Virtual Businesses...

SCRITTI AFFILIATES

VIRGIN RECORDS UK
(Scritti's phase 3 & 4 record label)
Heavy on the big graphics, the site unfortunately would have you believe Green isn't signed to Virgin at all: There was sadly no mention of Scritti Politti. Virgin's policy seems to be to feature only their 20 or so top selling artists. Featured artists are given links to their own official band sites, which varies in quality. Most have sound and video clips, discography, summary of the band's history, and a few quotes. We shall see if anything will done to promote Scritti should the new album really materializes.

ROUGH TRADE RECORDS
(Scritti's phase 1 & 2 distributor/record label)
With clean graphics, this nice looking site is one up from Virgin in that at least Scritti Politti is listed in their discography section with picture of all the Scritti records on their label -- Skank Bloc Bologna isn't included because it was on Scritti's own label prior to Scritti getting onto Rough Trade's payroll. Even better is the "feedback form" where you can supposedly tell them what you would like to see re-issued. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, ask for them all. A few of you have been looking for the Songs To Remember on CD: this is your chance!

A note on Rough Trade...for those needing briefing.
Rough Trade started out as a record shop -- there's still one on Talbot Street in the Knotting Hill area of London -- and developed into a distribution chain and then an independent record label. It became quite successful in the mid-80s but went bankrupt in the early 90s. Geoff Travis, the original owner, sold Rough Trade to One Little Indian Records, which refinanced its resurrection, and continued to work for a while longer at Rough Trade until the relationship deteriorated and he went off to start Trade 2 Records, which is owned by Island Records. So the site above belongs to One Little Indian. But Geoff Travis was the one early Scritti dealt with and he has this nice thing to say about Scritti even though the Scritti-Rough Trade breakup seemd rather messy:

"People always said that we discovered hundreds of bands but we never kept them. We felt terrible about that because we knew what we were doing. One of the things that made me take this seriously was when Scritti Politti left us and signed to Virgin."

...excerpt from an interview with Geoff Travis; if you like to read more from it...

WORLDS END
(Represents David Gamson who's now a producer)
Has up-to-date listing of David's work as a producer. Nice looking site, but a bit light on information otherwise.

RECORD SHOPS

Focus here is on shops where you can get the out of print releases second-hand. For the two items still widely available -- Cupid & Psyche '85 and Provision LPs on CD or cassette -- check your local large music shops.

THE VINYL TAP (UK)
Great looking site with online catalog search engine. Mostly items from phase 3. Moderate price, prompt delivery (less than a week from UK to US), and the packaging neat and secure. Definitely worth a try!

VINYL VENDORS (US)
WARNING! Not tested. Do business with them at your own risk!
Also has online catalog search engine. Many singles, mostly from phase 3, but also a few copies of Asylum In Jerusalem/Jacques Derrida from phase 2.

ESPRIT (UK & US)
eMail:   [email protected]
Mail order house in UK & US with eMail address. According to James in UK, it's a big company offering great service, etc. But the turn over is quick and there are usually only one or two Scritti Politti items in stock at any time. So best to periodically check up with an eMail request for list of Scritti items.

ENERGY (UK)
eMail:   [email protected]
WARNING! Not tested yet. Do business with them at your own risk!
According to James in UK it's another big mail order house with eMail address.

CJ'S MUSIC & MEMORABILIA (UK)
WARNING! Not tested yet. Do business with them at your own risk!

ROBIN DAVIES (UK)
Very pricey but lots of items from all periods. Only for those of you who are really desparate or rich!

ONLINE MUSIC PRESS

None of the following currently has any feature piece or news about Scritti, but...

iMusic News Agent
The place for one stop news browsing with headlines from many major online consumer and industry music press plus record labels press releases.

NME (New Musical Express)
Heavy on the content: Weekly updated news, gossip, quite a few small feature articles, charts & reviews with sound clips, tours listing & reviews -- not applicable to Scritti is it?­and bulletin board to air your music angsts. Definitely a bookmark just in case they've changed their mind about Scritti since those early 80s vicious attacks!

Q
Up-to-date but...Go for the news headlines. One or two small feature pieces. Everything else is annoyingly "Members Only"

DOTMUSIC
The online counterpart of a bunch of UK offline music press published by Miller Freeman Entertainment, including Record Mirror. Most promising sections are the weekly news briefings and the archive of past and present small online feature pieces on artists. Also does charts, online music shopping, club disc jockey profiles, and their 'Best of the UK Music Websites' thangy.

SELECT
Same deal as with Q, but with quite a few more headlines and just a tad more small feature pieces. Everything else is again annoyingly "Members Only"

INTERNET MUSIC DIRECTORY SITES

ALL MUSIC GUIDE
This online music reference guide has music maps, essays, glossary, and a big database of reviews/essays on artists. Use it to help you figure out some of the musical references Scritti the self-appointed music commentator drops here and there. Sadly the entry for Scritti got some of the facts wrong and AoF could not get AMG to correct the mistakes.

SUPERSONIC GUIDE
British website of nothing but music links. Has listings for artists/fans websites, mailing lists, record label websites, and a hodge-podge of other British pop music related sites worldwide. Also mirrored in the US and Japan.

ULTIMATE BAND LIST
Full-featured commercial music links web-site. Everything's here: music news and links to radio station, record labels, record stores, music press, charts, and on and on...It even has an instantly updatable database of artists related links. Well integrated, it can jump-starts online shopping search for you from the artists pages so you can go directly to relvant entries in online shops' catalog databases. Should your very own Scritti Web Site go online, definitely register with this crowd to be included in their artists-related links listing!