The Veneer Of Democracy Has Been Stripped Away

Remembering Mark Stewart, 10th August 1960 to 21st April 2023.

I posted a hastily compiled Dubhed selection as a tribute the morning after news broke of Mark's passing. In closing, I promised that  

"There will be a follow up post, 

where I try to articulate just why Mark Stewart 

is such an important figure [...]

I just can't find the words right now."

This is that follow-up post, marking two years since Mark died. I'm still not sure I have the words, but Mark's stepped up and done it for me by releasing a brilliant new single, Memory Of You.

Memory Of You is the opening track of The Fateful Symmetry, out in July and completed before Mark's untimely passing. No compromise, even in death.

I discovered Mark's music in the late 1980s via my interest in Adrian Sherwood and ON-U Sound and the Mute label, the channels leading me to his solo albums with Maffia aka Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc and Skip McDonald. 

At this point, I had no idea of Mark's links to my birthplace Bristol, and was largely ignorant of The Pop Group, their significance and legacy. The past thirty-odd years have been a voyage of discovery and learning, revealing the complexity and contradictions through a career of challenge and non-conformity.

I've had a little more time to compile today's selection, compared to the ad-hoc tribute in 2023. Even so, this remains a surface-scratching exercise; there are so many layers, and Mark's work goes way beyond that with The Pop Group, Maffia and solo. The good news is that much of it is available in digital and physical formats via Mute, Bandcamp or your friendly local record shop.

Mark's music remains as crucial now as it ever has done.

1) Deep Time Dub (Mark Stewart Mix): Nohumaneye vs Mark Stewart (2022)

2) Hysteria (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Adrian Sherwood): Mark Stewart + Maffia (1990)

3) Death Trip To Tulsa ('Mark Stewart’s Exopolitix Demix'): Mark Lanegan Band (2015)

4) Where There's A Will There's A Way (Single Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

5) Shame And Pain (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Jim Sclavunos): Mark Stewart & Jeffrey Lee Pierce ft. Thurston Moore (2014)

6) Gustav Says (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Keith Levene & Achim Treu (2012)

7) Toxic Waste (Mark Stewart & Uncle Fester On Acid Remix By Mark Stewart & Patrick Dokter): Lampredonto (2022)

8) Babycino (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart (2012)

9) Forces Of Oppression (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

10) 'Ndrangheta Allotmen (Mark Stewart's Spectrum Remix): Meatraffle (2018)

11) Gang War (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Keith Levene (2012)

12) A4 ####### (Mallarmé Read By Mark): Nun Gun ft. Mark Stewart (2021)

13) (Amnesty Report II) (Album Version By Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1979)

14) Method To The Madness (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Nik Void (2012)

15) Rob A Bank (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

16) The Last Enemy (Mark Stewart Black Mix): Consolidated (2021)

17) Simulacra (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Adrian Sherwood): Mark Stewart (1995)

18) Struggle (Adrian Sherwood / Mark Stewart Mutant Disco Vocal Mix): Radio 4 (2003)

19) Savage Sea (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1979)

1979: Y: 19

1980: For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?: 9, 15

1980: In The Beginning There Was Rhythm / Where There's A Will.. EP (split 7" w/ The Slits): 4

1980: We Are Time: 13

1990: Metatron: 2

1995: Control Data: 17

2003: Eyes Wide Open / Struggle EP: 18

2012: The Politics Of Envy: 6, 11, 14

2012: Exorcism Of Envy: 8

2014: Axels & Sockets: The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project: 5

2015: A Thousand Miles Of Midnight: Phantom Radio Remixes: 3

2018: Revenge Of An 'Ndrangheta Cell, On An Allotment, In Norbury, South London EP: 10

2021: Stealth Empire In Dub: 12

2021: We're Already There (Remixes): 16

2022: King Of The Zombies EP: 1

2022: !Wasted!: 7

The Veneer Of Democracy Has Been Stripped Away (1:14:41) (KF) (Mega)

You can find Out Here On The Perimeter, Nobody Can Hear You Scream, my previous Mark Stewart tribute selection, here