Scritti Politti Anomie & Bonhomie (Virgin)
Anomie & Bonhomie (Virgin)
Reviewed by Marc Savlov, Fri., March 31, 2000
Scritti Politti
Anomie & Bonhomie (Virgin)
Oh, but this bodes ill for the new millennium: Welsh Eighties pop soulsters Scritti Politti have reformed and returned with a new album. Scritti Politti, for god's sake, progenitors of pre-Nineties pop pablum like the R&B-flavored, not-quite-a-hit-and-for-good-reason "Perfect Way"!! While that once might have seemed as likely as a Steely Dan reunion, now you relive the old days by gagging on Green Gartside's woeful attempt at relevance here. Gartside, the only remaining member of Politti, must have been enthused to learn of all the Scritti Web sites that have popped up like toadstools in the soggy shade of cowflops, and thus come these 11 tracks of overproduced, slick-as-lung-tissue pop-turds. Gartside's Squeeze-meets-Crowded House vox are as cheerily grating as ever, though with this new outing he's enlisted Mos Def and Meshell Ndegeocello to assist in spattering his newfound love of hip-hop all over this pop posture. Wankers, the lot of you. Avoid Anomie & Bonhomie like the plague -- at least until the new Simply Red or Ebn Ozn arrives in stores. Then riot.No Stars
