It's about effing time!
"Absolute - The Best Of Scritti Politti" is scheduled for release on March 29. Not only will it be their first career retrospective, rumor has it the collection will contain two brand new songs - "A Place We Both Belong" and "Day Late And A Dollar Short". Both were written by Green and keyboard wizzard, David Gamson. Dare we expect a dollop of the synth funk from '85?
No tracklisting has surfaced yet. And there's no telling which albums will be represented on the collection. I, for one, would like to see all the single versions represented in gloriously remastered sound.
Scritti Politti first debuted on the UK singles chart with "The Sweetest Girl" nearly 30 years ago. Their complete singles output, not including their punk releases, is as follows:
1. "The Sweetest Girl" (1981)
1. "The Sweetest Girl" (1981)
2. "Faithless" (1982)
3. "Asylums In Jerusalem"/"Jacques Derrida" (1982)
4. "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" (1984)
5. "Absolute" (1984)
6. "Hypnotize" (1984)
7. "The Word Girl" (1985)
8. "Perfect Way" (1985)
9. "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)" (1988)
10. "First Boy In This Town (Lovesick)" (1988)
11. "Boom! There She Was" (1988)
12. "She's A Woman" (1991)
13. "Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me" (1991)
14. "Tinseltown To The Boogiedown" (1999)
15. "Mystic Handyman" (1999)
16. "The Boom Boom Bap" (2006)
3. "Asylums In Jerusalem"/"Jacques Derrida" (1982)
4. "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" (1984)
5. "Absolute" (1984)
6. "Hypnotize" (1984)
7. "The Word Girl" (1985)
8. "Perfect Way" (1985)
9. "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)" (1988)
10. "First Boy In This Town (Lovesick)" (1988)
11. "Boom! There She Was" (1988)
12. "She's A Woman" (1991)
13. "Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me" (1991)
14. "Tinseltown To The Boogiedown" (1999)
15. "Mystic Handyman" (1999)
16. "The Boom Boom Bap" (2006)
Only five, top 20 hits, two of which went top 10. All of them deserving of a place on the compilation. It's a remarkable body of work for a group which essentially operates as a handful of satellite musicians orbit around Green Gartside and his intermittent desire to venture out from the wilderness.
Additionally, "Lover To Fall" was released as a single in France and "Umm" was issued as a promo in Japan. Also, "Snow In Sun" and "Robin Hood", both from their most recent longplayer, "White Bread, Black Beer", was withdrawn from release as a double a-side in the UK. Any one of these tracks could make an appearance.
David Gamson is very busy these days. He is credited as a producer and co-writer on “Stephen” and “Backstabber”, two tracks on Ke$ha’s debut album, “Animal.” Also, he wrote “Sure Fire Winners” on Adam Lambert’s recently overhyped-for-nought longplayer, “For Your Entertainment".
Wish I could find the clip of "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)".
It all reminds me of this little gem I bought on my very first trip to London way back in nineteen hundred and eighty eight. I own the laser disc, too.
ooh can't wait! meanwhile -- wood beez has been on the in-store crate & barrel muzak feed for the past 2+ years since i've been working there. lol.
ReplyDeleteOh HELL yes!
ReplyDelete@£50 Note - Now if they would properly remaster each one of the albums with a full slate of bonus tracks. I would die a happy man.
ReplyDeleteAch du leiber! You have the holy Scritti Politti laserdisc!!! I was into laserdiscs since 1988 and all my tries for that one ended in failure. Sort of like the Arcadia disc, the one DD LD not in my home. Ah, but the Japanese discs I did manage to get... again I say "Aaaah!"
ReplyDeleteWell, the only thing that could top that would be a comprehensive DVD but I'm not holding my breath. I dug the hell out of "White Bread, Black Beer" and as much as I'll always stand in awe of "Cupid + Psyche '85," the last one really did it for me on every level. Maybe we'll see one of those GH CD + DVD combos like the nifty H17 from a few years back.
The appropriation of the black power salute from the Mexican '68 Olympics in the clip for the already stunning track "Wood Beez" just sends me into paroxysms of bliss. Please, oh please EMI - don't make me grovel for a DVD!
ReplyDeleteFantastic :-) Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteVinny maybe you need to head up a group that gets this kind of stuff out. You would be perfect for it because.... err.. you have done it before. But it could be your OWN label!
ReplyDeleteBecause, haw haw, you don't have enough businesses at the mo' to take your time!
It would be a waste just to remaster individual tracks, wouldn't it? Here's hoping for a nice full reissue series!
ReplyDeleteAnd a DVD would be amazeballs.
The release for this compilation has been pushed back to 3 May. Still no official tracklisting as yet but am told 'there will be some rarities on this'!
ReplyDelete