Having left London and his bandmates behind, Green hitched onto David Gamson who was a label mate at Rough Trade and the more technically accomplished musician of the pair. In NY Scritti acquired a third member, drummer Fred Maher, formerly of Material formerly the Zu and a friend of David's.

The alliance started off with David inviting Green to sing on his single -- the original Small Talk. But since Scritti was more established at the time, the two decided to make the song a Scritti single instead. And that, in a nutshell, is how Scritti transformed into the mainstream pop group which most people know Scritti as, with David contributing significantly to the new Scritti sound. Where as in the previous phases Green had written all the lyrics and arrangements, now the music is hashed out collaboratively and then lyrics added by Green to complement the existing tracks.

Besides Small Talk, which was remixed by Nile Rodgers, Green and David also collaborated on other songs which, along with the original Small Talk, were never released by Rough Trade. One of these was a song called L Is For A Lover with lyrics written by Green.

Frustrated with Rough Trade, Green decided to switch record label and find a new management. There were legal tangles, but he finally managed to sign a contract with Virgin Records which had released all the Scritti material ever since. The tracks for the new LP were recorded in New York and London.

The first single to surface was Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franlin). Released in April 1984, it was a triumph for Green as it broke into the UK top 40 chart, an accomplishment which had eluded Scritti in the last phase. In fact it reached #10 in UK and #16 in Australia. July release Absolute reached UK #17; but November's Hypnotize fared less well, reaching only UK #68. The next release in May 1985, The Word Girl (Flesh and Blood), fared much better, climbing up to UK #6 and the LP Cupid & Psyche '85 released in June became a big seller at UK #5. The last single off this record, Perfect Way, which was released in September, became Scritti's first US hit at #11.

With commercial success came tributes from other well know musicians: Miles Davis covered Perfect Way on his album Tutu, Madness covered 82's The Sweetest Girl in February 1986 (which reached UK #35, but in AoF's humble opinion, is nowhere near as good as the original), and Wet Wet Wet got its name from Gettin' Havin' & Holdin' off 82's LP Songs to Remember. Then came writing for other musicians: Green wrote Love Of A Lifetime for Chaka Khan which made US #53 and UK #52 in 1986 and also in '86 Green and David contributed the title cut for Al Jarreau's LP L Is For Lover ( -- could this be the L Is For A Lover that was never released by Rough Trade? -- AoF). A fan club was even established and two issues of fanzine Scritti Politti magazine was even published in the UK with a funny article featuring Green interviewing Fred and David and referring to himself in the third person. (Fan mails, however, went unanswered.)

Meanwhile, no more singles was released as Scritti worked meticulously days and nights on new material for themselves. August 1987 saw the first song to emerge though it wasn't as a Scritti single: Best Thing Ever was released on the soundtrack of Madonna's Who's That Girl. Rather, the new Scritti single was to become May 1988's Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy) which featured a guest appearance by Miles Davis on trumpet. It reached UK #13. And in June, the LP Provision was released. It reached UK #8 and US #113. July's First Boy In This Town (Lovesick) reached only UK #63 and August's Boom! There She Was made it as far as US #53 but didn't reach UK #55 until November, when Oh Patti was released in the US.

After the success of Cupid & Psyche '85, the grades on Provision were a big disappointment -- especially since so much efforts were put into it. Green fell sick again. And having succeeded once in what he wanted -- commercial success with the by now signature synthesized sound -- it was back to Wales to recuperate and figure out the next phase of Scritti. David and Fred had other plans and Scritti Politti became yet again Green and himself.

( . . . . . 83-85 or 86-88 articles listing )

Click on the in the 7", 12", or LP column
to get more details on the single, EP, or LP.
Also available: complete SCRITTI POLITTI songs listing

song title	7"	12"	LP
The Word Girl
Small Talk
Absolute
A Little Knowledge
Don't Work That Hard
Perfect Way
Lover To Fall
Wood Beez
Hypnotize
Boom! There She Was
Overnite
First Boy In This Town (Lovesick)
All That We Are
Best Thing Ever
Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)
Bam Salute
Sugar And Spice
Philosophy Now
World Come Back To Life