VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rough Trade Records is proud to announce the reissue of two majestic albums from Scritti Politti’s back catalogue, 1985’s Cupid & Psyche ‘85 and 1999’s Anomie & Bonhomie, on both CD and vinyl formats on August 13th. Both albums will feature extensive new sleeve-notes from Scritti Politti members Green Gartside and David Gamson. It will be the first time that Anomie & Bonhomie has been available on vinyl, having originally been released on CD only. A third reissue, of the group’s 1988 album Provision will follow later this year.
Both Cupid & Psyche 85 and Anomie & Bonhomie provide evidence of an extraordinary musical journey. After witnessing a show by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, and The Heartbreakers in 1976, frontman Green felt as if he had been “given permission” to form a band. Scritti Politti was the result, a Camden-based, squat-dwelling collective who produced what he describes as “scratchy-collapsy” music, all tumbling drums, stumbling reggae basslines, and tinny guitars.
After releasing a clutch of singles and EPs—including the classic ‘Sweetest Girl’—the band underwent a tectonic shift, inspired by American R&B of the early 1980s. “Just fantastic, liberating music… A sort of epiphany,” Green remembers. Geoff Travis at Rough Trade introduced him to keyboard wizard David Gamson and drummer Fred Maher, and this new configuration of Scritti began work on what would become Cupid & Psyche ’85. It would be followed by Provision (1987), Anomie & Bonhomie (1999) and the Mercury Prize-nominated White Bread Black Beer (2006). It’s a catalogue of extraordinary variety, vitality and beauty.
Cupid & Psyche ‘85, released in the summer of 1985, was both a pop masterpiece and landmark in music production. Terrifyingly complex technology, embarrassingly expensive studio time, and months of intensive work resulted in a brilliant, immaculate sound, described today by singer Green Gartside as “pyrotechnics of pointillist syncopation.”
Overseen by legendary producer Arif Mardin and featuring some of New York’s finest session musicians, Cupid & Psyche ’85 took Scritti’s acute pop sensibility to new, glittering heights. It spawned five singles, all hits on one side of the Atlantic or the other: ‘Wood Beez,’ ‘The Word Girl,’ ‘Absolute,’ ‘Perfect Way,’ and ‘Hypnotize.’
Anomie & Bonhomie was originally released in 1999 and only on CD, never until now on vinyl. Eleven years after the previous album Provision, Scritti Politti erupted back into life recalibrated, re-evaluated, re-imagined and, eventually, rewarded. Anomie & Bonhomie is the heady results of this artistic rebirth. Illuminated by the band’s stylish pure pop spotlight and collaboration with Mos Def, Meshell Ndgeocello, and Wendy Melvoin which gives the record a neon-lit, nocturnal shimmer. Hip Hop flourishes sit side-by-side with heart-hitting balladry, as truly touching melodies match moments of uncompromising musical grit with their emotional impact.
Scritti Politti will tour the UK this autumn. “The Scritti of Fred, David and I never did play live,” recalls Green. “We had a tour lined up and we kinda reluctantly went into a rehearsal place somewhere in Manhattan to figure out how the fuck this album (Cupid & Psyche ‘85) could be played. If I recall correctly, it became apparent immediately that we couldn’t reproduce the sound. The project was abandoned.”
Today, however, that project has been revitalized by the new-variant Scritti Politti, featuring Robert Smoughton, Rhodri Marsden, and Dicky Moore, who have played alongside Green for the last decade. To commemorate the 35th anniversary of Cupid & Psyche ’85, the band will perform all of the album, in its entirety, for the very first time. The shows will feature previously unperformed songs from Cupid & Psyche ’85, alongside other material from Scritti’s history.
