White Bread, Black Beer＜数量限定盤＞

ソウル、ファンク、レゲエ、ジャズを取り入れながら、80年代ニューウェーヴの中でも正統派ポップ・センスで異彩を放ち、天使の歌声とも称されるグリーン・ガートサイド率いるスクリッティ・ポリッティが長年廃盤となっていた『White Bread, Black Beer』と『Early』の2枚を〈Rough Trade〉からLPリイシュー!

『White Bread, Black Beer』は1980年代半ば以来初めてラフ・トレードに戻ってきてリリースされた作品で、ガーディアン誌に「頂点への回帰」と言わしめ、『アンカット』誌は「止まることなく自己批判を続けてきたキャリアにおけるベスト盤」と評すなどメディアからの高評価を受け、2006年のマーキュリー賞にノミネートされた。

Rolling Stone (p.94) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Gartside is in a Thom Yorke mood: This album features some of his most beautiful, introverted and delicate tunes yet." Entertainment Weekly (p.67) - "Thankfully, he somewhat cuts loose on a few tracks, notably the excellent Michael Jackson meets Kraftwerk dance number 'E Eleventh Nuts'." -- Grade: B Q (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Gartside remains intriguing, still ploughing his own furrow and still coming up with the goods." Q (p.118) - Ranked #52 in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of 2006." Mojo (Publisher) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[With] the kind of polished boy-meets-girl pop that made him famous....'Snow In Sun' echoes PET SOUNDS with its deep-pile harmonies."

Unless you go strictly by the lyrics and/or the circumstances, the third and fourth Scritti Politti comeback albums are not very dissimilar. They're principally bright-colored guitar pop albums, though 2006's White Bread Black Beer features neither the guest MCs nor the deeply hip-hop-rooted arrangements that speckled 1999's Anomie & Bonhomie. Beneath that, everything on White Bread Black Beer was written and played by Green Gartside at his house, and the sleeve design of the album is credited in part to an Alys Gartside. That's Green's wife. (For some longtime fans, Green's marriage might take longer to comprehend than the Miles Davis appearance on Provision.) While crippling uncertainty continues to play a role in Green's life and the frequency with which he records, he's clearly in a frame of mind that was previously foreign to him, or at least one that he has never exposed before. Lines like "Very strange about love, you can feel the sun, there is no end," "You will never need to doubt me," and "When I'm with you, baby, I know just who I am" seem very unlike the person who once wrote "The 'Sweetest Girl,'" yet there's no reason to have a problem with them, especially since they're cooed and crooned in a voice that has always seemed to be ideal for expressions of love and happiness. It remains inconceivable that anything other than some kind of honey-based elixir has ever slid down Green's throat; despite being in his fifties, he still sounds every bit the bright-eyed boy, even when he's alluding to the powders and liquids he has ingested. The songs, as far as the writing goes, are routinely terrific; however, the ones that rely most on convenient synthesized elements are a bit dainty and rudimentary and deserve to be made without the limitations of a home studio. The major exceptions are a pair of weightless lullabies, in addition to "Dr. Abernathy," a song that snaps into a merry super-powered bounce worthy of prime XTC. Its implanted references to philosophers who held court in 19th century German universities (Hegel) and on 20th century New York streets (Brand Nubian) are a dead giveaway that Green acted alone. ~ Andy Kellman

〈サマソニ〉での好演も記憶に新しい、80's英国ニューウェイヴ界きっての知性派ポップ・ユニット＝スクリッティ・ポリッティことグリーン・ガートサイド。7年ぶりとなる新作は、トコトン削ぎ落とされたソフトな打ち込みサウンドと不変の中性的ヴォーカルとが織り成す静謐にしてロマンティックな逸品で、相も変わらずスマートな仕上がりに!　現役バリバリどころか時代の先を行っているのだから憎らしい。
bounce (C)田中 幹也