Scritti Politti to Reissue Rare Debut Album

Scritti Politti are reissuing their 1982 debut album, Songs to Remember. A remastered version of the record, which is currently unavailable on streaming and has been out of print on vinyl since 1985, arrives April 10 via Rough Trade in digital, LP, and CD formats.

Of the reissue, Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis said in a statement:

“Mark E Smith a Rough Trade artist at the time once said to me, ‘Scritti have the best rhythm section in rock music.’ He didn’t mention Green Gartside, so I don’t know what he thought of him. I do know that at Rough Trade we were all in thrall to Green’s honeyed voice and his brilliant lyric writing. These were heady days when the amount of sheer talent walking into the Rough Trade universe was simply overwhelming. None more so than Green who epitomised the intelligent assault on the citadel of pop music perfection. I remember being very proud of Songs to Remember during a time when it was still a fairly new experience for us to be releasing full albums into the world.”

Green Gartside, Scritti Politti’s frontman and songwriter, recorded Songs to Remember with bassist Nial Jinks, drummer Tom Morley, and a suite of guest musicians. The record’s three singles—“The Sweetest Girl,” “Faithless,” and “Asylums in Jerusalem / Jacques Derrida”—all charted in the UK. The new edition was remastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road.

Revisit the review of Scritti Politti’s 2011 best-of compilation, Absolute.

Songs to Remember:

01 Asylums in Jerusalem
02 A Slow Soul
03 Jacques Derrida
04 Lions After Slumber
05 Faithless
06 Sex
07 Rock-a-Boy Blue
08 Gettin’ Havin’ & Holdin’
09 The Sweetest Girl