New music from Green of Scritti Politti

Green Gartside, a closet folkie

On his last proper album, 2006's White Bread Black Beer, Scritti Politti mainman Green Gartside showed he didn’t need the production gloss of previous records to craft music of depth and imagination. 

White Bread Black Beer contains many songs that are right up there with his best. The album got some very positive reviews at the time and was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. There was hope that further releases would follow. 

Green obviously had a store of great songs still to release, because he played quite a few of them at a gig in Kilburn in December 2007.

Pretty Green, 1980s

But since then, there have been only two new Scritti songs released, on the 2011 Absolute Scritti Politti compilation. The new tracks, A Day Late and a Dollar Short and A Place We Both Belong were written with Cupid & Psyche collaborator David Gamson.

Green admits to finding it hard to finish songs, so fans just have to wait patiently to hear what’s next from the sweet-voiced Mr. Gartside.

The good news this week is that there is new music on the way. Green, it seems, is harking back to his time as a hardcore folkie in the 1970s.

He's releasing a solo 7" single on Friday June 19th, featuring two songs composed by the reclusive folk singer Anne Briggs, Tangled Man and Wishing Well. 

Anne Briggs, a shadowy yet influential part of English folk

Briggs' music is available on an album called The Time Has Come (with sleeve notes by Colin Harper) and it's well worth investigating if you like English folk music of the early 1970s. 

Musically, it wouldn't be totally inaccurate to describe her as a female Nick Drake, with a touch of Bert Jansch vocally. Wishing Well was a co-write with Jansch. 

This is them performing Black Waterside, the tune that inspired Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. And here's a link to Anne's version of Tangled Man. 

Green's explanation for his new folk direction appeared on this Twitter post:
I can honestly say I love just about everything Scritti have ever done. I thought The Sweetest Girl  should have been a massive hit in the early 80s. I can still remember the thrill of hearing Wood Beez  for the first time on Anne Nightingale’s Sunday night show in 1984. I bought all the singles on 12". The follow up album, Provision, refined the syncopated funk sound and contained the hit single Oh Patti, featuring a solo by Miles Davis.

You can buy Green's new songs at Rough Trade: https://roughtrade.com/gb/green-gartside 

 Scritti Politti - 'The Sweetest Girl', live at the Luminaire club in December 2007. 

I also filmed them playing 'Robin Hood' from the White Bread Black Beer album and a special treat for the encore 'Merry Christmas Baby'

2026 UPDATE: I am going to see Scritti Politti playing live later this month (July). First time seeing them since that gig in 2007. Can't wait.