Scritti Politti: Classic Or Dud

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

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)

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.

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.

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 ?)

If anyway would burn the early stuff onto CD for me I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks, but I discovered I still have them on my iPod so don't bother. What I really need is Soulseek, but I have a mac and limited hard drive space soI'll just have to wait a while.

great news though. RT still has to pay him royalties, right?

can someone email me the first peel session? i accidently deleted them and can't use slsk right now.

According to Green's own sleeve notes, "the masters are long lost".

Tracklisting:

1. Skank Bloc Bologna
2. Is and Ought the Western World
3. 28/8/78
4. Scritlocks Door
5. OPEC - IMMAC
6. Messthetics
7. Hegemony
8. Bibbly-o-Tek
9. Doubt Beat
10. Confidence
11. P.A.S
12. The “Sweetest Girl”
13. Lions After Slumber

Rough Trade, RTRADCD188

According to Green's own sleeve notes, "the masters are long lost".

And for all that this is a pretty good remastering job, sounds just fine -- I'd draw a general comparison to, say, the proper Cog Sinister rerelease of Fall in a Hole + in terms of a vinyl remastering sounding very well. The quieter spaces and minimal touches of the earlier work come through nicely.

and what are the odds that versions on soulseek were digitised by me? see the desperate bicycles thread...

Heh, the Desperate Bicycles are indeed specifically credited by Green in the liner notes as having 'galvanized (the original band) into action,' so there ya go. (Not that this was any shock, I'm sure.)

maybe his paymaster record co. just ain't "commie" these days ?

I think I have only EVER seen this on vinyl and have it on cassette somewhere not available to me at the moment. Wait. Let me think...no I don't think I have this one with me! And guilt will eat my insides like bugs all night. Until I have it again.

Thanks for your help!

I'm pretty sure "Lions After Slumber" is re-recorded, by the sound of it. "The Sweetest Girl" is harder to tell, although it sounds tons better on my remastered Songs to Remember CD. Both versions were recorded by the same engineer in the same studio, though.

Green was one of the rudest, begrudging, non-responsive wankers I ever tried to interview (1985). But then, maybe he was hungover or having a bad day. Of course I can be an asshole at times, too.

In any case, the version of "The 'Sweetest Girl'" heard here is different from the more familiar version heard on 1982's Songs To Remember album, with which every child should be issued at birth. There is a different vocal, though gliding with equal ease from the personal to the political and back again ("She left because she understood the value of defiance") and Robert Wyatt's keyboards are much more in evidence, with greater deployment of dub echo. The rather dry album mix now turns into a hymn whose tender grandeur allows us to forget the persuasive poison in its heart, though it's a shame that the track is faded before Wyatt reaches his dissonant keyboard coda (and how appropriate that Robert Wyatt should now enter the Scritti story in the environment of a song which arguably could not have been possible without the precedent of "Oh Caroline," not to mention "Sea Song").

The original B-side, "Lions After Slumber," is similarly far spikier and far more sheerly danceable than its album version, with slap bass and entertainingly discursive Chris McGregor-ish piano both played by the mysterious "Mike" (does anyone out there know exactly who this was?) backing a far more voluptuous vocal itemising by Green of everything he owns and which defines him, tangible and intangible.

And Love of a Lifetime was a great fit for Chaka!

Wood Beez is as fresh today as it ever was. I bought Cupid & Psyche three times as a soulstruck 13 year old (WH Smith was always the master of duff tape copies, so I switched to LP in the end), and picked it up again on CD last year. A couple of years later, Provision was my most anticipated album, and it doesn't disappoint. Anomie & Bonomie is another perfectly produced gem, but maybe a notch or two below the rest. Didn't pick up Songs To Remember until a couple of years back, but it's right up there too- probably the most-played band on my trusty iRiver.

I bought Early the other day, and played it directly after Bloc Party. I don't think bands should bother competing with the original early 80s set.

awesome

I love how Trevor Jackson played the System and Robert Palmer's "You Are in My System" and forced Green to choose.

Goodness -- I didn't know about this Pete Rock remix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywr4GN6DS5E

Kraftwerk saying they hate reggae vs. Robert Palmer calling while swimming with dolphins.

Green's the 600th person to insist that Palmer's appetite for music was at odds with his image.

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...

ICYMI, two new Green songs (a single, in fact) released yesterday:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0kSN6bCRIdNskZmOlQhnVg?si=jksozpT_QbCSJWogjUBrtw

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.

imo it totally works

green is ashamed of the foo fighters worship tracks but i love them, great power-pop

"Brushed With Oil.." ranks among his best too, and I love the remixes.

Still thinking about it.

yes "brushed with oil" is gorgeous

i think "umm" is one of my top five scritti songs

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.

https://scrittipolitti.ffm.to/reissues

vinyl reissues of cupid & psyche and anomie and bonhomie

yes i bought both immediately

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...

Still can't get over the name Green Gartside, I love it

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.