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Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti

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Scritti Politti: Everything's Gone Green

Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2001

David Stubbs on Scritti Politti's subversive pop-soul masterpiece, Songs To Remember ...

Audio interviews

Scritti Politti's Green (1988)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1988

Scritti's Green talks about making Provision, meeting Jacques Derrida, working with Miles Davis, Roger Troutman and Chaka Khan, hanging out with Kraftwerk and struggling to come up with an album title...

File format: mp3; file size: 57.7meg, total interview length: 1h 00' 06" sound quality: ****

Scritti Politti's Green Gartside (2006)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2006

The Scritti Politti man talks about returning to live work with his band of part-timers; looks back at the early Rough Trade days, and the politics and theory; at his discovery of soul and funk, and going to America to make polished pop records; at struggling with promotion and flipping out; at the process of making records, mainly his new album White Bread Black Beer; at romance, nostalgia and (lack of) memory, working with Miles Davis, and his memories of Bernie Rhodes and Malcolm McLaren.

File format: mp3; file size: 78.8mb, interview length: 1h 01' 03" sound quality: ****

The RBP Album Club on the Incredible String Band (2013)

Interview by uncredited writer, Rock's Backpages audio, 9 May 2013

Robyn Hitchcock and Scritti's Green Gartside, aided by ringmaster Mark Ellen, discuss and play excerpts from the Incredible String Band's The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. Recorded in 2013 at the RBP Album Club at the Idler Academy in London.

File format: mp3; file size: 79.9mb, interview length: 1h 27' 15" sound quality: ****

List of articles in the library

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Reflections On In(ter)dependence: Scritti Politti

Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978

MEET SCRITTI Politti: three or four young musicians (one is a floating member), and equally important, a large circle of close friends who provide help, ...

Red Crayola, Cabaret Voltaire, Scritti Politti, pragVEC: Acklam Hall, London

Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978

IN THE collapse of trends, movements — individuals: when they combine, all the stronger. Tonight four bands moving forward, confidently or haltingly, but all with ...

The Nitty Gritty on Scritti Politti

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 January 1979

Tea and empathy shared by DAVE McCULLOUGH                                                           * ...

Joy Division, Pil et al: Futurama '79 Festival — Set The Controls For The Squalor Of Leeds

Live Review by Andy Gill, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979

The World's First Science Fiction Music FestivalWords: Ian Penman and Andy Gill. Pix: Kevin Cummins ...

The Pop Group, Scritti Politti: University Of London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979

THE TRADITION of the angry young idealist, full of righteous fervour, self-righteous condescension towards those at odds with his or her volatile beliefs, and a ...

This week's literary headline... Turn Of The Scrits

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979

Scritti Politti are the Henry James of rock, says DAVE McCULLOUGH, THE JOURNALIST. ...

Where Radical Meets Chic: Scritti Politti

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981

"SCRITTI POLITTI" – didn't you always wonder where their "political writings" were? I did. I always wondered whether their hearts were in their music or ...

Scritti Politti

Profile and Interview by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, 12 November 1981

From the underground...To the charts? We want hits, say the former cult heroes. Quite right, says Ian Birch. ...

Adam Kidron: The Man Behind the Mix

Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, December 1981

Making Tracks with Adam Kidron, London's 21-Year-Old Production Prodigy ...

Scritti Politti: Suspicious Minds

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 5 December 1981

Making their way from the margins to the mainstream SCRITTI POLITTI have discovered the beauties of pop. But what took them so long? "Professor" MARK ...

Scritti Politti

Interview by Tony Fletcher, Jamming!, 1982

THE INTRO ...

Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Groove

Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 29 May 1982

Everything's gone GREEN, the voice of SCRITTI POLITTI tells Lynden Barber ...

It's The Scritti Political Broadcast

Interview by Johnny Black, Smash Hits, 10 June 1982

Quiet please! The next feature will be on all three channels. Johnny Black gets a taste of modern soul music. ...

Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Boy

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 17 July 1982

I'm not arrogant, just good, says Scritti Politti's Green Gartside ...

Scritti Politti: Songs To Remember (Rough Trade)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982

HERE IT IS: Scritti Politti's greatest hits. Let me assure you that this isn't a problem (I like albums with lots of singles on) and ...

Scritti Politti: Natty Design Or Grand Illusion?

Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982

THE WEEKEND before our final confrontation, Scritti Politti's Green went shopping for clothes for his debut Top Of The Pops appearance, its confirmation depending on ...

Scritti Politti: Say A Little Prayer For Green

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984

DEEP END, feet first. Is it true you're Mr Paranoid? ...

Scritti Politti: Word Play

Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 18 May 1985

"I DON'T KNOW exactly what a pop theorist is," says Green. "I think everybody has their own ideas on what pop music's about and what ...

Green: The Word Boy

Interview by Paul Mathur, Blitz, June 1985

The Barest Of OutlinesScritti Politti. The Italian for political writing, you could say, a political music group. Or you could say, cack, my Scritti just ...

Scritti Politti: Psyched Out

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, June 1985

THE TWO singers, a tall fresh-faced Welshman and a soft spoken bleary-eyed Mancunian, felt trapped. ...

Scritti Politti: Cupid & Psyche 85 (Virgin)

Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985

A BUNCH of words such as can be found on the new Scritti Politti album: heart, her, girl, baby, word, reason, love, boy, hurt, sugar, ...

Scritti Politti: Green Machines

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, International Musician & Recording World, July 1985

"I'D JUST like to say now that I am not a knobist." ...

Scritti Politti: The Politics of Green Land

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 July 1985

Adam Sweeting meets Scritti Politti's radical singer-songwriter ...

Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Boy

Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 6 July 1985

BLACK MUSIC, ARTY IDEAS AND WORDS, WORDS, WORDS. THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT INFLUENCE THAT WELL-KNOWN CLEVER CHAP GREEN. OH, AND CHOCOLATE, OF COURSE. MAX BELL ...

Scritti Politti: Cupid and Psyche 85 (Warner Brothers)

Review by Richard Gehr, Spin, September 1985

SCRITTI POLITTI (Italian for "political writings") emerged in the late 70s as a hyperanalytic postpunk trio, breaking onto the pop-aesthetic horizon with a series of ...

Making Provision: Green speaks

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Virgin Records press release, 1988

THREE YEARS of silence are finally broken this week as Scritti Politti release the first single off a new album. Featuring the inimitable trumpet of ...

Scritti Politti: A Restauranteur's Guide To The Galaxy

Report and Interview by Rachel Felder, Alternative Press, 1988

GREEN GARTSIDE – Mr. Scritti Politti – describes his band's sound in the distanced terminology of a fed up rock critic; as he puts it, ...

Scritti Politti: The Green Manifesto

Interview by David Toop, The Face, 1988

The only pop artist who can incorporate Miles Davis and Jacques Derrida into the same repertoire, Green Gartside is still pondering the "the undecideability of ...

Scritti Politti: Enigma Variation

Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 5 March 1988

Break out the dictionaries and Post-Structuralist text books, pop's most perfect intellect, GREEN GARTSIDE, is back with a new SCRITTI POLITTI single ready for release ...

Scritti Politti: Pretension and polish

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 June 1988

Adam Sweeting drops in on one of the pop world's top name-droppers ...

Scritti Politti: That Obscure Object of Desire

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988

THE MEPHISTO of sophisto, GREEN GARTSIDE, and his slightly cool vehicle SCRITTI POLITTI have once more pulled into view with their new single 'First Boy ...

Scritti Politti: Intellectual Hooliganism

Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 2 March 1991

"SO YOU USE the language of dreams and you toy around for the micropolitical effect of the goosebump. I like that – the goosebump as ...

Scritti Politti: Do The Gart, Man

Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 16 March 1991

THE DANCEHALL FOUNDATIONS are shaking and there's outrage in the ragga ranks. A white pop star has plundered their culture with the aid of Lennon ...

Green Gartside and B.E.F.

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, Melody Maker, 5 October 1991

BEF (THE PART-TIME preoccupation of former Heaven 17 bods second Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh) have just released a Music Of Quality and Distinction ...

Scritti Politti: Return Of An Eighties Enigma

Profile and Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, July 1999

AS DISAPPEARING TRICKS go, the strange case of Green Gartside is not quite up there with those of Richey Edwards or blues hero Peter Green, ...

This Week I am Mostly Wearing Soren Kierkegaard: Scritti Politti

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1999

GREEN STROHMEYER-GARTSIDE, to give him his full and slightly fantastical name, is feeling decidedly below-par on this muggy Manhattan afternoon. Clasping a Rolling Rock in ...

Epiphanies: Scritti Politti

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, June 2001

Simon Reynolds swoons to the sound of Scritti Politti's seditious soul music ...

Post-Punk: Lubricate Your Living Room

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, December 2001

FORGET ABOUT THE NOSTALGIA-MONGERING AND KITSCH REVIVALISM – THE POST-PUNK PERIOD OF 1979-81 WAS AN ASTONISHINGLY FERTILE TIME FOR BRITISH MUSIC, WHEN INDIE LABELS FLOURISHED ...

Various Artists: Yes New York/New York Noise/Post Punk 01

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2003

AH MANHATTAN, so much to answer for – and so in vogue as a rock metropolis after decades as a Hip Hop Mecca. Yes New ...

Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Boy

Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, April 2005

From the post-punk squat-crusties to pristine '80s pop-funkers, Scritti Politti underwent one of the most radical transformations in rock history. Uncut meets the band's mastermind, ...

Simon Reynolds: Rip It Up and Start Again – Post-Punk 1978-84 (Faber)

Book Review by Andy Beckett, London Review of Books, September 2005

IN JANUARY 1978, the Sex Pistols, then and now the most famous punk band in the world, split up. Johnny Rotten, the band's singer, most ...

Scritti Politti's Green Gartside (2006) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages transcripts, May 2006

This is a transcript of Adam's audio interview with Green. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Hearts and Flowers: Scritti Politti

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 26 May 2006

It's seven years since Green from Scritti Politti released an album – time spent boozing away in self-doubt. So what brought him back to his ...

Green Gartside

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 8 June 2006

Scritti Politti's Green Gartside has returned with a new album buzzing with ideas and pop hooks, writes Adam Sweeting ...

Scritti Politti: The Green Piece

Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, July 2006

A PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION to begin. Why are we all here? Well, it's because pop music's fucking great, isn't it? ...

Latitude: Henham Park, Suffolk

Live Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 17 July 2006

FESTIVALS HAVE a way of sorting out the truly great from the merely watchable, and so it proved at the weekend's Latitude event. ...

Return of Scritti Politti

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Evening Standard, 21 July 2006

For almost a decade, Green Gartside abandoned his band and the pop scene. Now he's back with a new album — and a surprise Mercury ...

Scritti Politti: White Bread, Black Beer

Review by Alfred Soto, Stylus, 24 July 2006

AUDIENCES IGNORE THE TRAVAILS of an aesthete who digs Gaultier pants and Immanuel Kant. Critics are more stupid. But when the aesthete hires producer Arif ...

How to buy: Rough Trade Records

Guide by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, December 2006

The revolutionary, still-smokin' independent. ...

Sandy Denny: The Battle Of Evermore

Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, April 2012

The Sandy Denny tribute show is expanding, a long-running fight to "give her songs a future". ...

Green Gartside and Alexis Taylor: West End Centre, Aldershot

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 12 December 2017

The blended vocal harmonies of the founder of Scritti Politti and the Hot Chip frontman made even the weaker songs shine. ...

Richard Russell: Rich Pickings

Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2018

As Richard Russell's collaborative album, Everything Is Recorded, is released, RC's Jamie Atkins meets him to talk about the recording and the music that led ...

see also Fred Maher

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