from Ragga to riches-- Record Mirror, March 3, 1991 It's been three years since we last heard from Scritti Politti. Now, after a
spell in hospital, Green Gartside is back, rediscovering his love of reggae by
teaming up with dancehall fave Shabba Ranks. Reproduced with kind permission from Record
Mirror.
Green Gartside of Scritti Politti will verify this. Ten years of songwriting, promotion and general musical angst all took their toll on the man who, like a sucker for punishment is back for more. The most intriguing thing to come from Wales since Ivor and his peculiar engine, Scritti Politti were pop's greatest advocates; they were exponents of a pure sound that gelled sugar-sweet vocals onto the soaring melody of white-boy funk. High on style and original in content, it's been three years since we heard the likes of gems such as 'Wood Beez', 'The Word Girl' and'Oh Patti'. But fear not, he's back, bringing with him a product so fine and contemporary that it's been worth the wait. 'She's a Woman', a cover of an old Beatles B-side featuring guest toasting by Jamaica's finest, up-coming hearthrob, Shabba Ranks, is pure pop genius. So why the long wait? "Basically, the last album, 'Provision', completely took it out of me," confesses the Green man. "The whole thing was very demanding, time-consuming and extremely expensive. I was constantly travelling backwards and forwards between here and the States, and somewhere along the line I started to go chronically adrift. I really ran myself into the ground and ended up hospitalised with acute exhaustion. "Obviously, when I came out I wasn't really disposed to carry on, at least for a bit, so I took off for Wales, which is where I grew up, and just rested for a while."
So how did the unlikely alliance of South Wales and the West Indies take place? "Basically, I'd been asked by Martyn Ware of Heaven 18 to contribute a track to the new BEF album [The British Electric Foundation, who began the craze for cover versions a few years back by asking a host of celebrities and pop stars to cover seasoned classics] and he'd suggest a few songs that I might do. The one I did for the project was an old Stevie Wonder tune, but I also persuaded him to give me a bit more studio time so that I could work on one of the other songs, that being 'She's A Woman'. This was when Shabba had come over to do his ill-fated Brixton gig, where there was a shooting, and with the auspices of a few contacts at Greensleeves and Rough Trade, I managed to get through to The Specialist, who's Shabba's manager. "At the time he was in a room with maxi Priest and didn't know who I was. He was like, 'Scritti who?', and it was only through Maxi giving him the score that they agreed to come and listen to the track. When they heard it they were really excited and we just cracked on from there. It was a complete culture clash -- but in the best possible sense." Critics might accuse him of jumping on a bandwagon; these days even bands like The Soup Dragons have laced their songs with the sound of patois. Many forget that Green has forged pop with reggae before. In the past he's worked with Ranking Ann, and early independent releases like 'Skank Bloc Bologna' and 'The Sweetest Girl' (later a hit for Madness) both wore reggae influences proudly on their sleeves. "Ragga really is my great love right now," he explains. "It has been for a number of years. There are some really choice cuts coming from Jamaica and in fact some good stuff coming from the UK "I rate Ladbroke Grove's Sweetie Irie very highly and have worked with him on what will hopefully be the next single. Sweetie told me he'd read that dancehall music is being blamed for the moral decline in Jamaica right now. I find that very sad. But it's such big business out there, very cut-throat. "He was telling me that no one smiles in the recording studios anymore; it's very much 'Just get me on the mic'." Green, though, smiles broadly at the suggestion that his promotion of the art of ragga does nothing but water it down. "It's very difficult now to say what is overground or underground. There's this left-field assertion that says me working on something with Shabba Ranks diminishes and dilutes the sound. I think that's bullocks! If I like and want to do something, then I will. I'm not trying to sound like Steelie & Cleevie or Matthew & Fluxie. I'm making unashamed pop. It's not obscuring anything in the process. As far as dance music is concerned, ragga sits in there sweet."
"They were my first and abiding influence," he says with sincerity. "I still listen to them a lot now actually. My taste in music isn't as limiting as it might sound, you know. If I'm at home I'm likely to play 'Rubber Soul', Daddy Freddy, KLF and The Beach Boys all in the same afternoon." This eclectic mix apart, the lush harmonies and strident beat of past hits might have led us to believe he'd take a more house-dance direction with his latest offering. "Well, at first I wasn't too enamoured with house; that four-on-the-floor beat smacked too much of disco. I didn't think it was funky enough. Consequently, I've changed my mind and on the remixes you'll even hear a few bleeps!" The remix is the work of semi-legendary William Orbit, of Bass-O-Matic. Did you choose who tampered with it? "Well, when it came to the remix, it was such a tough decision. Partly, to be honest, because it's such a complete lottery. A lot of people fuck up as many times as they do things well. I've heard some awful remixes of some good tunes. It's also an horrendously over-[riced exercise. God knows how it all works out? At the moment it's very much a name thing but you have to remember that you also need a song. I've got so many songs I'm playing with right now, enough for an album. Maybe I'll do a whole ragga-inspired LP, who knows? God, I must be mad!"
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Warning: making music is bad for your health. Over-exposure, in certain cases,
can lead to stress, inertia, fatigue and, in extreme situations, complete
withdrawal syndrome. Sufferers are advised to cut down, seek help and are hereby
cautioned of its addiction.