Scritti Politti

Green, incidentally, was one of the best interviewees I've ever interviewed. Funny, smart, charming, forthcoming, totally pleasant.

everything up to then is ace tho.

;)

Think about it.

utter cheese - you're friend probably played you the Miles Davis version ;-)

Yay, by the way.

You got me. He was hearing things I didn't, perhaps.

their music is delicious, delectable; hypnotize, absolute ( version ) first goodbye- ambrosial, gorgeous.

though i hate provision - just sounds plastic and bored.

is he likely to do another album ever- did anomie sell? i'd love it if somone e-mailed me

Or maybe "And I never will forget the perfect way, girl I'm gonna miss you"?

:).

Does this only sound good because I am grinning so widely at Tracer's friend confusing Scritti Politti and Milli Vanilli?

Pop legend plays first gig for 26 years

In an era when any former pop star still breathing - and even some that aren't - is liable to make a comeback, the reappearance of Scritti Politti, one of the 80s' most influential bands, still has the power to startle. On Saturday night a south London pub played host to an unheralded gig by Double G and the Treacherous 3, the incognito adopted by bandleader Green Gartside for his first live performance in 26 years.

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Ambling on stage without fanfare, second on the bill at Brixton's 100-capacity Windmill, Gartside was characteristically self-effacing, apologising for a rather rough-and-ready sound and encouraging the audience to consider the performance a public rehearsal. His new band of four other musicans - based in Hackney where Gartside now lives, and one of whom has never played in a band before - played a short set of songs from his forthcoming album, to a rapturous reception.

Scritti Politti, of course, began life in the then newly-fashionable era just after punk rock as a wilfully chaotic trio, blending arcane New Left politics - the band's name conflating Little Richard's Tutti Frutti with Italian anarcho-socialist Antonio Gramsci's Scritti di Economia Politica - with scratchy punk guitars, dub reggae and folk rock. After a period of intense reflection, influenced as much by post-Marxist philosophy as by a new love for black American dance music - Gartside relaunched the band, retaining his lyrics' complex critiques of late capitalism, but embracing a much poppier sound.

With help from soul and funk luminaries such as Nile Rodgers and Aretha Franklin's producer Arif Mardin, Gartside scored a string of international hits in the 1980s with records such as Wood BEEZ, Absolute and Oh Patti. By this stage, however, Gartside had long since stopped playing concerts, finding that live performance reliably struck him down with crippling panic attacks.

In the age of MTV, however, Scritti Politti - by now, effectively, a one-man band - was able to sustain a highly influential career. As well as working on his own records with artists as diverse as Shabba Ranks and Miles Davis and writing songs for the likes of Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau, Scritti Politti's lush pop soul left an enduring mark on the UK music scene. Madness scored a hit with a cover of The 'Sweetest Girl', and Gartside's sugar-sweet vocals have featured on records by Elvis Costello, the Eurythmics and most recently Kylie Minogue. At the same time - something of a one-off for a pop musician - Gartside became friendly with the late French philosopher Jacques Derrida, having eulogised his work in song.

At the end of the 80s, disillusioned by the relentless triviality involved in promoting his records on American TV, Gartside retreated from view to a cottage in his native Wales. One album, Anomie and Bonhomie, heavily influenced by American hip-hop and featuring rap luminaries including Mos Def appeared in 2000 to critical acclaim but only very modest commercial success.

His reappearance as a live performer is likely to cause rather more ripples. A startlingly well-preserved 50-year-old, Gartside is clearly not returning to the music scene to cash in on 80s nostalgia. There were no songs on Saturday from his glory years: instead, the audience heard a selection of new songs, ranging from crashing guitars to velvety ballads; drawing on a spectrum of musical styles from hip-hop to Britpop. The only familiar element in the mix was Gartside's choirboy-soul vocals, still one of the most distinctive voices around.

Speaking after the concert, Gartside said he had returned to live performance as a result of living in east London, going to gigs and meeting a lot of other musicians who regularly played live. "It was a kind of experiment to see if I would get the panic attacks again. And I didn't, so I guess I'm over it."

With a new album due out in the Spring - under his own name rather than the Scritti brand - and having enjoyed himself on Saturday, Gartside is currently planning more low-key gigs. It seems doubtful that they will be low-key for very long.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1682443,00.html

If anyone could find me even one decent review of that album, I'd appreciate it.

AMG 4/5 stars (2nd highest rated album in the S.P. discography)
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=SCRITTI|POLITTI&uid=CAW030601100052&sql=11:8tkmu3u5an6k~T2

Leonard's Lair 4/5 stars
http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/scritti.htm

Nude as the News: "an impressive effort on all fronts"
http://www.nudeasthenews.com/reviews/90

NME 7/10
http://microsites.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19990620102858reviews.html

"the likes of 'Tinseltown To The Boogiedown' and 'Die Alone' see Scritti effectively sampling themselves, Gartside's prissy helium vocals - an acquired taste, it's fair to say - looped on the choruses, leaving his expensively-assembled team of rappers to freestyle the rest of the song. Like Puffy Combs had written 'Every Breath You Take' as well as 'I'll Be Missing You', in essence."

It was mentioned on the "shortwave set gig" thread, but hardly anybody read that. The main discussion hitherto has been on ILE here:

THE SHORTWAVE SET AND SCRITTI POLITTI

NME 7/10
http://microsites.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19990620102858reviews.html

Wow, who knew? All I remember was a litany of reviews in the likes of Mojo and Uncut saying how half-assed it was. And it was.

Taller than I expected.

I loved it. They kicked off with 'Boom Boom Bap'- just Green and backing tapes, this- a song that wouldn't have sounded out of place on anything from Cupid & Psyche onwards. Very pretty. The rest of the set was with the full band. Some of the songs were just snatches, a verse and a chorus, but all of it melodic. It's standard crystal Green pop with a few more guitars than usual, the odd country tinge, a shared vocal or two.

I was all giddy by the end, and went to shake his hand. He said, 'Thanks for coming.' Wow.

was "a little knowledge" covered by anybody? i seem to have a dim recollection of it being covered by an alternative rock group of the early 90s. does this ring a bell for anybody?

i'm also considering the possibility that it was used in a movie soundtrack.

^^ my favourite scritti song, would love/hate to hear a cover of it

but man, i just came here to say that 'boom! there she was (dub)' is the sicknesssss

love that whole record, Roger Troutman, Miles Davis, Oh Patti, all of it...

Greatest mystery in musical history: how after Tinseltown To The Boogiedown, Green wasn’t simply flown to the US, put up in a mansion and given $100,000 a pop to sing the hook on every crossover rap record ever

Evidently there's a greatest hits record out soon called Absolute - more Provision and Anomie than you might expect, no White Bread, a couple of new tracks?

cool!

a quick amazon search turns up some great cover art (par for the course for scritti, duh)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51otlo-kb9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

and a few details on the record:

ABSOLUTE is the first ever career-spanning collection of words and music by Scritti Politti - including two new and exclusive tracks. This collection includes: - Debut single, 'Skank Bloc Bolonga' - Singles from 1982 album Songs to Remember (UK chart position #12) - 'The Sweetest Girl' (later covered by Madness), featuring Robert Wyatt, on piano. 'Asylums In Jerusalem' and 'Jacques Derrida' - Five singles from the bands most successful album Cupid & Psyche 85 (UK chart position #5), produced by legendary producer Arif Mardin: 'Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha)' (UK #10), 'Absolute' (UK #17), 'Hypnotise', 'The Word Girl' (UK #6) and 'Perfect Way' (US #11). - Two tracks taken from their third album, Provision (UK #8) - 'Oh Patti (Don't feel sorry for loverboy)' featuring a trumpet solo from jazz genius Miles Davis (who himself covered Scritti's 'Perfect Way' at the Montreux Jazz Festival, July 1988), plus 'Boom! There She Was' featuring legendary musician Roger Troutman. - Top 20 single 'She's a Woman' a cover of The Beatles track, featuring guest vocals from Shabba Ranks - Four songs from 1999's universally acclaimed album Anomie and Bonhomie, 'Tinseltown To The Boogiedown' (featured guests Mos Def and Jimhal), 'Umm', 'Die Alone' and 'Brushed With Oil', 'Dusted With Powder'. - Two new and exclusive tracks 'A Day Late and a Dollar Short' and 'A Place We Both Belong' - the first to be released/co-written with long-time collaborator David Gamson since Anomie and Bonhomie.

new tracks sound interesting & HOLY SHIT i need to hear that miles davis cover right now!!

lol this is not mindblowing or anything-- but yes, it is miles fuckin davis covering scritti politti

wowowowow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hs-Ic-VobY

Nothing from "White Bread" but 2 new tracks?

Bit of a miss, that.

white bread black bore, amirite?

j/k i love that record :(

Suprised I never posted on this thread before. I <3 <3 Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche has been one of my steady go-to albums since it came out, so for all my music lovin' life basically.

Big feature in today's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/22/green-gartside-scritti-politti-interview

"Oh Patti" is so fragile and beautiful.

Whoever wrote the headline for that Green interview is an epic cunt.

"the world girl" ranking ann remix ftw

some ah dem ah use manipulation
and some ah dem practice exploitation
it's just one ting when you're a woman
it sometimes feel like ten against one
and let me tell you something now that's no fun!

fucking WORD girl. not world. drunk