absolutely Green

Forget everything else you will hear before December 31. The brand new Scritti Politti single, "A Day Late And A Dollar Short", is the single of the year! Did you hear me? It is the SINGLE OF THE FUCKIN' YEAR! Sorry for the expletive. I just cannot contain myself.

Stop everything you're doing and listen.



Bam salute! Scritti Politti gettin' gritty! It's the audio equivalent of a bottle of poppers and a glass of the finest champagne rimmed with top grade cocaine! My goosebumps have goosebumps. It makes me wanna dance around naked and smash things. I love it SO very much, indeed.

The electro glam stomp gives it a feeling of urgency. Green Gartside's heavenly helium voice has never sounded better. And the Beach Boys inspired vocal harmonies on the intro and middle eight are beyond deluxe!

David Gamson, Mr. Gartside's collaborator from the the "Cupid & Psyche 85" era, has made a welcome return. Most recently, Mr. Gamson has produced tracks for Ke$ha and Adam Lambert. Both, quite frankly, leave me cold.

However, when you listen to "A Day Late And A Dollar Short", you hear the Scritti sound system bang up to date! Hard to believe it was written and produced by two men in their fifties!

If it was the new Ke$ha single, it would be a smash. Then again, it could NEVER be her new single or that of any of the current crop of pop pretenders. Why? Because it's far too intelligent and well crafted. The layers! The sonics! The production! Simply magnificent.



"A Day Late And A Dollar Short" is one of two new tracks on Scritti Politti's first ever career retrospective, "Abosulte", which is scheduled to hit the "shops" on February 27 after nearly a year of delays. No word on whether or not a companion DVD is in the works.

Let's hope Mssrs. Gartside and Gamson are working on a new studio longplayer.

the gift of schizo

After nearly a year since it was supposed to be released, the long delayed career retrospective from Scritti Politti will finally hit the "shops" on Feburary 28.

"Absolute" is a solid affair touching on nearly every aspect of their work. It's surprising that it took this long to assemble considering most of their contemporaries have been anthologized numerous times by now.

As a Scritti fanatic, I find very few faults with the tracklisting. However, it still remains to be seen if the single versions are going to be featured on this collection. Many of them have never appeared in the digital realm of zeros and ones. So, be prepared for some shouting if the album versions turn up on this compilation.

Without further hesitation, it is my pleasure to announce the official tracklisting for "Absolute".

1. Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)
2. Absolute
3. The Word Girl (Flesh And Blood)
4. Perfect Way
5. Hypnotize
6. Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy)
7. Boom! There She Was
8. Umm
9. Tinseltown To The Boogiedown
10. Die Alone
11. Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder
12. Skank Bloc Bologna
13. The Sweetest Girl
14. Asylums In Jerusalem
15. Jacques Derrida
16. She's A Woman
17. Day Late And A Dollar Short
18. A Place We Both Belong

The scuttlebutt is that Green didn't want to include anything from "Provision" and several tracks from "White Bread, Black Beer". How could a masterpiece such as "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)" not be included?

Apparently, after a bit of to and fro, kicking and screaming, and some exasperating discussion, nearly every single seems to make an appearance on the collection with the exception of "Faithless", "First Boy In This Town (Lovesick)", "Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me", "Mystic Handyman" and "The Boom Boom Bap". But, at eighteen tracks, something had to be cut.

Nice to see "Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder", one of Scritti's most epic tracks ever, in the line up. Definitely one of their career highlights. "Skank Bloc Bologna" makes an unexpected showing.

Most significantly, we get two brand new songs - "Day Late And A Dollar Short" and "A Place We Both Belong" - both of which are written by Green and David Gamson. David is nearly single-handedly responsible for the unique, Farilight driven, Scritti Politti sound of "Cupid & Psyche 85". It will be very interesting to hear the fruits of Green's new collab with Mr. Gamson.

Lastly, I'm thrilled they put together a proper sleeve. The cover art stands in rank with their signature visual style.

bam salute for absolute

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)

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)

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".

Dear baby Jesus, please let the powers that be have the good sense to issue a companion DVD of music vids.





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.