One of the great albums of the year for me is Scritti Politti's White Bread, Black Beer which I know Elton John also really likes (or claims to but why wouldn't he like it) and which contains some very fine and typically bizarre ballads. One of the things I really like about it is the insanely poor packaging which sets a new standard, somehow. Another thing is it sounds great. My favourite track is 'Mrs. Hughes'.
But more amazing is the relatively recent compilation of the first Scritti Politti recordings from the late 70s. I remember decades ago Epic Soundtracks wondering why the song 'Confidence' hadn't been a chart hit. Answers there were many, and I suppose one answer is that the band at that time were either very unable to play together or were very good at appearing that way, either way it wasn't going to cut it amongst Bucks Fizz and Genesis. But hearing it now I'm not sure whether I'd ever heard that song, and now I can't get it out of my head. It is very compelling.
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ryan 'pipeline' (part 1)
I'm going to come back to this ep of Ryan because it has an amazing North Melbourne car chase, but first I want to honour Margaret Cruic...
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As a child, naturally enough, I watched a lot of television and it being the early 1970s when I was a child, I watched a lot of what is no...
1 comment:
now that's weird! i just checked in to see if scritti politti is on your list of favourite music in your profile but there was no need since today's lead post is about ... scritti politti!
so, just writing to say that green and the latest incarnation of scritti politti played two shows in new york this past weekend.
one was a regular concert at the bowery ballroom, which was great (for more details and an unflattering photo - green still looks pretty good in the flesh - go to http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/arts/music/13scri.html); the other was a slightly shaky instore the following day (green was hungover; see http://soundbites.typepad.com/soundbites/).
of the older material, "the 'sweetest girl'" was sublime at both shows, but the times reviewer failed to mention they also played "skank bloc bologna". seriously!
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