Disco de Scritti Politti: “Cupid & Psyche 85”

Perfect Way, with it's killer piano break, broke Scritti politti in the US. However long before that the band was releasing a series of brilliant singles, which end up collected in a nice neat package that is Cupid and Psyche.

-Wood Beez- catchy, funky, as good as anything Alexander O'Neil was doing, if not better.

- The Word Girl - reggae lite in a time where reggae was considered DOA.

- Hypnotize - the lesser of the singles, but still a great little song.

-Absolute - better than Hyponotize, smooth.

The great thing is that you also get some nifty remixes, including some like The Word Girl that are almost different songs, but still obviously from the same group of folks.

Green and company explore mid 80s US Black music with a keen ear and even sharper sense of style and wit. Essential 80s album.

When I'm at work, I have to keep the radio tuned to this generic, general format music station. Most of the time it's crap. Every day they have the "all 80's lunch hour". It's somewhat loud at work, but I overheard just a tiny bit of Perfect Way and stood beneath one of the speakers in the ceiling and listened. The tune was never said on air, so I checked out the station's play list, found out who it was, then that day ordered this disc from Amazon. What a great find! I have since ordered Provision, and it is also a fantastic disc. I've had this disc for about 2 months and honestly listen to it on a daily basis. Highly recommended

I've listened to this album over and over again and never get tired of each tune. Not only are the songs catchy and infectiously tappable, but Green Gartside pays ode to Aretha Franklin (Wood Beez),and has a selection of jazz and funk musicians to back him up (Paul Jackson, David Frank, Marcus Miller). Some of the songs, (Perfect Way, Wood Beez, and Hynotize) borrow funk rhythms from another 80's group called The System (which David Frank is the keyboard wizard from that group). However this does not take away from the well crafted writing, production and engineering of this album. Green Gartsides lyrics (although complex) are as deep as the music heard here. Almost every song on this album is moveable if not danceable. The songs, The Word Girl and its alternative (Flesh & Blood) still gives me chills, especially when it goes into the flesh and blood chorus. The bass line and guitar riffs in that song are too catchy to pass up because it screams reggae. My favorite of course is Wood Beez. But then its hard to say what's a favorite on the album because the songs on the album are all gems. With Scritti Polliti maybe it was hard to repeat that pattern for the big shots in the music business. But this album needs a good listen to or just re-released.

I happen to disagree with a previous reviewer - you do not have to have been around in '85 when this album debuted, to really appreciate it. Take me - born two years after this album was released, but I just bought it last spring. And I love it to pieces.

Like most others, the first taste of Scritti that I had was through hearing "Perfect Way" and "Hypnotize". After researching a bit, I decided I should hear more. So I got this album, and fell in love with it just after hearing the opening tune, "the Word Girl". It has been one of my favourite songs ever since. And the rest of the album, hits aside ("Absolute", "Wood Beez") is fantabulous as well.

I can see where mid-80s Madonna and Janet Jackson took some pointers, just from the "sound" of the album. Interesting, considering that Green even said he took some stylistic credit inspired by Michael Jackson for his voice. (Though personally, I'm not a huge fan of Janet or Madonna...)

I'll try my best to sum up each of the songs, though the tunes themselves would do a better job. "the Word Girl" is just a little reggae-lite song, with lyrics really about the usage of the word "girl" in pop songs. But the sway and melody make it sound romantic - which seems to be the case in a number of Green's songs. "Small Talk" is hard to describe, but it has a "typically 80s" feel, but not to the extent to make it sound cheesy. "Absolute" is another favorite, which is definitely a love song, but has a chorus that's fun to sing "oooh, love you..." (not much, but hey.) "A Little Knowledge" - oh, this is where the sap in me makes an appearance. The lyrics focus on a relationship gone awry, but it points out that "lovers never lose each other". It's just a pretty song, as a duet between Green and one of the back-up singers. "Don't Work that Hard" is nondescript, but it's fun, with a killer guitar solo, courtesy of the late Robert Quine.

"Perfect Way", I'm sure most of you are familiar with. I've even gotten my dad into them through this song. Mainly because he found out that jazz great Miles Davis (later to be on Scritti's "Oh Patti") had covered it. Seriously, how many other pop stars can you name that use the words "proposition", "deduction", or "justification" in a song? "Lover to Fall" is pretty again, just having Green declare that he's the one to fall for a certain girl. "Wood Beez" is brilliant, simply in terms of the lyrics. "There's nothing I wouldn't be, oh that's the gift of schizo" - what a line. "Hypnotize", another one we should already be familiar with. But it never gets old. Simplistic, pretty much repeating the same lines over and over, but it's got a groove and sound you cannot get out of your head.

The remixes on the CD version aren't bad either. "Flesh & Blood" is with DJ Ranking Ann rapping basically over the backing of "the Word Girl", sort of giving advice to young women in dealing with relationships. The remixes of "Absolute", "Wood Beez" and "Hypnotize" are great, I find. Even if you aren't particularly nostalgic for the '80s, this album never gets old.

I'm a child of the 80s and thus the Asschowder set list is loaded with classic 80s nuggets. One that we love to play when Burns is feeling it on the keyboards is Perfect Way, which may be the perfect song. Scritti Politti may be the perfect band. I remember getting Cupid and Psyche in 1985. I was 13 at the time and rolling like a full fledged champion. I was dating the hottest girl in 8th grade, I could throw a football 32 yards and my hair was parted on the left side, life was quite delish, then came this album. Yes, album. I bought it on vinyl and now own 2 copies of the CD in case I lose one.

I dig several tracks off this thing like Absolute and Wood Beez, but I think you've got to go with the gold standard as the greatest track of the 80s in perfect way. I got in a huge argument with my friend last week on whether C'est La Vie by Robbie Nevil or Perfect Way was a better track. I ended up getting suspended from work after beating him for even bringing up the idea that there was a better track than Perfect Way. It's Way perfect!!! That right there was awesome. The keyboard solo in that song is the finest ever. It's as if the Bible should have a book after Revelation called Scritti Politti. It would sound like this (Read this in a voice where you try to sound like god):

And there will be a great album, greater than anything ears have ever heard, it shall be called Cupid and Psyche '85. There will be a song on that album called Perfect Way, it shall be as such, perfect in every way. There shall be a keyboard solo in the last third of that song so perfect it shall be as if it were played by angels crossed with Burns.

And so it is done. Amen.