plorentz's Full Review: Anomie & Bonhomie by Scritti Politti
This is the charter installment in what will be an ongoing series of reviews concerning CDs by artists whose glory years have long since come and gone, and whose work lies beyond the pale of relevance. Some will be reunion albums; some will be solo albums by artists who used to be in cool groups once upon a time; in this particular case, it is an album by a barely-two-hit-wonder who decided to take a little time... er.. 11 years... to complete a follow-up... only to desert a fan base (that, truth be told, wasn't paying much attention anyway).
In the Eighties, Scritti Politti (meaning "political writing") were critics' darlings. Theirs was a singular combination of perky synth-pop, soulful R&B balladeering, and inventive flirtations with reggae, dub and hip-hop, along with some of the strangest lyrics to hit the radio since Steely Dan, packed to overflowing with twenty-dollar vocabulary and references to obscure literary works.
Originally a loosely structured band, but eventually turning into a mostly-one-man-show led by a man called Green (Gartside - he of the blond boy-band looks, the effeminate-but-not-flamboyant tenor, and the MENSA qualifying IQ), they may have been great, but they were never prolific. Their first singles were released by the British indie Rough Trade Records in 1979, but it wasn't until 1982 that they released their first proper album "Songs to Remember." They would only record three albums, releasing them three years apart from each other, long before such 'tween-album intervals were fashionable.
In 1985, they scored their first, and biggest Stateside success with the singles "Perfect Way" and "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" (both included on the album "Cupid & Psyche '85"). Green followed up with the album "Provision" in 1988, and the single "Boom! There She Was" (which featured vocals by R&B vocoder-master Roger) became a minor hit.
And then they disappeared.
By 1999, Scritti Politti were long-forgotten, and it's unfortunate that Green insisted on keeping the group moniker given its inextricable mid-Eighties flash-in-the-pan-ness. Nevertheless, the fourth S.P. album "Anomie & Bonhomie" arrived (on a major label no less) that summer with little fanfair, and less airplay.
That's not to say this album isn't worth hearing. It most definitely is.
"A & B" is Green's most groove-oriented record since "Songs to Remember", and where previous S.P. albums flirted with hiphop, this album fully embraces it, and features guest performances by such A-listers as Me'Shell N'Degeocello (who plays bass throughout and whose luscious baritone voice makes a perfect foil to Green's fey vocals on "Die Alone"), and Mos Def, who co-wrote and raps on lead single "Tinseltown to the Boogiedown" and the sharply-worded "Smith 'n' Snappy."
If "A & B" is groovier than anything Scritti Politti had done before, it also finds them at their most rocking. In the 80's, there was never a guitar in sight - their sound was all Fairlights and cheap drum machines - but here, the guitars and drums roar out of the speakers with a punky intensity, especially on "Here Come July", and the opening track "Umm", a schizophrenic song which alternates between a flowing dub groove, and out-n-out rock.
"Prince Among Men" features one of the album's most melodic choruses, but it's the verses rapped by Lee Majors over some nasty guitar textures that stand out, and seem to predict the direction N*E*R*D would take in the next few years.
The album also features one of Green's most lovely ballads, "First Good-bye", whose melodic and heartbreaking chorus have the classic sound of an old (pre-disco) BeeGees song.
More than any of his contemporaries, Green seems to understand that a lot of musical changes occurred between 1988 and 1999, and he not only updates his sound to reflect those changes - he takes it a step further, pioneering a sound of his own - something that occupies that tiniest of intersections where the Neptunes, the Backstreet Boys, Bad Religion and of course, classic Scritti Politti meet.
If Prince had been able to meld hip-hop, rock and pop this deftly (and unpretentiously) in the early 90's, he'd still be a chart force today, and if Scritti Politti had released this album in 1991 instead of 1999, they might've been too.
No wonder no one played this stuff on the radio.
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"Anomie & Bonhomie" by Scritti Politti
Virgin Records
Released 7/99
Produced by David Gamson
49 min.
SONGS: Umm - Tinseltown to the Boogiedown - First Goodbye - Die Alone - Mystic Handyman - Smith 'n' Snappy - Born to Be - The World You Understand (Is Over and Over and Over) - Here Come July - Prince Among Men - Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder
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