Scritti Politti
Early (2005, Rough Trade)

Long before they prayed like Aretha Franklin at the alter of Top 40 radio circa 1985, Scritti Politti were esoteric, doggedly-DIY post punkers, that disappointingly didn’t quite have the acumen in their infancy to compensate for the dreck that cluttered up their much later 'hit' album Cupid & Psyche 85. Early is a collection of Politti’s embryonic singles and EPs dating back to late ‘70s. Their rudimentary, fragmented song-things were largely a-melodic and obliquely scrambled, but at their most convincing (more the exception than the rule) they vaguely tapped into the rhythmic tendencies of The Minutemen and Gang of Four sans the funky over-drive. One of the selections here, 'Messthetics' was adopted as the name of a series of compilation CDs documenting arcane indie-rock from the early ‘80s, of which the nascent Scritti Politti not surprisingly fit the bill for. However, it’s Early’s closing numbers, 'The 'Sweetest Girl', and 'Lions After Slumber' that gracefully foreshadow the new-wavish, dance-ably aware confines Politti would eventually inhabit (and take to the bank) in the mid-80s.

-Neal Agneta 10/18/05