Scritti Politti - "Songs To Remember" Vinyl, LP, Album (Celluloid/France) Rough Trade, 1982

One of the few great albums released in the early 1980s is Scritti Politti's "Songs To Remember."  As a young man, in the 80s, I remember buying all the 12" singles off this album, due to the re-mixed more sonic versions.  If you can find it, I strongly recommend to purchase "Faithless," which is great on this album, but the 12" single goes on and on, and it's an incredible piece of music.

 The basic sound of Scritti Politti is one of great sophistication.  A touch of reggae, soul, jazz, and singer/songwriter.  The main honcho of the band, Green Gartside,  had an interesting take on 'pop music' culture, which for him was seen through the eyes of a political theorist.   Well-read, and a one-time hardcore Maoist type of Leftie, he looked at the love song as a political statement or through the eyes of Derrida's reconstruct of things in front of him.

On the other hand, this album has the greatest groove flow.  The nine songs here are close to perfection, and there are great musicians on this album.   Green's voice is very white, but the backing is black in spirit, and even though there is this philosophical separation between thought and sound, it's a black soul orientated work.   Robert Wyatt makes an appearance or two, and one can clearly hear his influence on those tracks.  Scritti Politti made other fine and splendid records, but "Songs To Remember" is a masterpiece.