Rating: 6.5/10
Best tracks: `Absolute', `Oh Patti', `The Sweetest Girl', `Umm'
A single CD Scritti Politti compilation was always going to be tricky -there won't be enough room to give all of his different periods enough credit. A 2 CD chronological selection that charted the band's progression with a little more breathing space would have worked much better than this - take the eerie, raw post-punk dirge of `Skank Bloc Bologna', which really sticks out like a sore thumb when nothing else from that era is around to support it. Plus, while the presence of edited 7" mixes make for an interesting diversion for fans who remember the old vinyl single releases, they are all inferior to the album versions - who really wants `Wood Beez' without the second half of its gorgeous synth solo, or to have the ending to `The Word Girl' so rudely faded out early?
Speaking of those two gems, Absolute is so top-heavy with the brilliant blockbusting singles from Cupid and Psyche '85 that everything else that follows cowers in its presence, simply in terms of volume. Compare the thrilling but admittedly unsubtle smash of `Hypnotise' with the gentle, delectable pulse of `The Sweetest Girl', and it makes for an awkward flow. Plus, the White Bread Black Beer album isn't covered at all, the underrated and fun Provision gets a measly two songs to represent it (`Lovesick' and `Overnite' should have been here as well), and the two new songs aren't that great.
Luckily, many of the choices are great - the astonishing `Absolute' may very well be Green's finest hour - a pounding, thrilling blockbuster that sounds amazing turned up loud and is a guaranteed hit anytime of the week - its final chorus, where Green lets the main hook stick around for a little bit longer, is just pop heaven! `Oh Patti', which is an autumnal thing of creamy, dreamy beauty with a wonderful chorus and a surprising cameo from Miles Davis on trumpet duty! There's also the delectable `Umm', which has an unbeatable summery rush to it, and `The Sweetest Girl' is one of the weirdest and most beautiful slices of soul-pop ever.
My advice is to buy this as a practical stop-gap to get an idea of what Scritti Politti sound like, so that then you can move on to the albums, after which you can swiftly dispatch this to your nearest second-hand shop.