Early

Scritti Politti

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 22, 2005)
• Original Release Date: February 14, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rough Trade Us
• ASIN: B0007N19RI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,753 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This notable and influential trio from Leeds splashed onto the UK pop scene around the 1979 release of their "4 A-Sides" and "Works in Progress" EPs (St. Pancras/Rough Trade) - a body of work oft-forgotten considering the more sizable success of '82's "Songs to Remember". When the three, singer/guitarist Green Gartside, Tom Morley (drums/drum machines) and Nial Jinks (bass) sailed further into the sea of UK blue-eyed soul. Most of the material that you will relish here on "Early" are pulled from the aforementioned EPs when the band lived together in a squat in Camden Town and their sound was markedly angular, somewhat minimalist and perhaps youthfully rugged and experimental - qualities they then shared with contemporaries like Wire and Gang of Four.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THANK YOU ROUGH TRADE, February 28, 2005

By	MEWZIK - See all my reviews

This compilation of first releases from Scritti Politti are a luxury to ownership on cd. The earliest account of Gartside's music challenges uncertainty and despair. This is no way the formula to Joy Division equating solitude, because the matrix on EARLY is somewhat baffling. Britain's political repression still played a part in everyday life, and although I was not there, thanks to music, the kids picked up pens and instruments and made many small stands. Tom Morely (schoolmate, drummer and Marxist) was noted to challenge Green's political views enough for them to pick up instruments. With Nial Jinks (bass), the trio released Skank Bloc Bologna. The opening sounds like a Josef K lick, and that is where the specific comparisons ends. The general influence of early SP includes all forms of British pop, with hints of reggae/ska. Independently, Skank sold 2,500 copies. Not bad for a band who rubber-stamped the records themselves. Rough Trade ended up taking over the record, helping them sell an additional 15,000 copies. The rest was history, a relationship with Rough Trade that built some of the most abstract music and lyrics that contributed to the era. During the time of these releases, SP toured with Joy Division and Gang Of Four (I want a time machine).

EARLY is serious and fun, hopeful and hopeless. Tracks 8 through 13 come with a spoonful of sugar that ultimately leads us to the transition of Songs To Remember.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required listening, October 27, 2005

By	M. DeCillis (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have always been made fun of for my fascination with Scritti, but then I always saw them as a changing entity loosly held together by Green's changing musical moods/accomplishments, not just as the pop group of Cupid. His lyrics have always been great to read, and weird to hear-a satisfying suprise of non-conformist writing. As deconstructed as the early work is, it makes sense not only for the time in which it was written, but it also fits with the whole Scritti catalogue. Cool stuff, and fun to listen to.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hear Green before he went from punk to pop, for completists, March 17, 2005

By	G. Mitchell "greggmitch" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Scritti Politti are one of my all-time favorite bands, so it's very nice that Rough Trade saw fit to finally releases these early vinyl-only EPs on CD for clarity & posterity, seeing as the old 12"s used to go for mucho dollar on ebay. Honestly, I am not sure how much you can really "listen" to these early art-rock-political experiments, but they're nice to have to complete your collection - toward the end, you can clearly hear Gang of Four/Wire-type noise gradually giving way to more studied, technically-precise professionalism, and later even "pop" as it were, i.e. the early take of Sweetest Girl, where Green finally found his "voice" - I prefer later Arif Mardin/Chic-inspired CDs like Cupid & Pysche 85 or Provision, but you can't go wrong here. A lot of bang for the buck. I just hope Green Gartside returns with a NEW Scritti full length before the decade is over?