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Product Description
Brand New Product! Ready to despatch in 2-5 business days worldwide international delivery. Established seller since 1999.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Many see this as Scritti Politti's best record - and I'm one of them. Before discovering hip-hop Green was obsessed with the idea of writing Classics, and his formidable gifts allowed him to play around with different styles; what he brought was something totally new in his barrage of beat-poetry lyrics, often crammed into too small a space, but silkily and sweetly curled into place - this record takes his breathy vocal style from Cupid & Psyche and teams it with something more earthy, and to my mind more robust.
The songs are not easy to know straight away. You have to spend time with them. Often it's 5 or 6 listens and then something starts nagging at you.
"Asylums in Jerusalem" opens with a loping soul/reggae feel, hint of Stevie Wonder clavinet grooving. It sets the tone structurally, for there is no chorus, just an extended circular journey around on itself. "With his hammer and his popsicle, they put him in a hospital for good". An agile, shifting melody, but strangely hummable.
"Jacques Derrida" has a rushing, strumming Bob Dylan feel, "Faithless" goes gospel soul, and the infectious "Rock a Bye Blue" a loosely swinging, jazz ballad - no shortage of styles to try on.
For me there are two immortal moments. "Sex" is the first. Top driving funk, Green gets randy, a backing singer starts coo-ing for mercy, and a naughty bassline ranges around like wandering hands.
The second is the incredible "Gettin Havin and Holdin", just a beautiful lullaby, classic sentiments ("When a man loves a woman, he is happy"), and Green for once putting down his Penguin Nietsche to sound like he really means it.
This record has such a distinctive feel that ultimately you'll either love it or hate it. Give it ten listens minimum before you decide!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I first had this on vinyl in 1982, when I was 13. I absolutely loved it.
Today my CD copy arrived, and I listened to it for the first time in years. What a truly fabulous set of songs. I have been transported back to my nasty little bedroom in the early 80s, listening to John Peel on headphones so my parents did not realise I was not asleep..!! (I note that 'Sweetest Girl' was in Peel's Festive 50 in 1981, and 'Asylums' and 'Faithless' in 1982. Very deservedly too).
A wonderful album, a true highlight of the 80s - this album kept me sane through my 'O' levels and beyond!!!
Today my CD copy arrived, and I listened to it for the first time in years. What a truly fabulous set of songs. I have been transported back to my nasty little bedroom in the early 80s, listening to John Peel on headphones so my parents did not realise I was not asleep..!! (I note that 'Sweetest Girl' was in Peel's Festive 50 in 1981, and 'Asylums' and 'Faithless' in 1982. Very deservedly too).
A wonderful album, a true highlight of the 80s - this album kept me sane through my 'O' levels and beyond!!!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By robotfish
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
Unavailable on shiny CD for years, decades even, I got reacquainted with this fantastic album recently having shamefully neglected my vinyl version.
I had forgotten about the soulful backing vocals, the wonderfully melodic double bass sound, the drifting sax, the sassy lyrics, the celestial vocals of Green, and the timelessness of the songs.
I had forgotten about the soulful backing vocals, the wonderfully melodic double bass sound, the drifting sax, the sassy lyrics, the celestial vocals of Green, and the timelessness of the songs.
When I was 16 I played it to death. Now I'm 35 and doing it again. yes, A Slow Soul may have been better on the Asylums In Jerusalem 12", and yes perhaps the 12" version of Faithless should be on here, but they are minor quibbles only.
Trust me. Buy it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A classic under-rated album of its time
This is one of those albums that you can easily forget you ever owned, even though when it first came out it was hardly off the turntable for weeks.. Read more
Published on 19 April 2011 by Mr. D. J. Tyler
5.0 out of 5 stars
You dont know the half of it, Jack.
This was an LP that I loved as a 15 year old, amazing tunes, carefully crafted lyrics.
This LP is literally crammed with ideas and it can take a few listens to catch all the... Read more
This LP is literally crammed with ideas and it can take a few listens to catch all the... Read more
Published on 15 May 2009 by pureunited
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scritti Politti's 1982 debut from Rough Trade...
Originally released on Rough Trade in 1982, `Songs to Remember' was the debut album of Scritti Politti following a series of e.p. Read more
Published on 6 July 2006 by Jason Parkes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Re-issue of a lost classic (corrected version)
I first came across the name Scritti Politti a.k.a. Green Garside" when one of his tracks that makes up this classic album was included on the first tape given away free with the... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2005 by Milt Ingarfield
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best and one of the most underated
Strange this, with the death of Peelie, I went back over all the songs he led me to. And even now, despite a huge change in my musical tastes, The Sweetest Girl is my all time... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2004 by Marco 1965
5.0 out of 5 stars
BUY THIS RECORD!
If this cd cost fifty quid and the only tracks on it were 'Asylums in Jerusalem', 'The Sweetest Girl' and the truly sublime 'Faithless', it would still be a steal. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2004 by "samfrancisco1"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Re-issued lost classic...
I personally came across “Scritti Politti” a.k.a. “Green Garside” when one of the tracks that makes up this classic album was included on the first tape... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2004 by Milt Ingarfield
5.0 out of 5 stars
Proof that the 80's were brimming with classics
'Songs to Remember' has finally been reissued- along with a recent feature looking at the alternate 80's in 'Uncut'- it provides evidence that that decade was a lot more than Duran... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deconstructionist masterpiece
This is one of my favourite albums of all time. I would have liked the reissue to have included 12" versions (The 12" mix of Faithless is humongous - something like 10... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2001 by johndrewp@zoo.co.uk
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lost gem rediscovered.
Madness covered "The "Sweetest" Girl" so they must have done something right! This album islovely. Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2001 by Steven Morrison
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