The Scritti Politti Connection

[Chris]

Ned Liben has been credited on Scritti Polittis' album, Cupid And Psyche as Fairlight Programmer for several songs. (Thank you, Kisrah, for verifying this with your own copy. ) (My own resource here....www.discogs.com/artist/Ned+Liben )

One of the songs he is credited on is Absolute. The first time I heard this, I could hear Neds' influence, but at that time all I knew was that he had done something on the album. I didn't know any details. But Neds' sound is unmistakable here. Enjoy.

[Chris]

Hypnotize is another song he has the credit on.

[Chris]

Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) carries yet another credit for Ned.

[Chris]

There are 2 more songs with the credit, but I could only find one. This is Lover To Fall. The other song with the credit is Don't Work That Hard.

[Kisrah]

*giggles and falls over*

This thread made me all kinds of happy. ^o^

Shame that Don't Work That Hard isn't on YouTube, although it's not one of my favourite tracks from the album. I couldn't find it on Project Playlist either.

If anyone wants to hear it, you MIGHT be able to play a small sample on Barnes and Noble's site, if they have the album listed on there. They don't have previews for all albums though. It's very possible that even if they sell the album, they may not have samples of the tracks.

I freaking LOVE Absolute!

Can I also say that Green Gartside looks so damn good in these videos? >>;

[Chris]

I never really listened to Scritti Politti when New Wave was the thing. (By the time I got into New Wave it was Passe Wave. ) I think I may have heard Wood Beez once or twice, but it didn't make much of an impression for whatever reason. I do really like Absolute and Hypnotize. I'll admit, it has taken a little time for Greens' voice to grow on me. It is getting there. He sounds so different from anyone else. I did find an interview where he said that the sound was deliberate and that he had worked on it for quite a while.

I'm glad I could do this for you Kisrah! Anything you want to add, feel free.

[Kisrah]

Well I didn't know about them until about... 1997/98 maybe? I would have been 16-17. I heard a couple of their songs played on the radio. The Word Girl and Oh Patti. The first one in particular got me hooked on their sound. The Word Girl has that special quality to it which is the main thing that attracts me to a particular song. It's that feeling you can't quite put your finger on, and haunts you every time you hear it. Or maybe that's just me. ^^;

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5uBwKKno7a4

Now. The video for Wood Beez you have there is the UK version. At around 2:50 it shows what some people see as the "black salute". As a result, a different video was made for the US.

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RaXDmLPUz1I

In some ways I prefer the US version because it's less weird, but all the wibbliness makes me feel a little sea-sick! >.<

And I'm not usually a fan of live performances, because few artists seem to live up to their recorded vocals once they get on stage. Green Gartside is one of the few artists I can stand live, made more impressive as I've just found out he apparently suffered from stage fright!

This is Sun in Snow, from White Bread Black Beer, which I believe was his last album. I could be wrong, since I came across that one by chance while in HMV a few years ago! No idea he had released another one.

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cb9Zjz28-fg

I wish there was a way to "isolate" the Fairlight sections from these songs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Fairlight can produce a wide range of sounds? *guessing since it's a synthesizer, but knows so little of these things... >.<* I'd like to know exactly which parts Ned Liben is responsible for!

[Chris]

It would be hard for me to pinpoint exact areas in the songs, but there are sounds that I recognize from Feeling Cavalier. Ned used many sequences that I am hearing, especially in Absolute. Some of it very subtle, but definitely there. (Kind of a "squiggly" sound, for lack of a better term.) I can't even really say if he had a hand in influencing the sound from Scritti Politti's standpoint, but my ears sure hear it and I can't mistake it for anything else. We should have a listening party one night on IM. We used to do this on my previous board where everyone would play the same song at the same time. It is kind of hard to synch up, but it can be done. Maybe I can point things out that way.

I don't know a lot about the Fairlight CMI, but there was an auction for one that was purportedly owned by Jane Fairchild. (Someone mentioned that this may actually have belonged to Ned Liben, but I can not vouch for this.) matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/02/jane-childs-fairlight-series-iii.html

UPDATE - I just caught something! In the library listing, one is titled "EBN Sounds 2". I can't believe I didn't see that before!

Of course good old Wikipedia has a good article on the CMI Fairlight, but gave EBN OZN no credit for being the first to use it for an entire album. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight_CMI I consider that a GROSS oversight. Bad Wiki!!! Bad!!!

I watched both videos for Wood Beez and both are ringing some bells. I used to watch MTV religiously and I definitely remember the dancer in the first one. (I may have watched it with the sound all the way down...the days before mute buttons! Back then if it wasn't Styx or Rush, I didn't care.) The second one looks familiar too. I seem to remember the words that are superimposed over everything.

You may turn me into a Scritti Politti fan yet, Kisrah!

[Kisrah]

Okay. Are the any videos of Feeling Cavalier that I can check out? Heh. Actually you've probably already posted one somewhere if there is. ^^; *goes to look around after this* xD

I THINK I may know which bit you mean. If you can watch Absolute again for me please? I've written down the first four times I heard the sound in the video.

0.26
0.35
0.43
0.51

They sound "squiggly". >.> And I'd say they're subtle too. If you don't listen for them, you don't really notice.

Haha! Listening sounds like it would be tricky. Yeah syncing up must be tough! O.O Plus I've stopped using Yahoo for chat now. I think it was responsible for my system freezing a lot recently. ;o;

Oh that's interesting. But I have no idea who Jane Fairchild is. ^^; That guy makes a good argument for it possibly being Ned Liben's though. Curious...

Blargh! That's the trouble with a site that can be edited with anyone who has an account. Well, you could always register and add it yourself! ;D

*falls over* No mute buttons? O.O LOL! Is this the days when MTV was good? I've never seen the channel, but I see so many people complaining about how it has gone downhill.

YES! My plan is working... Um. Nevermind. Very good. >>;

[Chris]

Yes, thank you Kisrah. Those are the sounds I am talking about. Ned does similar sounding "squiggles" on parts of Feeling Cavalier.

EBN OZN only did 2 videos that I am aware of, and those are for Bag Lady (I Wonder) and AEIOU Sometimes Y. (I posted both at trecaas' board and Bag Lady is in the EBN OZN section on here along with a link to VH1 Classics' site where AEIOU can be seen is.) I really wish I had a way of sharing the other songs on Feeling Cavalier so you could get more familiar with Neds' sound. It is much easier to recognize the sounds in the Scritti Politti material when you can hear more than just those 2 songs. I was hoping you could at least hear some samples on Amazon, but there aren't any.

Feeling Cavalier is a very eclectic album. It is a huge mix of African rythyms, Salsa, a little late 50's/early 60's rockabilly-type music, mock Gregorian chant....Oh, hell. It is just easier to say it is everything including the kitchen sink! ;D Ned is responsible for the majority of the sounds on the album....possible exception of TV Guide, which I am sure is Robert Ozn on organ. (This is the mock Gregorian Chant song.) There is so much subtlety on the album that no matter how many times I have heard it, I always hear something new. Then the more I listen to Absolute, the more I hear things that Ned used on FC. It is almost eerie, really. And the really weird thing is that some of the things don't sound exactly like on FC, but the suggestion is there if that makes any sense. I wish I could articulate it better.

MTV....or, as I prefer to think of it, eMpTV. Back in the 80's it was awesome. Anything you could think of, they showed it. Now, it is nothing but pure crap. MTV was responsible for my love of bands like Squeeze, The Fixx, EBN OZN, XTC and INXS plus it introduced me to great songs like "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats and "More Than This" by Roxy Music. When I was a teenager, I lived on MTV whenever I went to Virginia to visit my grandparents. (I couldn't see it any other way.) I even took my VCR up there to record the videos I liked. Had I known that 20 years later you could see just about any video you wanted on this here World Wide Web, I wouldn't have bothered. ;D VH1 Classic is kind of close to what the glory days of MTV was, but it lacks the personality.

And, as far as I am concerned, the mute button is mankinds' greatest invention! Take that dumbass TV commercials!