May 2026 has witnessed signs of life from the Scritti Politti camp by way of two news pieces of interest, the announcement of some live dates to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Rough Trade record label and a new ‘deluxe’ re-issue of 1985’s ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ album. Sadly though, still no news of any new album release, which leaves ‘White Bread Black Beer’ the band’s last album release to date, twenty years ago in 2006, the subject of today’s post.
This edition featured here is the limited edition Japanese release which was notable for two main reasons in comparison to the regular editions. Firstly, the CD comes with two extra songs, and there is an additional DVD disc as well with a 15 min documentary video. As is customary on Japanese releases, there is an additional insert booklet as well as the regular one.
‘White Bread Black Beer’ itself was the first (and so far last) album release of the 21st century from Green/Scritti Politti and its notable by the fact that it was all recorded at home in London by Green himself, rather than some kind of big band production. In keeping with such a recording endeavour, it is a somewhat more intimate and quieter sound, many of the tracks largely based around soft keyboard sounds, guitars and only the occasional breaking free from restraint, such as on ‘Cooking’ and ‘Dr Abernathy’. After the ’80s high-tech production sheen and big name players, and 1999’s hip-hop besotted ‘Anomie & Bonhomie’, this album’s modest signature sound was seen as quite a departure at the time, probably not helped by the muted, downbeat nature of the opening two tracks, but it more than has a well-crafted songsmith charm and there are a good number of tracks to be found on here the equal of any previous work. My own personal favourites include ‘Road To No Regret’ and ‘Snow in Sun’.
The two extra tracks to be found on the CD are ‘The Last Time I Looked’, a quieter, reflective acoustic piece, and the completely out of context ‘Hands Up’, a collaboration between Skillz and Green, recorded in New York as well as in London. This harks back more easily to the ‘Anomie & Bonhomie’ sound. As it happens, neither track is especially exclusive, as both were included as tracks on the CD single for the opening single form the album, ‘The Boom Boom Bap’. If you are after an obscurity, then it is the US promo CD, ‘Three Unreleased Tracks’, which includes an otherwise unobtainable track by way of ‘When I Was Happy’.
The DVD features footage of Green in Paris, trying out acoustic guitars in a musical instruments shop, before eventually buying one (a Martin six-string acoustic, fact fans) to use in later performance, and being interviewed (by Jon Wilde) about the background to the album. Amongst which he opines about spending the initial period back on Rough Trade recording beats, recording in New York (of which, the bonus track ‘Hands Up’ is likely an example) and the likely release of that, and that the key to the genesis of the record was that he had never previously enjoyed singing, but this time round it was foundational to the record. Amongst the influences on he record, he notes ‘white pop’ and folk and that, as the record was not filtered through more virtuoso players (which was seemingly stifling to creativity and self-confidence) the record is “unsophisticated” musically. (Hardly, methinks.) Reflecting on the ’80s excesses of Scritti, he muses on the notion of being able to ‘play with pop if clever enough’, but eventually realising on an American Bandstand appearance, that it was all part of the same machine and success was as ugly as failure. On the fact that the record had appeared at all, he notes that he was “happy enough to let it go” and that the band members for the accompanying live dates were recruited from his local pub. But don’t take my word for it, as you can watch this on YouTube if you prefer.
Let’s hope that once more Green can find himself “happy enough to let it go” for another album of material!
I found myself lucky to have quickly gotten a copy of “White Bread, Black Beer” as a US promo CD [the only time I’ve ever seen it], so the card sleeve is ultra minimal in terms of detail but that’s fine since the music is actually the most enjoyable of the Scritti albums for my ears! I was immediately hooked into “The Boom Boom Bap” and hardly found it to be a difficult “downbeat” listen. Green’s vocals and timing are exquisite. The “Three Unreleased Tracks” promo is likely unobtainable at prices I could afford, but fortunately, all 4 B-sides associated with the album are easily available as DLs on the iTunes store. 25 years ago I would have held out for the actual CDs at any cost, but I can’t fight those battles any longer.
I had been alienated by the rappers taking over “Anomie + Bonhomie” on release. All I bought at the time was the US CD5 of “Tinseltown To The Boogiedown” and I was appalled that there would be a Scritti Politti release where Green was almost a guest on his own album. And I didn’t like most Hip Hop, thinking it a fad from the late 70s [which I absolutely hated then] that forgot to go away. It wasn’t until I heard RUN-DMC that I began to [very] slowly warm to the genre. Sort of like my initial resistance to Sisters Of Mercy, it got worn away through sheer exposure. But my ardor for Scritti Politti means that now I am intending to soak up all that that release entailed for the percolating Scritti Politti rarities comp I’ve been thinking about for 20+ years now.
Beyond the surprising appearance of the album, the big news here was the fact that Green had gotten past his stage fright to actually tour. Even in The States! Where he did a few dates, not attended by yours truly. More big news was that DLX RM of “Cupid + Psyche ’95.” For decades, it seemed like Green had zero interest in adding any bonus tracks to the fairly regular reissues of his discography. The fact that the 12″ mixes were on the original C+S CD seemed like a one-off aberration. I looked at all of them thinking we’d never see a DLX ultrabox of C+S which could be at least 2 packed CDs with mixes/edits that we know about. I’d make room for such an edition; even at three figures. But instead we have a trickle of mixes instead of a deluge. I’d like to know his thinking on this. This is sort of like those cautious Eurythmics DLX RMs of 20+ years ago. But… better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!