early compilation in 2005.) One can only hope that Gartside can keep at it, as while bands may come and bands may go, there is only one Green Gartside, a popular artist of rare integrity, poetry, and intelligence. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 9 Title: Songs to Remember Released: 1982-09 Tracks: 9 Duration: 43:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Asylums in Jerusalem (03:14) 2 A Slow Soul (03:17) 3 Jacques Derrida (04:59) 4 Lions After Slumber (06:10) 5 Faithless (04:15) 6 Sex (04:22) 7 Rock-A-Boy Blue (05:51) 8 Gettin’ Havin’ & Holdin’ (05:16) 9 The Sweetest Girl (06:16) |
| Songs to Remember : Allmusic album Review : One neednt look much further than the song titles on the back of Songs to Remember to be struck with the thought that Scritti Politti had changed their scheme. Gone were the days of "Bibbly-O-Tek" and "Skank Bloc Bologna," replaced by brow-raising titles like "Gettin Havin and Holdin" and, er, "Sex." Then theres the photo of Green Gartside -- he looks chipper! And at what point did his shoulders get so big? Oh, those must be shoulder pads. During a lengthy recovery process necessitated by a physical meltdown, Gartside found himself rejuvenated with a new agenda to become less like the Pop Group in favor of being more like a pop group; young communism would now be replaced by young romanticism. Influenced heavily by R&B; and lovers rock reggae, Gartside opted to aim his group at the pop charts. After cajoling his returning mates to go with the flow, Gartside took advantage of producer Adam Kidrons rare availability and went about recording Scritti Polittis first LP with most of the material far from realization. With the addition of a saxophonist and a trio of backing singers, Scritti resurfaced with a rather scatterbrained record. Sometimes it sounds like T. Rex in miniature form ("Jacques Derrida"); sometimes it sounds like wannabe Dirty Mind-era Prince ("Sex"); sometimes it sounds like wannabe Young Americans-era David Bowie ("A Slow Soul"). Despite the well-intended but overt appropriations, there are moments of full-on glory that arent sunk in their influences. The infectiously naïve "Asylums in Jerusalem" matches sunny reggae with 70s Stevie Wonder; the blue-eyed soul of "Faithless" is simply good, not simply red; and then theres the closing dessert of "The Sweetest Girl," a peerless block of lovers rock-inspired synth pop. In sum, theres as much to love as there is to skip. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 9 Title: Cupid & Psyche 85 Released: 1985-06-10 Tracks: 9 Duration: 38:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Word Girl (Flesh & Blood) (04:24) 2 Small Talk (03:39) 3 Absolute (04:25) 4 A Little Knowledge (05:02) 5 Dont Work That Hard (03:59) 6 Perfect Way (04:33) 7 Lover to Fall (03:51) 8 Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (12″) (04:48) 9 Hypnotize (short version) (03:34) |
| Cupid & Psyche 85 : Allmusic album Review : On their second album, Scritti Politti essentially was Green Gartside, who directed drummer Fred Maher, keyboardist David Gamson, and a multitude of studio musicians through a state-of-the-art, immaculately constructed set of catchy synth pop on Cupid & Psyche 85. The results are as impressive as Songs to Remember and produced the hit singles "Perfect Way" and "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)." | ||
 | Album: 3 of 9 Title: Provision Released: 1988-06-06 Tracks: 9 Duration: 39:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Boom! There She Was (04:59) 2 Overnite (04:44) 3 First Boy in This Town (Lovesick) (04:22) 4 All That We Are (03:31) 5 Best Thing Ever (03:51) 6 Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry for Loverboy) (04:22) 7 Bam Salute (04:33) 8 Sugar and Spice (04:11) 9 Philosophy Now (04:53) |
| Provision : Allmusic album Review : Provision expands the frothy, synthesized blue-eyed soul of Cupid & Psyche 85 by emphasizing the bouncy, mechanical dance-pop rhythms and creating lush backing tracks with layers of keyboards. To be certain, its a pleasant listen, and several tracks are pretty entertaining, but the music is so lightweight and Green Gartsides voice is so thin that the album virtually disappears into thin air, leaving behind no impression. That is, of course, with the exception of the unresolved question of why on earth Miles Davis contributed a trumpet solo to "Oh Patti." | ||
 | Album: 4 of 9 Title: Tinseltown to the Boogiedown Released: 1999 Tracks: 5 Duration: 23:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (04:55) 2 Umm (04:14) 3 Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (Psycho Les Variation) (05:00) 4 Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (Pete Rock Variation) (04:38) 5 Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (Ali Shaheed Muhammed Variation) (04:12) |
 | Album: 5 of 9 Title: Anomie & Bonhomie Released: 1999-07-26 Tracks: 11 Duration: 49:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Umm (04:14) 2 Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (Beatnuts remix) (04:55) 3 First Goodbye (05:13) 4 Die Alone (04:23) 5 Mystic Handyman (03:47) 6 Smith n Slappy (04:54) 7 Born to Be (03:52) 8 The World You Understand (Is Over+Over+Over) (03:13) 9 Here Come July (04:00) 10 Prince Among Men (04:46) 11 Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder (06:05) |
| Anomie & Bonhomie : Allmusic album Review : Scritti Politti finally delivered their fourth album, Anomie & Bonhomie, in the summer of 1999, nearly 15 years after their third. Such a long wait almost guarantees some change in the music, but the strange thing about Anomie & Bonhomie is how the updates -- rapper cameos, vague house beats, grunge guitars -- sound as if theyre pasted over backing tracks from 1986. Not necessarily a bad thing, but disconcerting, since the heart of this album is squarely in Cupid & Psyche 85 territory. Green Gartside still creates unabashedly fey, unapologetically smooth pop, sprinkled with hints of soul and dance. Greens high, thin voice takes some getting used to, as does his aesthetic. He likes melodies, but he likes surfaces and textures even more, particularly if theyre manufactured and polished. That was the very thing that made Cupid & Psyche 85 irresistible, at least to post-New Romantic new wavers, and parts of Anomie & Bonhomie work on that same appealingly slick level, since Green has a talent for constructing hooks and sounds. They dont necessarily add up to full-fledged songs, yet the feel is always right -- a light, persistent groove, swooning melodies, and a sense of twee sophistication. Thats why the contemporary flourishes dont fit -- theyre forced, and Green is at his best when he makes it all seem easy, no matter how intricately constructed his music is. Subsequent spins let Greens talents float to the surface, particularly on the luxurious "First Goodbye," the dancefloor opener "Umm," and "Mystic Handyman." If the album winds up succeeding on the strength of soundcraft instead of songcraft, thats the way Green works. While it may not be worth an extended wait, Anomie & Bonhomie ultimately remains faithful to the sophsti-pop aesthetic the band pioneered in the mid-80s. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 9 Title: Early Released: 2005-02-14 Tracks: 13 Duration: 47:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Skank Bloc Bologna (05:52) 2 Is and Ought the Western World (03:45) 3 28/8/78 (02:39) 4 Scritlocks Door (01:33) 5 OPEC-Immac (03:12) 6 Messthetics (01:47) 7 Hegemony (02:06) 8 Bibbly-O-Tek (03:29) 9 Doubt Beat (03:44) 10 Confidence (03:06) 11 P.A.s (05:59) 12 The "Sweetest Girl" (05:05) 13 Lions After Slumber (04:59) |
| Early : Allmusic album Review : The U.S. misunderstood a lot of foreign bands during the 70s and 80s. Ask fans of Gang of "I Love a Man in a Uniform" Four or pre-stadium Simple Minds, and theyll be happy to bitterly confirm it. Ask the average music fan who came of age during Scritti Polittis mainstream peak and he or she is likely to recall a one-hit wonder (wrong), a Color Me Badd precursor that appeared out of thin air (wrong again and yet again). Cupid & Psyche 85s end-to-end brilliance is another argument, but when that album was on the charts, few stateside listeners knew that Scritti Politti had a history. Several years before "Perfect Way," Scritti were post-punks who made frail political songs with guitars as linear as a balled-up entanglement of holiday lights, a rhythm section as slantwise as it was dubwise, and boyish vocals as sweet as they were hesitant. Though the voice of central member Green Gartside would eventually lose the latter characteristic, it seems to have remained a part of his personality. This disc, a compilation of his groups first four singles/EPs, wouldnt exist if he hadnt been badgered so much. Reading his liner notes that double as a disclaimer, its not hard to understand why, because hes not off base when he says, "It sounds like some anti-produced labour of negativity, kind of structurally unsound and exposed, by design and default." However, its these factors that help make the songs unpredictable, exciting, and ultimately thrilling -- hear the lazy lurch and hypnotic spirals in "Skank Bloc Bologna," the barely controlled tangents and tempo shifts in "Is and Ought the Western World," and all the retractions and stammering in "Messthetics," all seemingly happenstance works of sloppy borderline genius. "Hegemony," just as crucial, begins as a sprightly love song to a woman with an exotic name ("The fairest creature that ever I have seen") before turning into a seething rant against, well, hegemony ("You are the foulest creature that set apart a race"). Its not all leftist ideals and prone seams, though, with the inclusion of "The Sweetest Girl" and "Lions After Slumber," two glorious nudges toward the bright-eyed soul that was bubbling under the whole time. The sound of the recordings, mastered from vinyl, is vibrant enough to trick listeners into thinking that the masters were never "lost." | ||
 | Album: 7 of 9 Title: White Bread Black Beer Released: 2006-05-29 Tracks: 14 Duration: 50:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 The Boom Boom Bap (04:18) 2 No Fine Lines (01:43) 3 Snow in Sun (03:36) 4 Cooking (02:44) 5 Throw (03:20) 6 Dr. Abernathy (06:33) 7 After Six (02:13) 8 Petrococadollar (03:24) 9 E Eleventh Nuts (02:53) 10 Window Wide Open (03:12) 11 Road to No Regret (03:28) 12 Locked (04:17) 13 Mrs. Hughes (06:01) 14 Robin Hood (03:10) |
| White Bread Black Beer : Allmusic album Review : Unless you go strictly by the lyrics and/or the circumstances, the third and fourth Scritti Politti comeback albums are not very dissimilar. Theyre principally bright-colored guitar pop albums, though 2006s White Bread Black Beer features neither the guest MCs nor the deeply hip-hop-rooted arrangements that speckled 1999s Anomie & Bonhomie. Beneath that, everything on White Bread Black Beer was written and played by Green Gartside at his house, and the sleeve design of the album is credited in part to an Alys Gartside. Thats Greens wife. (For some longtime fans, Greens marriage might take longer to comprehend than the Miles Davis appearance on Provision.) While crippling uncertainty continues to play a role in Greens life and the frequency with which he records, hes clearly in a frame of mind that was previously foreign to him, or at least one that he has never exposed before. Lines like "Very strange about love, you can feel the sun, there is no end," "You will never need to doubt me," and "When Im with you, baby, I know just who I am" seem very unlike the person who once wrote "The Sweetest Girl," yet theres no reason to have a problem with them, especially since theyre cooed and crooned in a voice that has always seemed to be ideal for expressions of love and happiness. It remains inconceivable that anything other than some kind of honey-based elixir has ever slid down Greens throat; despite being in his fifties, he still sounds every bit the bright-eyed boy, even when hes alluding to the powders and liquids he has ingested. The songs, as far as the writing goes, are routinely terrific; however, the ones that rely most on convenient synthesized elements are a bit dainty and rudimentary and deserve to be made without the limitations of a home studio. The major exceptions are a pair of weightless lullabies, in addition to "Dr. Abernathy," a song that snaps into a merry super-powered bounce worthy of prime XTC. Its implanted references to philosophers who held court in 19th century German universities (Hegel) and on 20th century New York streets (Brand Nubian) are a dead giveaway that Green acted alone. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 9 Title: White Bread Black Beer – EP Released: 2006-11-07 Tracks: 3 Duration: 10:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Last Time I Looked (04:11) 2 Am I Right in Thinking (04:28) 3 When I Was Happy (01:52) |
 | Album: 9 of 9 Title: Absolute Released: 2011-02-28 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:16:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (03:34) 2 Absolute (04:25) 3 The Word Girl (Flesh and Blood) (03:19) 4 Perfect Way (04:04) 5 Hypnotize (short version) (03:34) 6 Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry for Loverboy) (04:22) 7 Boom There She Was (US mix) (04:16) 8 Umm (04:14) 9 Tinseltown to the Boogiedown (04:03) 10 Die Alone (04:23) 11 Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder (05:50) 12 Skank Bloc Bologna (05:52) 13 The Sweetest Girl (06:16) 14 Asylums in Jerusalem (03:14) 15 Jacques Derrida (04:59) 16 She’s a Woman (Little Way Different 7″) (03:28) 17 Day Late and a Dollar Short (03:14) 18 A Place We Both Belong (03:10) |