Scritti Politti – Songs To Remember (1982)

I was introduced to this record by Louise about the time of it’s release; it was certainly different to anything I had heard before and I really loved it.  I don’t know a lot about the band, except that they were a post-punk left wing collective formed by singer-songwriter Green Gartside (not his real name of course).  The sound is what might be described as lo-fi and concentrating mostly on the singing and the words.  As usual it is the beauty of the songs which make the record successful, my favourites being ‘Asylums in Jerusalem’, ‘Lions After Slumber’ and ‘The Sweetest Girl’.  Despite having heard the album many times I really have little idea what the songs are about – not that that matters as they have a strange beauty in their densely packed lines, ending up as a strangely hypnotic aural wallpaper, each song slipping into the next and creating a pleasing whole.  Green broke up the small band after this album and released more albums in a more disco and soul style which I never got into.  But this one is definitely worth a listen or two