Scritti Politti
Posted: Nov 28, 2025 2:33 am
I don’t know if ANYONE here is interested in Scritti, but what the hell. Some days I just have to write stuff out.
Most people have no idea how wondrously eclectic Scritti’s output has been. They are synonymous with fiercely intricate dance synthpop in the mid 80s and I adore that, but their other stuff is wildly different and rewarding. Green’s divine vocals and his gift for melody shine throughout. Here’s a song from each album to graze (with one album two songs cos it was impossible to choose).
THE SWEETEST GIRL
This is early scrunchy lo-fi Scritti, from Songs To Remember. In their early days they used to be a collective of 15 people in a squat - less a band and more of a lifestyle choice. Most songs were avant garde but this was the early one (later covered by Madness) that showed their pop leanings with a pretty melody and a fantastic ramshackle groove – what a bass line.
PERFECT WAY
Some here may know the Miles Davis version. Cupid & Psyche 85 is best known for all their biggest hits – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin), The Word Girl and Absolute. The first two I particularly treasure, but this is the one that I’ve always felt was the peak, especially this over-hyped Francois Kevorkian mix which SLAMS into the compressors – I can feel the warmth of the red lights glowing on my face. The chord stabs in the verse are eternally delightful to me.
OH PATTI (DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR LOVERBOY)
Provision is perhaps the album that has aged least well. It was a notoriously relentless recording of clinical technical obsession which sent Green virtually insane. Somehow for all that attention to detail the balls is entirely missing in the mix, but I still enjoy David Gamson's intricate synth programming. Oh Patti - featuring a solo from that Miles Davis - is the jewel, although it is tinged with sadness for me personally. My hearing has deteriorated to the point where I can no longer hear that pristine very high tambourine.
UMM
Now we enter the lesser-known era where a myriad of other musical influences flood in, often during the same song as here where I count jazz funk, indie, metal, pop and hip hop all in the same 4 minutes. I absolutely ADORE this, it totally works. “Too much umm drives a man insane” is one of my all-time favourite lyrics. I think he really means it and I can relate.
BRUSHED WITH OIL, DUSTED WITH POWDER
Also from the wonderful Anomie and Bonhomie, this sugary warmth is something of a soothing balm to round off the album's many jagged edges. Pure late-night cinema in a pop song - a magnificent string arrangement.
MRS HUGHES
For the sixth and most recent album (2006), Green retired hermit-like to his own home studio working purely solo. There is something comforting, magical and very human about the results which positively embrace rough edges, a belated plea for forgiveness from his most extreme technical obsessions of the past perhaps. Like Umm, this is another wild collision of genres, but less disciplined and utterly charming. The album has only two moments of his dance/funk roots, and one delightfully appears briefly at the end of this song for no good reason – it bubbles up in a way that feels like he can never entirely repress his desire to groove.
Apparently Green still records new material every single day and has been putting the finishing touches to his seventh album now for many, many years. Too much umm, still. God bless his eccentric cotton socks.
Most people have no idea how wondrously eclectic Scritti’s output has been. They are synonymous with fiercely intricate dance synthpop in the mid 80s and I adore that, but their other stuff is wildly different and rewarding. Green’s divine vocals and his gift for melody shine throughout. Here’s a song from each album to graze (with one album two songs cos it was impossible to choose).
THE SWEETEST GIRL
This is early scrunchy lo-fi Scritti, from Songs To Remember. In their early days they used to be a collective of 15 people in a squat - less a band and more of a lifestyle choice. Most songs were avant garde but this was the early one (later covered by Madness) that showed their pop leanings with a pretty melody and a fantastic ramshackle groove – what a bass line.
PERFECT WAY
Some here may know the Miles Davis version. Cupid & Psyche 85 is best known for all their biggest hits – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin), The Word Girl and Absolute. The first two I particularly treasure, but this is the one that I’ve always felt was the peak, especially this over-hyped Francois Kevorkian mix which SLAMS into the compressors – I can feel the warmth of the red lights glowing on my face. The chord stabs in the verse are eternally delightful to me.
OH PATTI (DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR LOVERBOY)
Provision is perhaps the album that has aged least well. It was a notoriously relentless recording of clinical technical obsession which sent Green virtually insane. Somehow for all that attention to detail the balls is entirely missing in the mix, but I still enjoy David Gamson's intricate synth programming. Oh Patti - featuring a solo from that Miles Davis - is the jewel, although it is tinged with sadness for me personally. My hearing has deteriorated to the point where I can no longer hear that pristine very high tambourine.
UMM
Now we enter the lesser-known era where a myriad of other musical influences flood in, often during the same song as here where I count jazz funk, indie, metal, pop and hip hop all in the same 4 minutes. I absolutely ADORE this, it totally works. “Too much umm drives a man insane” is one of my all-time favourite lyrics. I think he really means it and I can relate.
BRUSHED WITH OIL, DUSTED WITH POWDER
Also from the wonderful Anomie and Bonhomie, this sugary warmth is something of a soothing balm to round off the album's many jagged edges. Pure late-night cinema in a pop song - a magnificent string arrangement.
MRS HUGHES
For the sixth and most recent album (2006), Green retired hermit-like to his own home studio working purely solo. There is something comforting, magical and very human about the results which positively embrace rough edges, a belated plea for forgiveness from his most extreme technical obsessions of the past perhaps. Like Umm, this is another wild collision of genres, but less disciplined and utterly charming. The album has only two moments of his dance/funk roots, and one delightfully appears briefly at the end of this song for no good reason – it bubbles up in a way that feels like he can never entirely repress his desire to groove.
Apparently Green still records new material every single day and has been putting the finishing touches to his seventh album now for many, many years. Too much umm, still. God bless his eccentric cotton socks.