Peter Gabriel's post-Genesis Evolution

Gabriel gets up close at Knebworth

When Peter Gabriel re-emerged in 1977 after his shock exit from Genesis, he knew he needed to find his feet as a solo performer.

By the end of the decade, his music had taken on a rockier edge, harnessing the spirit of the new wave. 

His early solo efforts were imbued more with the legacy of his progressive rock past, notably on the first solo album, Peter Gabriel.

For his return to recording after Genesis, Gabriel decided to work with American musicians and producer Bob Ezrin, best known for his work on Alice Cooper's albums such as Billion Dollar Babies, and later, Pink Floyd's The Wall.

PG at home, post-Genesis. Note the old masks

"At the time of the first album, I was nervous recording without the structure of a band and was happy to let Bob take a strong role" Gabriel told biographer Armando Gallo.

The record was much-anticipated by Genesis fans, many of whom were still getting over his leaving the band. The first single, Solsbury Hill, was a hit, rising to number 13 in the UK charts.

His first solo shows at the Roxy, Hollywood, April 1977

The song's lyrics are partly a reference to Gabriel's decision to leave Genesis, just as they appeared to be breaking into the Big Time.

He said Solsbury Hill was about "being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get. It's about letting go."

PG1

A second single, Modern Love, should also have been a hit, but somehow didn't make it onto the charts.

While he was happy with the first album, it was clear to Gabriel that he needed to take more control. Some of the record had been over-produced, in Ezrin's signature bombastic style. The closing track, Here Comes The Flood, for example, was a fan favourite, but Gabriel said he preferred the stripped-down version he recorded with Robert Fripp.

So he went in an entirely different direction, enlisting Fripp to produce the second album, Peter Gabriel. King Crimson were on hiatus at this time and Fripp had recently been working with David Bowie.

The second PG album was well-received and got into the top 10 of the UK album charts. But there was no hit single, despite a couple of strong contenders in On The Air and DIY.

PG2

For his opening live shows in the US, in April 1977, Gabriel used the core of the musicians from the Ezrin sessions. Anyone who saw Genesis touring The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in 1975 would understandably have expected some elaborate stage costumes, but instead Gabriel chose to dress down. At the Roxy in Los Angeles, he wore a grey track suit.

Here's some original footage from those first shows at the Roxy. Notably, he does covers of Ain't That Peculiar and You Really Got Me, encoring with Back In NYC, from The Lamb.

Gabriel at Knebworth, September 1978

The live band included Fripp and bassist Tony Levin, who would become a Gabriel mainstay and a key part of the reformed King Crimson in 1981. Fripp is said to have performed all the shows from behind a speaker cabinet. He's certainly not visible on the clip linked to here.

Gabriel himself was disappointed with the second record. It wasn't the step forward he had wanted. He said of Fripp, "He's a wonderful player and a great producer with other people, but for me it didn't work out so well.

Climbing into the crowd at Knebworth...

"Bob Ezrin was thinking music-biz but Robert was anti-music biz, so I just went from one side to the other on the first two albums."

During 1978, Gabriel toured in Europe and the US, honing his new cropped-hair look with the high-vis orange vest, becoming a popular live act in the process.

Gabriel was signed up for the Knebworth festival in September 1978, on a bill with Frank Zappa, The Tubes, Boomtown Rats, Rockpile and Wilco Johnson.

...and climbing back up

Knebworth 1978

It was a lovely sunny day in Hertfordshire and Gabriel was clearly among friends. There were several 'Rael' flags in the crowd and one that proclaimed 'The Angel Gabriel'.

He didn't disappoint them, climbing up ladders and scaffolding and out into the crowd at various points, with a toy panda to sing 'Me and My Teddy Bear', as you do...

The set at Knebworth was comprised mostly of songs from the two solo albums, but included a new song, I Don't Remember, which appeared on his third album, Peter Gabriel. They also did a punk rock version of A Whiter Shade of Pale, with Gabriel playing the drums.

Getting his kicks behind the drums

The set finished with the uptempo rocker Modern Love and an encore of the Genesis classic, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Here is the band in 1978 playing On The Air
and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

Around this time, Gabriel began experimenting with the stage diving that would evolve into the 'Lay your hands on me' track from the fourth album, Peter Gabriel.

An early stage dive

"When I am standing on stage, I can sense how far the performance is reaching the audience. Sometimes the audience appears like a large animal. When I walk off the stage (into the audience) I relate to the people one to one. I am vulnerable...on a good night I can lose myself totally."

On stage with Genesis in 1973

Gabriel finally found his sound on the third album, with the help of young engineers Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham, whose experiments with the available studio technology Gabriel was happy to encourage.

PG3

Of the dry 'gated reverb' sound of the drums (played by Phil Collins) Gabriel said "it was originally Hugh Padgham's set-up and he should get credit for that.

"I remember the moment when I first heard the gated reverb. I stopped the session we were working on and said that I wanted to record that sound immediately for Intruder. I was certain that it was a landmark drum sound."

And so it proved, but not for Peter Gabriel. Instead, his old band mate took the sound for his own solo single, In The Air Tonight.

Gabriel wasn't best pleased, saying "I get angry when people say I have copied Phil's drum sound."

"Phil hadn't met Hugh before that session (on PG3). He then invited him to come and work on all of his records, which went on to become a massive international hit, in the way that 'Intruder' was never going to be."

On PG3, Gabriel worked with younger musicians from the new wave, including Paul Weller, XTC's Dave Gregory and John Ellis of The Vibrators. Gabriel continued to innovate throughout this period. His third and fourth albums are unique and groundbreaking works. He was also asked to create soundscapes and atmospheres for Alan Parker's film Birdy and for Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.

The 12" single release of Biko, from PG3

Gabriel wasn't afraid to use his platform to highlight human rights abuses and wrote 'Biko' in response to the death in South African police custody of the anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko. The song was often used at the climax of Gabriel's live shows, encouraging the audience to chant in sympathy and comradeship.

He was an early adopter of the emerging digital studio technology, that allowed him to sample found sounds and indulge the fantastical imagery he first explored with Genesis. This edition of the South Bank Show has footage of him working on his fourth album and the primitive computer tech then available. 

Much of the inspiration for the new sounds Gabriel was creating came from African tribal rhythms and melodies. His respect for the unique character of what came to be known as 'World Music' led him to curate the first WOMAD festival in 1982. Many people who attend WOMAD events today around the world probably don't appreciate that it was Peter Gabriel who started it all. 

It is quite an achievement to create new sounds and remain true to your artistic goals, while remaining accessible to a wider audience. Ultimately, it's a testament to the quality of the music. The fourth Peter Gabriel album represents the high water mark for phase one of PG's solo career. He would take it to another level visually and commercial with his next album, So. 

The majority of photos in this piece are from Armando Gallo's book Peter Gabriel, published by Omnibus Press in 1986.

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See also on this blog:
Genesis On Tour in 1975 - Peter Gabriel Quits
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2012/07/coming-soon-gabriels-cosmic-juice.html 

And here's a broad-ranging long interview with Gabriel that's worth a read.

 

Joni Mitchell tames the tiger at the Isle of Wight 1970

Persuaded to go on earlier than planned, when no one else would, Joni Mitchell got a lot of credit for hanging in there at the Isle of Wight festival, 50 years ago in August 1970.

In an impressive display of composure, Joni survived an initially restless crowd and a stage invasion early in her set. By the end she was given a standing ovation by the estimated 600,000 crowd and was called back for an encore.

The tension in the crowd was caused by an us-and-them anti-establishment vibe from the thousands of non-ticket holders camped on the hillside overlooking the festival. The free festival anarchists among them did their best to undermine the good vibes, bringing down fences and clashing with police. 

The massive crowd at the IOW festival

In the midst of this, and clearly nervous at the prospect, Joni took the stage.

Her IOW show is remarkable because it demonstrates not only Joni's qualities as an exceptional songwriter and performer, but her determination to win over a hostile crowd.

Joni was visibly upset by the bad vibes from a section of the crowd, some of whom just wanted to hear the rock bands. Then there were the freeloaders, who thought it was all too corporate and should be put on for nothing.

She admits, in the interview accompanying the film of her IOW show, Both Sides Now, that she wanted to run, but didn't feel like she could.

An unwelcome interruption

To her great credit, she toughed it out, enduring a stage invasion by one of the disgruntled hippies and telling the audience at one point that they were behaving like unruly tourists.

Joni scolds the audience

As one of the people who commented on my Facebook link to this blog noted, "She gets passionate!" 

"Will ya listen a minute!!," she yells at the crowd. 

"A lot of people get up here and it's fun, you know? But you've got your life wrapped up in it. It's very difficult to come out here and lay something down....Give us some respect!".

After that, she noted that the crowd settled down, as if a different mood had passed back through the crowd from the front rows. She had won them over with her "peerlessly beautiful songs" - as the Melody Maker report put it - even getting called back for an encore.

Neil Young had also planned to appear, but he didn't like the festival vibe and retreated. Other performers, notably Kris Kristofferson, survived a hostile reception and he even returned for a second show later in the weekend.

The trouble at the festival shouldn't detract from the fact that this was one of the great musical gatherings of the time - certainly one the biggest, larger than Woodstock it is claimed.

The festival featured landmark performances by some of the top bands of the time, including The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Free, and several of the acts that had been highlights of the Woodstock festival the previous year, including Sly & The Family Stone, Ten Years After, Joan Baez and Richie Havens. Emerson, Lake & Palmer made their debut there and Miles Davis's 38 minute set is held up as a prime example of his new electric jazz direction. All in all, as fine a collection of performances as you will find at any of the late 60s/early 70s festivals. 

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More on the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival here: https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-verdict-on-5-days-of-high-drama-at.html

Further reading on this blogsite:
Dylan, Joan and Joni on The Rolling Thunder Tour
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2019/07/five-reasons-why-you-should-watch-bob.html

Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell interview from 1974
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2019/01/court-and-spark-joni-mitchell-interview.html  

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

http://bangnzdrum.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/joni-in-70s-2-hissing-of-summer-lawns.html 

Joni Mitchell - Hejira
http://bangnzdrum.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/joni-mitchell-in-1970s-3-hejira.html

Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2012/08/joni-mitchell-in-1970s-4-don-juans.html

Jazz, blues and folk - More adventures in New York

I've written a couple of blogs recently on how New York is my favourite city for live music. The best musicians on the planet - the guys and gals playing on all your records - are either in NY or LA. Any night of the week, except probably Monday, you can see them playing in small clubs. 

Most recently, in the late summer of 2019, before we knew anything about lockdowns, I saw jazz guitarist Bill Frisell at the Village Vanguard, ahead of my epic trip upstate for the 50th anniversary of Woodstock.

This little jazz club in Greenwich Village is where John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett (Nude Ants) and other legends have recorded live albums. The traditions of excellent musicianship have endured through the decades and Frisell has been a regular here for years, sometimes confounding his local followers with yet another change of direction. 

The guy I sat next to had been coming here for several years from his home in New Jersey and told how Frisell had experimented with different guitar sounds (he uses a lot of effects pedals) and styles (surf music, 50s rock) in a hit-and-miss fashion over recent years. 

Thankfully, tonight he was back to playing little in the way of 'experimental' sounds. His three-piece jazz band improvised around half a dozen tunes for 90 minutes straight - no between song breaks - just one tune merging into the next, seamlessly. That's impressive.

No video from that night, but here's a clip that's right up to date. Bill's trio playing a lockdown concert (masks and all) outside his home in Brooklyn. 

And what follows is a selection of the choicest NY gigs I've attended in the last several years.

Chick Corea at The Blue Note

Back in December 1992, just before we were married, my wife and I flew to New York to visit her brother and sister in law in Connecticut. Out in the suburbs it was freezing and the snow was piled high. There wasn't much to do out there and we were going a bit stir crazy. So one weekend we ventured into New York and booked a hotel in midtown Manhattan, opposite Carnegie Hall on 57th Street. 

On the Saturday night, after an expensive restaurant meal, we had tickets to see Chick Corea and his band at The Blue Note in Greenwich Village. 

And what a band that was - as always Chick had the cream of the jazz players working with him. On this occasion it was Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, John Pattitucci on bass, Bob Berg on sax, Wallace Roney on trumpet. 

The Blue Note is probably best described as intimate. It's fairly narrow and we had a table facing the stage. Vinnie's drums were set up at the front, so he was going to be prominent whatever happened. And boy was he prominent! The guy's a monster drummer to this day but back then he was out of this world. The master of the polyrhythm.

Here's a clip of Corea, Pattitucci and Colaiuta at the Blue Note in Tokyo that same year, 1992.

Kevin Eubanks at The Blue Note
Once again, this was a show I had booked in advance. Kevin Eubanks was based in Los Angeles at the time (2009) working as the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, so this was a rare live appearance on the east coast. 

With Kevin Eubanks at the Blue Note

I sat in the front row, right in front of Kevin. The policy at the Blue Note is no filming but Kevin made a point of saying he didn't mind, so I filmed it - quite a lot of it. See for yourself how close I was!

His band included brother Robin on trombone and the whirlwind Marvin 'Smitty' Smith on drums. The intensity of the playing at times was just astonishing, sitting right up in front of them. 

After the show, I got talking to Kevin about what he was up to now. He had recently finished on the Tonight Show and was planning to record some new music with the 'Spirit Talk' band that included Smitty Smith and brother Robin. Kevin was charming and happy to chat. What a privilege to be this close to musical genius. There's more of these clips on Youtube. Three in all.


Robben Ford at BB King's 
On the same trip, I went to see ace guitarist Robben Ford playing at BB King's blues club on 42nd Street - don't look for it, it's not there anymore. 

I'd seen Robben on previous occasions and he would play all styles of blues, but by this stage he'd evolved an amazing ability to take the music off into new soundscapes. I'd describe it as psychedelic blues. 

Robben played some of the most inventive guitar I've ever heard. Seriously, the Electric Ladyland era Jimi Hendrix would have been proud. 

One of the greats, and what a musical pedigree he has too - Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell to name but two.

In this clip he is playing the song Supernatural on his 1957 Les Paul. Les had died the previous week and Robben made special mention of nights he'd spent at the Iridium club, where Les would play on Tuesday nights. 

Filming was frowned upon at BB King's. I was told off by a waitress earlier in the set, so I had to be discreet, hence the slightly eccentric filming at some points. But stick with it, because he goes off into some wonderful improvisation.

After Robben's show, I hopped on the subway downtown to catch another of Kevin Eubanks' sessions at the Blue Note. He played a completely different set and I was sat at the back this time. Not quite as intense but still a lot of fun. 

The Fab Faux celebrate John Lennon's 70th Birthday - Radio City Music Hall
It was 2010 and coming up for 30 years since Lennon had been shot just a few blocks away. I had seen this show advertised on the web, a complete presentation of John Lennon tunes played by the foremost creators of Beatle music, the Fab Faux.

The interior of Radio City Music Hall

For the Lennon show, the added attraction was the venue, Radio City Music Hall, this marvellous Art Deco theatre in midtown Manhattan.

The show started boldly with Tomorrow Never Knows, the band successfully recreating the tape effects and vocal distortions (using a megaphone) of the original. 

The Fab Faux's attention to detail is legendary; the resonating guitar intro to 'I Feel Fine' was perfectly executed; flutes were present and correct at the end of 'You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away'.

Augmented by a horn and string section, the Fabs got the measure of the psychedelic (trippy strings on 'I Am The Walrus') and the abstract (Happiness Is A Warm Gun). The choir added gorgeous backing to 'Across The Universe' and an immaculate 'Instant Karma'. The show reached a final crescendo with 'Revolution' followed by A 'Day In The Life'. It was a fantastic show, covering Lennon's entire career and recruited flawlessly. 

Chick Corea and John McLaughlin - Blue Note
There have been nights when I haven't been able to choose between two gigs in NYC, but by going to an early evening show I have been able to get across town to see the other one too. Robben Ford and Kevin Eubanks was one example, another was this night in October 2011,  when I was torn between two must-see shows. 

The first was one of the shows in the month-long season at the Blue Note jazz club in honour of Chick Corea's birthday. This one featured John McLaughlin. The early show was capped by an appearance by Gail Moran, Chick's wife, who had been a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the 1970s. They played Smile of the Beyond, from the MO album 'Apocalypse' with Gail singing and the drummer Brian Blade whipping up a storm in the concluding passage of the tune.

I don't have video of that. Someone did post it on youtube but it seems to have been removed. Here is a short clip of the band I took from my seat at the Blue Note.

and here, up close, you get to appreciate just how out there these guys can get. Brian Blade propels them forward and Kenny Garrett shows why comparisons with Coltrane are justified.

Shawn Colvin - City Winery
I had booked tickets for Chick and John before I left on my trip, but when I got to my hotel and checked the local Time Out guide, I saw that Shawn Colvin was also playing that night at the City Winery. I love Shawn's voice and have been a fan ever since her first album Steady On in 1990. 

As luck would have it, I had booked for the early show at Blue Note - they do two shows a night - so if I was smart I could probably get to both shows. 

I slipped away promptly at the end of the Blue Note show and took a short taxi ride to see the lovely Shawn, one of my favourite singers, at the City Winery. I was glad I did; Shawn's records, right through her career, have been some of my lasting favourites. 

It was just her on stage, so a marked contrast from the way-out jazz I had just seen, which made it all the more special. 

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Beacon Theatre
Three years ago I was lucky to catch Tedeschi Trucks Band during their annual season of shows at the Beacon Theatre. 

They are a tremendous band, very much in the spirit of the big bands of the 70s like the Allman Brothers (this is their take on Whipping Post) and Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen (and here's their version of The Letter)

TTB cover a wide range of styles in their set - blues, funk, jazz - and they keep up the intensity with some remarkable soloing. Derek Trucks is a unique guitar player and his solos build to such a crescendo. Just when you think he's peaked, he goes one more. Thrilling to watch. Susan Tedeschi is no slouch either, and gives the band a soulful base with her vocals and guitar. 

Each night they had a different guest star and on the night I was there they had Dave Mason. He needed his set up a version of All Along The Watchtower. Mason played the 12-string intro to Jimi Hendrix's version of the song back in 1968. For their encore TTB brought Dave back on to sing 'Feelin Alright'.

As New Yorkers say: "What's not to like?"

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My first big gig in New York was in the 1970s - Bob Marley & The Wailers at Madison Square Garden. 

Slade - 1970s glam rockers back at No. 1

Kipper tie? Yes, two sugars plays

So, here it is - for a brief time at least, it looks like we are back in the era of kipper ties and platform boots. Slade are back at the top of the album sales charts with a 'Best Of' - Cum On Feel The Hitz.

A couple of months ago I listened to a podcast from the 'Strange Brew' website, featuring Jim Lea, Slade's bass player and songwriter. It reminded me how much I used to love Slade back in the early '70s.

They had a great run of hits from '71 to probably '74 and must have been one of the top selling artists of the decade.

I picked up on them when they had their first big hit in 1971, Coz I Luv You. They had two or three more number ones in 1972, when their main rivals in the pop glam stakes were T. Rex.

T. Rex had the best of it in 1972, but 1973 was definitely Slade's year and when they went straight to number 1 in the singles charts with Cum On Feel The Noize and the follow up Skweeze Me Pleeze Me, it was the first time that had happened since The Beatles in the mid-1960s.

Lea was a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano and violin as well as bass. Along with singer Noddy Holder he was the principle songwriter, providing a lot of the hooks to their songs. Think of the violin on Coz I Luv You, their first number one, or the bass riff at the beginning of Gudbuy T' Jane.

According to Lea, he was the chief songwriter, with Holder often adding the lyrics. But his profile in the band was always overshadowed by Noddy and the weirdly-fringed guitarist Dave Hill. They were an odd-looking bunch and their stage outfits became more and more cartoonish as their fame increased.

Dave Hill living the high life in LA, mid-1970s

Although they were seasoned musicians and probably had their fair share of rock and roll shenanigans, they were down to earth Black Country boys at heart. Lea said they never felt like megastars, they kept their feet on the ground and remained close to their roots.

In a recent interview with the Shropshire Star's Andy Richardson, frontman Noddy Holder, who left the band in 1992, said "We started having success but we'd grafted five years for it, sleeping in the van when there was snow, fog and ice, huddled together for warmth, fucking starving."

I saw Slade at Earl's Court in July 1973, at the peak of their Glam Rock fame, with a bunch of school mates. I remember the buzz in the crowd, with lots of people glammed up in Slade-inspired outfits. Silver foil sales rocketed around that time. Holder remembered, "People were travelling on the trains dressed in top hats and mirrors. It was like aliens had landed in London."

The concert itself was typical of Slade shows - everyone screaming, clapping and stomping along to their hits. You didn't come to a Slade show to sit on your hands.

The support at Earl's Court was The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, who had recently released their first album 'Framed'. Alex left a big an impression on me that day, especially his theatrical performance of the song Framed. I became a big fan of SAHB and bought their second album 'Next' when it came out in 1974.

Slade's world came crashing down, literally, just four days after the Earl's Court triumph, when drummer Don Powell was involved in a terrible accident driving his Bentley. His girlfriend Angela was killed instantly and Powell was on life support.

"His car was like a tank, a huge Bentley," said Holder. "But it was concertina'd; his memory was totally shot." Powell survived and eventually returned to playing with the band. For Slade though, this was the beginning of the slide down from their peak.

Pop stars of the time would regularly branch out into films as a way of getting more songs out there and hopefully making more money at the box office. As it turns out, Slade in 'Flame' is one of the better, more authentic films about the ups and downs of a rock band. And it yielded one of the band's very best songs, How Does It Feel?

Slade's most enduring song, of course, is Merry Christmas Everybody, which must provide Lea and Holder with a decent pension. But Lea said that the rest of the band hated it initially and refused to record it. They must be glad he convinced them it was worth doing.

It's funny listening to Slade now, especially since I was such a big fan back in the day. The first album of theirs that I owned, Slade Alive! is a rocking album, but I feel oddly detached from it, because unlike a lot of the old records from my youth, I really haven't listened to it since the early '70s.

Slade made their reputation as a live band, playing things like Get Down and Get With It, where they whip the crowd into a frenzy of clapping and stomping. Slade Alive! hasn't aged well though and it's not that representative of their other records. The follow-up album, Slayed? has material that I think is more representative of their abilities, especially as songwriters.

Here's a documentary on Slade's breakthrough, put together by someone called Crusher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JZqycd8gJc

Slade - Mama Weer All Crazee Now

Slade were brilliantly lampooned by Reeves and Mortimer years later, complete with those unmistakeable black country accents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWksvwqM3Ok

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Also on this blog:

Alice Cooper - Back when he was genuinely scary

Sparks release 'Kimono My House', 1974

T. Rex in 1971 - Electric Warrior

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.