― Tom, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I guess the problem is that I've always found that the likes of Scritti and Prefab Sprout musically just TOO close to the middle of the road to grab my attention for long enough.
The VERY early stuff, "Skank..." etc was good.
― Dr. C, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Patrick, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― David, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(i've just heard about Hearsay causing bad vibes by shock appearance at WOW festival on THE ONLY DAY I DIDN'T GO - supposedly lots of drunken aggro ensued )
― geordie racer, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
They are, as you say, fantastic-*sounding* records; among the pop singles which I can listen to over and over again and still expect to be finding something new. I can barely describe the excitement "Wood Beez", especially, inspires in me; it's almost falling over itself with interest in, and fascination with, love and pop.
"Jacques Derrida", "Skank Bloc Bologna", "Perfect Way" (*how* could that single have missed the UK Top 40?), "Oh Patti" and "Prince Among Men" as well. So, yeah, classic in excelsis.
― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(Actually from my mate Dunc's car, I mean: I was still in transmit...)
I believe this was the last anyone saw of him anywhere ever.
― mark s, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― s woods, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
'The Sweetest Girl' is just terrific (although it wouldn't be half as good if Robert Wyatt wasn't noodling away on organ in the background) but most of the rest of the first album is pretty ordinairy.
The other three LPs have all got some shit but the other great songs on them more than make up for the lapses.
― philT, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I don't know the earliest stuff.
― Tom, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Dr. C, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― JoB, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Otherwise? I love the sound of Scritti more than the performances - Green is too dispassionate for me. He should have been funny - a Ferry /Eno synthesis, but as the only romantic new-romantic he took himself far too seriously.
― Guy, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Also like a good solo the Arif Mardin trickbox is in the service of a greater whole - "Wood Beez", though the chorus is a bit coy, *moves* me.
― David, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I'm a bit ignorant of the early singles, but what I've heard is appealling scruffy and knotted. After that, of course, Green runs a mighty steel comb through the music and it's all midday sun gleaming off polished girders. "The 'Sweetest' Girl" is magnificent; I've never quite been able to decide whether it's "Wood Beez" or "Absolute" that stands as the asphyxiating pinnacle of 'Cupid & Psyche'. The collaborations and odd singles are mostly terrific; just as I'd never heard of Bermondsey before Peter Tatchell brought it to my attention, I suspect GG introduced me to Miles Davis.
Which leaves 'Anomie and Bonhomie' - which I like more in theory than practise, and a whole lot more than the fellow who lent it to me*. The gas-croon is still intact, and even the guitar-heavy moments have this cut-glass quality. Hyperventilating hyphens! Lysergic dandy axis!
(* - badly structured sentence; I don't like the LP as much as the *person* who lent it to me. He's funnier.)
― Michael Jones, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I quite like the early tracks I've heard ("Skank Bloc Bologna" and "Messthetics"). They sound like a band with *ambition* to move away from the post-punk rabble, and a more precise ambition (not better or worse, just different) than that being displayed at the time by, say, the Fall.
― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Anyway, Holy shit! It's fantastic. The surface gloss is in fact made up of a billion clever bass 'n percussion 'n keyboard speaker- twisting studio-tricks which sound fresh and fun. Three of the songs (Oh Patti, First Boy in This Town (Lovesick) and Philosophy Now) have better pop hooks than I've heard for years. So, Cupid and Psyche next - might be prepared to spend £1.50 this time!
― Dr. C, Friday, 21 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I love the way that the Mardin productions and the band productions *sound* completely different yet meet the same spec. of precision and accuracy.
― Dr. C, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
i recently burned myself a comp of 15 or so of the earliest SP songs (basically the first 4 singles/peel sessions.) it's been about all i've wanted to listen to while sick. "skank" and "messthetics" in particular have been oddly soothing.
― jess, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― electric sound of jim, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 20 March 2003 23:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 20 March 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 20 March 2003 23:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 20 March 2003 23:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 20 March 2003 23:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― benito mussolinington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 10:04 (nineteen years ago) link
but i think he was just as clever on the first albums/stuff,
i never got to hear the first songs in any form until very recently, except for the poltical excesses of NME interviews circa early scritti stance, which made for entertaining rock stars, and i'm getting my head around those songs and they're sinking in just like the other two records
i think of the 4 A sides stuff as content art-punk, so the beautiful pop charms of the arty '85, not short on content as crafted pop songs with good hooks and construction, i suspect some people find it sexy
― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:43 (nineteen years ago) link
Well, I've read every Scritti thread recently so here you are:
The sound of Scritti Politti 1978 to 1985 is essentially the sound of Green Gartside getting better in bed.
-- Tom (ebro...), December 3rd, 2001 7:00 PM.(Scritti Politti)
― artdamages (artdamages), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:56 (nineteen years ago) link
yes, i got the impression Green was a fun person to be in the company of -- i read numerous new wave articles in the NME at that age as a matter of daily routine, so it's with some pleasure that i actually remember a particular NME feature (i was very young), since not having had much money as a kid, i'd been handsomely rewarded with both their/his records.
― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:59 (nineteen years ago) link
you got it wrong. the most disappointing meeting with someone who was and still remains a bit of a hero of my youth possible. smug and arrogant is the way i'd put it.
― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:01 (nineteen years ago) link
was the unpeasantness there in the early phase ? was it bought out later with his subsequent success ? (Michael Jackson associations ?)
(will this gossip just lead to "i didn't want to know that stuff since yeah he was a kind'a cool hero", Dave ?)
― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sean Thomas (sgthomas), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sean Thomas (sgthomas), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:34 (nineteen years ago) link
If anyway would burn the early stuff onto CD for me I'd be forever grateful.
― artdamages (artdamages), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:03 (nineteen years ago) link
I don't think Dr C was disparaging explanation, Alfred, I think that comment was part of the ongoing old-ilx discussion of the value of "chops". If someone back then had pitched up and said "I like record X because that dude is so good on the guitar" they would have been disparaged, so the Doctor was asking why it's better to say "I like record Y because that dude is so good at using the studio."
I think its the lack of explanation he's pointing out - what he wants is "this production is great because it does this and this and that ends up doing this and this to me when I listen to it".
The nearest old-ILM came to a consensus, I think, was that no-one wanted to value technique for its own sake, thinking end product more interesting.
― Tim, Friday, 6 February 2015 09:49 (nine years ago) link
old ilm = old punks.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 6 February 2015 11:13 (nine years ago) link
Here they come, shalalala laa laaa, shalalala laa laaa, The part time ILXors
They post on Tuesdays...
(etc)
― Mark G, Friday, 6 February 2015 12:08 (nine years ago) link
the production on this (and david gamson's fairlight programming) is sublime.
In 10 years time this will be "ah old ILM".
― Utterly huggers (Tom D.), Friday, 6 February 2015 12:30 (nine years ago) link
I remember when "Cupid" came out and thinking it was just the thing I'd been looking for - "new wave" people doing r & b. Recently this promoted me to listen to all of the late seventies & early 80's funk I could find, it goes better with that music.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Friday, 6 February 2015 13:42 (nine years ago) link
is this the most delightful bedroom guitar youtube of all time??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPClpdbnbk0
― goole, Friday, 8 January 2016 21:13 (eight years ago) link
chik-kahhhhh
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 8 January 2016 21:20 (eight years ago) link
hey so i will be at the show this friday if any of you will too
― maura, Tuesday, 2 February 2016 16:25 (eight years ago) link
:)
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/01056/97120514-cb58-11e5_1056010b.jpg
following the recent white-person-with-dreadlocks conversation, I was wondering if scritti's original drummer tom morley was the first white-person-with-dreadlocks pop star? I'm probably forgetting someone really obvious
― soref, Wednesday, 30 March 2016 19:11 (eight years ago) link
he still has dreadlocks btw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EG3LO3i4FI
Wonder if we'll get a new album from him soon? Already eight years since White Bread Black Beer.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, January 28, 2014 1:35 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Weird to think that he's in his 60s now.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 12:58 (seven years ago) link
he is appearing at the 'end of the road' festival later this year, so perhaps there is new material to showcase.
― mark e, Thursday, 26 May 2016 13:01 (seven years ago) link
he's been threatening a new album this year, but who knows
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Thursday, 26 May 2016 13:08 (seven years ago) link
he played new stuff in February!!
― maura, Thursday, 26 May 2016 15:46 (seven years ago) link
Screeetti Poleeetti's guide to DIY record releasing (from 1980):
https://twitter.com/MusicLikeDirt/status/756564212760084484
― Jeff W, Saturday, 23 July 2016 16:23 (seven years ago) link
My favorites. They make my heart invincible.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 June 2017 02:25 (six years ago) link
alfred can i just say how much i love your blog?
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 2 June 2017 08:13 (six years ago) link
Echoing that completely (your aloneness piece was great as well). I'd probably pick the same 15 tbh.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 2 June 2017 09:24 (six years ago) link
thank you both!!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 June 2017 10:23 (six years ago) link
Do fans of this group like these songs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RydKrJo0mkohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJkvyZ73kZ0
― billstevejim, Friday, 4 January 2019 22:53 (five years ago) link
This is what it sounds like to me.
― billstevejim, Friday, 4 January 2019 22:54 (five years ago) link
i do
― maura, Saturday, 5 January 2019 02:13 (five years ago) link
Obvious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuWE26Qwqdg
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 5 January 2019 02:32 (five years ago) link
I wanted to post this live recording up as I was going back through hard drives and have been listening to it quite a bit recently.
It's from The University Of London 11-16-1979, pretty fascinating, in my humble.
I had read that they made songs up on the fly during performances and was always a bit sceptical, but this recording bears that out and the whole gig seems, well really quite fraught but compelling.
It's interesting to hear them pull a song out of thin air and there's also a song that I can't find any mention of on Google called "John's on the dole' (the notes call it 'drums on the door' though) which is pretty great despite equipment problems and what sounds like some very vocal, smart alec-y mates in the audience.
https://we.tl/t-SzlTBDz7zf
― MaresNest, Saturday, 3 August 2019 20:39 (four years ago) link
Great in depth interview by Trevor Jackson with Green Gartside on NTS
https://www.mixcloud.com/NTSRadio/trevor-jackson-green-gartside-29th-october-2019/
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, 31 October 2019 03:19 (four years ago) link
THANKS!!!
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Thursday, 31 October 2019 04:36 (four years ago) link
somehow it's amazing to hear GG talking like a normal person thinking about things. I have actually met and spoken to him irl, fwiw, but the meeting is a blur. We talked about the fact that we were both wearing very similar yellow jackets. It's honestly the only thing I remember other than how tall he was (I'm tiny and was overwhelmed)
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Thursday, 31 October 2019 04:45 (four years ago) link
Yeah, this is really fascinating. (Just getting to the end right....now!) Thanks!
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Thursday, 31 October 2019 06:00 (four years ago) link
Thanks for sharing that, lovely stuff.
I can feel a Scritti jag coming on, where nothing else will do for a week or so.
― Michael Jones, Thursday, 31 October 2019 13:23 (four years ago) link
this is a phenomenal interview
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:18 (four years ago) link
:O @ that early version of "wood beez"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:36 (four years ago) link
That early version is as great in its own way.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:41 (four years ago) link
waiting to see if Green pops up at all in the Henry Cow book. Heard taht chris cutler was less than complementary about the early Scritti stuff he was played.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:47 (four years ago) link
awesome
― cheese canopy (map), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:59 (four years ago) link
I love how Trevor Jackson played the System and Robert Palmer's "You Are in My System" and forced Green to choose.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 October 2019 19:11 (four years ago) link
Goodness -- I didn't know about this Pete Rock remix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywr4GN6DS5E
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:00 (four years ago) link
Kraftwerk saying they hate reggae vs. Robert Palmer calling while swimming with dolphins.
― cheese canopy (map), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:04 (four years ago) link
Green's the 600th person to insist that Palmer's appetite for music was at odds with his image.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:09 (four years ago) link
No RP was a total music nerd...just look at his choice of covers...he even covered Husker Du...ps the story of his mum smashing the Beatles 7” was utterly heartbreaking...
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:46 (four years ago) link
ICYMI, two new Green songs (a single, in fact) released yesterday:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0kSN6bCRIdNskZmOlQhnVg?si=jksozpT_QbCSJWogjUBrtw
― Jeff W, Saturday, 20 June 2020 19:03 (three years ago) link
I've been dealing with Anomie and Bonhomie the last week. What an album. It doesn't work, but this collaboration between Gartside and Mos Def, Ndegeocello, etc is fascinating for its era. The rock guitar is a bit much.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 June 2020 19:27 (three years ago) link
imo it totally works
green is ashamed of the foo fighters worship tracks but i love them, great power-pop
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 June 2020 19:33 (three years ago) link
"Brushed With Oil.." ranks among his best too, and I love the remixes.
Still thinking about it.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 June 2020 19:34 (three years ago) link
yes "brushed with oil" is gorgeous
i think "umm" is one of my top five scritti songs
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 June 2020 20:01 (three years ago) link
I bought Anomie and Bonhomie not long after it came out. It was a complete WTF for most people, myself included. But even before it aged well—and that’s maybe a bit debatable and he sounds a bit like a guest at times—you had to tip your cap to the fact that the guy just gives no fucks and does what he wants, whether it’s the rap metal and fey grunge of this or the I’m-gonna-carbon-copy-my-best-album-and-top-it of Provision. Interested in the new single.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 2 July 2020 22:38 (three years ago) link
https://scrittipolitti.ffm.to/reissues
vinyl reissues of cupid & psyche and anomie and bonhomie
yes i bought both immediately
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, 3 June 2021 15:42 (two years ago) link
https://pocketmags.com/mojo-magazine/jun-22/articles/1133453/he-s-back-after-16-years-green-gartside-readies-scritti-politti-lp-six
just stumbled over this - didn't read the actual article but it sure sounds promising!fingers crossed...
― Pagoda, Thursday, 16 June 2022 09:01 (one year ago) link
Still can't get over the name Green Gartside, I love it
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 December 2022 19:58 (one year ago) link
There's a great recent episode of the Martyn Ware podcast with David Gamson as the guest. Some funny stories about the recording of Oh Patti and a surprising citing of 'We Don't Talk Any More' by Cliff Richard as a big musical influence. And it's led me to Hannah Diamond's music (Gamson is producing her new LP) and made me wish Green would make a hyperpop record - something that pushes 21st century sound design possibilities like C&P did back in '85.
― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Monday, 30 January 2023 13:51 (one year ago) link