Scritti Politti - Anomie & Bonhomie

Scritti Politti
Anomie & Bonhomie
1999 Virgin Records

Personnel:
Green Gartside - vocals, guitars, various other instruments, production
David Gamson - bass, keyboards, production/arrangements

Additional personnel:
Me'Shell N'degeocello - vocals, bass
Wendy Melvoin & Allen Cato - guitars
Abe Laboriel Jr & JuJu House - drums
Mos Def, Lee Majors & Jimahl - vocals/raps
E-Bow - Vinylism

Throughout the first half of the 80s, Scritti Politti made the transition from post-punk era outlier band that released Skank Bloc Bologna on the inimitable Rough Trade label, to become a core trio (Green Gartside, David Gamson and Fred Maher) surrounded by tier 1 studio players that would end up producing lush, art-pop such as the nearly flawless Cupid & Psyche in 1985, racking up a brigade of hit singles across the globe. The not too shabby follow-up Provision in 1988 left a positive mark, and from there the band utterly disappeared into obscurity*. That is, until 1999, when Green resurrected the SP name (and brought Gamson back into the fold) with a whole new batch of studio aces and interesting guest performers to make an album that is inherently Scritti, yet as completely evolved as one would imagine for an entity out of the spotlight for over a decade.

All the elements are still there: impeccable production quality, peerless instrumentation, infectious melodies, funky beats, a sharp pop sensibility, and most of all, Greens inscrutable, cerebral, abstract lyrics that take wordplay into strange new places (this is a fellow that could claim Jacques Derrida, the father of Deconstructionist philosophy, as a personal friend and spend weeks trawling the NYC underground vinyl scene looking for fringe hip-hop to absorb). At under 50 minutes, A&B is concise and devoid of any real filler tracks save one. Green still has an airy voice cthat omes off earnest and distancing at the same time, and this plays into his juxtapositioning of vocalists that sound nothing like him to make for a study in workable contrasts. The lead off single, Tinseltown to the Boogiedown has Lee Majors and Mos Def providing slick, jabbing rhymes in the verses, only to slip into an immediately catchy chorus from Green; the kind of mix that only works in the Scritti Politti universe. But work it does, and this is quite evident also on the rubbery funk of Die Alone which has Green's treated vocals winding in circles with the warm, supple throatiness of Me'Shell, and raps by Jimahl.

Green takes a more plaintive approach with the ballads, which in cases like First Goodbye would have sounded utterly contrived in anyone elses hands, but with Gamson's skills as an arranger, it is salvaged into a sweet elegy. It pales however, to the closing track, Brushed with Oil, Dusted with Powder, which clocks in as a 6+ minute haunting narrative under a canopy of acoustic guitars and subtle strings. The one painfully mediocre track is Born to Be which sounds like a last minute addition to satisfy the record company with one more easy single. It is still better than the cumulative catalogs of most of what passes for music on the Billboard 200, but it comes off as a blemish here.

The funkiness is pervasive on almost the entire album, with bass by Me'Shell and David Dyson being especially slinky and grooving throughout. One can also make out the always tasteful 6-string brilliance of Wendy Melvoin (ex-Prince, Seal and Clapton among others), and the sporadic use of turntables is appropriate rather than just as a ornament to make the sound appear "updated". And for the first time since probably their earliest days, you hear Green get an almost crunchy, biting sound on songs like Here Come July and the choruses to Umm. The album works as a whole, but it is reasonable to say it's all over the place.

For those that like their pop music to be ambitious and not just a small bit thoughtful, this is the kind of stuff you need to pick up. Like all really good pop albums, this has irresistable melodies, but unlike many of them, Scritti is also a band concerned with texture, atmosphere, and shifts in theme. This album is still in print and readily available in most shops (or orderable via you neighborhood Amazon url). If you are a hip-hop head that really isn't interested in the album (because it is after all, not a hip-hop record, but has some top end work by Mos Def) then try to find the single to Tinseltown as the remixes are damn tight.

You might like this if you like:

Me'shell N'degeocello - Peace Beyond Passion
Chaka Khan - Destiny
Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour
Sweetback - Phase 2

* To be fair, Green did occasionally release a collabortaive single here and there with folks like BEF and Shabba Ranks, but they were one-offs. Gamson went into songwriting and production for folks like Chaka Khan, Me'Shell N'degeocello, Madonna, Maxwell, Long Beach Dub All Stars, Zap Mama and Angie Stone. Maher did studio work, most notably for Lloyd Cole.