Scritti Politti – Songs To Remember (1982)

Scritti Politti's debut album is one I bought on release, already owning the double A side single which preceded it. I remember feeling slightly diappointed at the time, but listening to it a lot.

Albums were expensive, and you didn't just put them to one side after one listen if you weren't immediately convinced, as it's so easy to do now when CDs are very cheap and I'm in a better financial position.

So, on seeing this on a market stall for about what I'd paid for the vinyl 40+ years ago (and almost certainly less than I'd sold the vinyl 20+ years ago), I snapped it up for a listen.

Opening with the bouncy slightly reggae single Asylums In Jerusalem, a lovely start, it's downbeat for the lazy sax-laden A Slow Soul, which acts as a gentle break between the two sides of the single, Jacques Derrida following, mostly accompanied by Nial Jinks' hypnotic bassline and Tom Morley's understated drumming. Another fine song, even if Green was responsible for me mispronouncing Derrida's name for decades, risking taunting and sneering from passing philosophers. Lions After Slumber is an 80s synth/drum machine backed new romantic proto-rap, not entirely unsuccessful before the full soul treatment (with vocoder) for the ambling Faithless.

The second half starts with the rambling Sex, a song which seems to have a feel but little content, as does Rock-A-Boy Blue, albeit at a more relaxed pace. Both feel like unformed jams, which should have been the starting point of something, not the end product. But the second half is redeemed with the final two tracks, the soft reggae Gettin' Havin' & Holdin' and a rerecorded version of the band's earlier single, The Sweetest Girl (later a minor hit for Madness), possibly my favourite Scritti moment, and certainly my first exposure to the band, when it opened the NME's C81 cassette (only available with vouchers from NME).

Where this album is good, it's very good, but parts sound dated and underformed. But it's a decent effort for a band's debut, and a worthwhile listen.

Link to album tracks

3* - a solid debut album, with a couple of greats, some filler, but lots to enjoy