Beautiful layout, PeDupre, of Green, his talent, and the incredible music this American picked up on in the mid-'80s! In the U.S., the handful of Scritti fans there were, knew the band to live on Warner Bros. Records.
As promised, here's my story on discovering Green and S.P. (in particular, the "Cupid & Psyche 85 album): In 1985, I was about 2 years removed from a previous career in the "biz": 4 years in radio (2 college and 2 commercial FM rock stations in Houston and Baton Rouge, LA), and about 5 years in retail records in Houston and L.A.
So, while pursuing a new career, and attending college as a 30-year-old, I was still keeping up, as I could, on music and happenings thru various rock publications (far less frequently than I used to, though)! In the summer of '85 (and now living in L.A.), I picked up an L.A. Times, and read a review by noted music critic, Robert Hilburn (of whom I'd been aware for many years, and appreciated his writing style and tastes).
I remember nothing about his review of the newly-released "Cupid" album other than one word: "Precious." Without hearing a note, I went out and bought the (more than likely) CD (as opposed to cassette or LP). I had to hear a band whose only word Hilburn used to describe them was, "precious"!
Well, needless to say, he wasn't wrong, and I instantly fell in love with Green and the band's music, and ended up buying a couple things previously released (that were far more rap and dub-related, and, ultimately, music I didn't care for). Of course, I snapped up "Provision" upon its release, too, and loved that one, as well.
Moral of the story, fellow music writers: If you have a long enough career, you will gain "fans" who get to know and trust what you say about music and its creators (assuming you've done it correctly!). In Hilburn, I appreciated then (as now) his freedom (especially as a male writer) to use a word like "precious" to describe a male group with no fear! He heard it, he felt it, he wrote it! And, I'm pretty sure Green would appreciate how Hilburn's brave, but accurate, word choice prompted at least one album sale, and a lifelong fan of a gifted artist!
Thanks, PeDupre, for shining a light on Green and his gift! BTW, I bought all the 12"-ers I could find from those 2 particular albums ("Cupid" and "Provision"). Stateside Warner Bros was pretty generous with those releases (with new mixes, etc), but I also had no problem buying the "import" 12-inchers on the UK Virgin discs, and amassed quite a few...usually with different sleeves and new mixes!
Thanks Brad for the nice compliments and sharing the story. The SP music on Cupid & Psyche has the peculiar quality of transporting me back to 1985 without aging all that much. I don't think I have all of the twelve inches, but I have most of them. The UK releases had beautiful artwork & covers. I will revisit them in one of the future episodes. The US remix of Perfect Way deserves its own episode. Anyway thanks for reading and the support.
My pleasure, certainly! One more "record-nerd" note: As you know, Miles Davis guested on at least one of SP's tracks ("Oh, Patti," I think), but Miles also recorded a wicked cover of "Perfect Way" on one of his mid-'80s albums, as I know you also know!
And, after literally decades on Columbia Records, Miles had just moved to Warner Bros Records (in the States) to share space, on the Warners artist roster, with Scritti! I think that made it easier, from a corporate stand-point, anyway, for Miles to "intermingle" with Green and band for guesting, if not covering a song! Pretty amazing for Miles to have been so impressed by Green's music. I'd love to hear a reaction from Green (from that time) about attracting the attention of such a jazz legend!
Miles’ cover of Scritti was my in to Miles Davis music, still have a soft spot for Tutu after (nearly 40 years?) and discovering the vast and wondrous Miles catalogue.
Tutu....I was trying to remember the title. "Vast and wondrous" is right!
The record industry of that era, and Columbia, in particular, were all about signing what appeared to be prolific artists over time, and they'd bend over backwards to help them fashion that decades-long career (Miles, Dylan, Springsteen, Streisand, Kostelanetz, Conniff, Mathis, Percy Faith, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash)....the list, across genres, is literally, endless!
Good luck on your Miles of traveling, Paul, and check in from time to time when you come up for air!😁👍
Just a few thoughts on Scritti from a British perspective. I'm old enough to have followed Green's turbulent journey through post punk via the UK music press. I dutifully bought Songs To Remember but was extremely disappointed by the standard of production. Cupid and Psyche therefore came as quite a revelation. It's worth noting that by the mid 80s, in the UK at least, pop was being made primarily for adults for the first time since before the birth of rock 'n' roll in the fifties. Production was therefore becoming increasingly sophisticated to appeal to an adult market. Having said that, Cupid and Psyche was in a different class to other adult pop and still sounds almost intimidating to me in that it seems to have been beamed down from a higher civilisation.
Beautiful layout, PeDupre, of Green, his talent, and the incredible music this American picked up on in the mid-'80s! In the U.S., the handful of Scritti fans there were, knew the band to live on Warner Bros. Records.
As promised, here's my story on discovering Green and S.P. (in particular, the "Cupid & Psyche 85 album): In 1985, I was about 2 years removed from a previous career in the "biz": 4 years in radio (2 college and 2 commercial FM rock stations in Houston and Baton Rouge, LA), and about 5 years in retail records in Houston and L.A.
So, while pursuing a new career, and attending college as a 30-year-old, I was still keeping up, as I could, on music and happenings thru various rock publications (far less frequently than I used to, though)! In the summer of '85 (and now living in L.A.), I picked up an L.A. Times, and read a review by noted music critic, Robert Hilburn (of whom I'd been aware for many years, and appreciated his writing style and tastes).
I remember nothing about his review of the newly-released "Cupid" album other than one word: "Precious." Without hearing a note, I went out and bought the (more than likely) CD (as opposed to cassette or LP). I had to hear a band whose only word Hilburn used to describe them was, "precious"!
Well, needless to say, he wasn't wrong, and I instantly fell in love with Green and the band's music, and ended up buying a couple things previously released (that were far more rap and dub-related, and, ultimately, music I didn't care for). Of course, I snapped up "Provision" upon its release, too, and loved that one, as well.
Moral of the story, fellow music writers: If you have a long enough career, you will gain "fans" who get to know and trust what you say about music and its creators (assuming you've done it correctly!). In Hilburn, I appreciated then (as now) his freedom (especially as a male writer) to use a word like "precious" to describe a male group with no fear! He heard it, he felt it, he wrote it! And, I'm pretty sure Green would appreciate how Hilburn's brave, but accurate, word choice prompted at least one album sale, and a lifelong fan of a gifted artist!
Thanks, PeDupre, for shining a light on Green and his gift! BTW, I bought all the 12"-ers I could find from those 2 particular albums ("Cupid" and "Provision"). Stateside Warner Bros was pretty generous with those releases (with new mixes, etc), but I also had no problem buying the "import" 12-inchers on the UK Virgin discs, and amassed quite a few...usually with different sleeves and new mixes!
Thanks Brad for the nice compliments and sharing the story. The SP music on Cupid & Psyche has the peculiar quality of transporting me back to 1985 without aging all that much. I don't think I have all of the twelve inches, but I have most of them. The UK releases had beautiful artwork & covers. I will revisit them in one of the future episodes. The US remix of Perfect Way deserves its own episode. Anyway thanks for reading and the support.
My pleasure, certainly! One more "record-nerd" note: As you know, Miles Davis guested on at least one of SP's tracks ("Oh, Patti," I think), but Miles also recorded a wicked cover of "Perfect Way" on one of his mid-'80s albums, as I know you also know!
And, after literally decades on Columbia Records, Miles had just moved to Warner Bros Records (in the States) to share space, on the Warners artist roster, with Scritti! I think that made it easier, from a corporate stand-point, anyway, for Miles to "intermingle" with Green and band for guesting, if not covering a song! Pretty amazing for Miles to have been so impressed by Green's music. I'd love to hear a reaction from Green (from that time) about attracting the attention of such a jazz legend!
Miles’ cover of Scritti was my in to Miles Davis music, still have a soft spot for Tutu after (nearly 40 years?) and discovering the vast and wondrous Miles catalogue.
Tutu....I was trying to remember the title. "Vast and wondrous" is right!
The record industry of that era, and Columbia, in particular, were all about signing what appeared to be prolific artists over time, and they'd bend over backwards to help them fashion that decades-long career (Miles, Dylan, Springsteen, Streisand, Kostelanetz, Conniff, Mathis, Percy Faith, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash)....the list, across genres, is literally, endless!
Good luck on your Miles of traveling, Paul, and check in from time to time when you come up for air!😁👍
Just a few thoughts on Scritti from a British perspective. I'm old enough to have followed Green's turbulent journey through post punk via the UK music press. I dutifully bought Songs To Remember but was extremely disappointed by the standard of production. Cupid and Psyche therefore came as quite a revelation. It's worth noting that by the mid 80s, in the UK at least, pop was being made primarily for adults for the first time since before the birth of rock 'n' roll in the fifties. Production was therefore becoming increasingly sophisticated to appeal to an adult market. Having said that, Cupid and Psyche was in a different class to other adult pop and still sounds almost intimidating to me in that it seems to have been beamed down from a higher civilisation.
Thanks Paul and I completely agree. Cupid & Psyche ages particularly well.