Scritti Politti
Formed by Green Gartside and Tom Morley in the artsy, politicised
milieu of Leeds University (Yorkshire) in 1977, with a name that
combined Marxist namedrop (an Antonio Gramsci title roughly
meaning "political writings") with Tutti-Frutti
onomatopoeia, the band took the Do-It-Yourself imperative to
heart, moving to a North London squat, recruiting a mate to play
bass, and borrowing £500 to record and release a single
themselves (Skank Bloc Bologna) in late 1978.In 1980,
Gartside's parents, fearful for his health, urged him
to return to the family home in Wales to recuperate. Here he wrote
a massive tome on the psychology and politics of rhythm and,
retreating into his teenage passions for jazz, lover's rock,
R&B and jazz, he made the decision to return to London, now
musically redrawn The early avant-garde phase of Scritti
Politti thus gave way to a smooth sound that melded elements of
pop, jazz, soul and reggae.
Morley quit the group in November 1982, by which time Gartside
effectively was Scritti Politti. The debut album, Songs
To Remember, became Rough Trade's most successful chart
album, reaching Number 1 in the UK independent chart and Number 12
in the main national chart.
Moving on to Virgin Records, Green recruited New York musicians
David Gamson (keyboards) and Fred Maher (drums) and proceeded to
rack up a series of UK hits between 1984 and 1988. These included Wood
Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin), Absolute, and The
Word Girl.
A three-year silence was broken by Oh Patti (Don't Feel
Sorry For Loverboy), taken from the album Provision,
and boasting a trumpet solo by Miles Davis. Gartside then
maintained a low profile for a further two years and returned in
1991 with a cover version of The Beatles' She's A Woman.
By 1999, Gartside was infatuated with Hip Hop and working with
Mos Def.
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