Product Description

After a nearly eight-year hiatus, Scritti Politti returned to release an album in 1999, an event that seemed as unlikely as seeing Kevin Rowland in hold-up stockings. However, like Rowland and David Sylvian, Green Gartside risked his credentials as an '80s icon for an additional postscript in the '90s. ANOMIE & BONHOMIE, Scritti's fourth album, suggests that the times had changed more than Gartside. But glossy pop will never be out of fashion and nobody did it with as much verve as Scritti on CUPID AND PSYCHE '85. Although not quite on par with its predecessor, ANOMIE & BONHOMIE is well worththe wait, especially when it ventures to extremes.
Reminiscent of the polished PROVISION, "Umm" bursts at the seams with ideas, and "Here Come July" is a gleeful new-wave rush.Conversely, "First Goodbye" is as unashamedly tear-soaked as "Oh Patti" 10 years before, and "Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder" is an opulent swoon that namechecks Highbury Fields and Hollywood. Such contrasting perspectives lie at theheart of the highlight--"Tinseltown to the Boogiedown"--where the youthful rapping talents of Mos Def, Lee Majors, and Me'Shell Ndegeocello are enlisted for a moment of irresistibly funky pop.

Track Listing

1. Umm
2. Tinseltown To The Boogiedown
3. First Goodbye
4. Die Alone
5. Mystic Handyman
6. Smith 'n' Slappy
7. Born To Be
8. World You Understand Is Over And Over
9. Here Come July
10. Prince Among Men
11. Brushed With Oil Dusted With Powder

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56022 in Music
• Released on: 1999-07-26
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

...DESPITE the rappers
It says much for Green's song-writing that he can make a great album even with the addition of an over-generous portion of rap (to which I would add a capital 'C'). This album works in spite of this bellowing and not because of it. When the rappers shut up, Green's music and singing is close to sublime.

'Brushed with Oil......' is possibly one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

still doin' it for the girls
what do you get if you cross str & c&p and add a liberal dash of of quality hip hop?

this!

i have admired green gartside as a master of the addictively harmonious pop tune since 'cupid & psyche' and the well turned couplet since 'songs to remember'
and i hadn't heard the band since the disappointing follow up to c&p 'provision'.

so nearly 20years later here is another scritti politti album
and it's smile on yer face ace!

where the themes used to be love and heartbreak
now the themes are money, cocaine, booze and heartache

the tunes still drip sweetness like a rogue beehive

but unfortunately i can imagine green sitting at his computer for hours on end
getting the mix just so
(and i do thank him for that)
i guess i'm not a romantic teenager anymore.

DEVOTION
Having been a Scritti devotee since the early eighties, I was more than a little disappointed with this album on first listening. It has, however, grown on me mucho over the last couple of years and is now the Scritti album I play the most (doesn't mean it's my favourite though- you have to know me to understand his seeming cunundrum!) Can't abide track by track reviews so you won't get one here, but suffice to say that if you've enjoyed previous Scritti outings you will eventually like this - trust me! I will say though, that unlike one of the other reviewers on this page, I think 'Here Come July' is jolly good fun. Buy this record in the vain hope that if it is relatively successful, we may get a follow-up within he next ten years!

Love Sam