Scritti Politti: Anomie & Bonhomie : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

It would take a major thinker to explain why the futuristic buzz of Eighties synth pop instantly dated itself. Wielding both French linguistic theory and New Wave hairdo, Green Gartside of the Eighties Anglo-American dance act Scritti Politti is uniquely qualified to address that conundrum. His return from an eleven-year-long weekend, Anomie and Bonhomie dodges the question by replacing Scritti's big synth 'n' drums clatter with twenty-first-century samplers, guitars, strings and MCs who flip from post-grunge to hip-hop to folky soul smooveness without faltering. The lowriding first single, "Tinseltown to the Boogiedown," relegates Gartside's airy tenor to the back seat, while rhymesters Mos Def and Lee Majors spin a lyrical wheel through tense urban sonics. On "Here Come July," Gartside makes like a Foo Fighter, while MeShell Ndegeocello lends her bass and sassy song-speak to "Die Alone." It's telling that the Welsh R&B connoisseur seems most personable when offering up "First Goodbye," a brokenhearted ballad seemingly stolen from the Babyface factory. Like Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, Scritti's main man remains a master of all that he deconstructs. (RS 834)

BARRY WALTERS