British music magazine Record Mirror placed it at number 14 in their critics' list of the best albums of the 1980s,[3] and it was included in journalist Garry Mulholland's book Fear of Music: The 261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco (2006) where he described the record as "a unique and modestly epic fusion of pop, reggae, funk, soul, jazz and lyrics submerged in the deep end of political philosophy.

"[4] After releasing two EPs and a single, Scritti Politti began planning their debut studio album in 1979, but the recording had to be delayed when Gartside collapsed after a gig supporting post-punk band Gang of Four in Brighton in early 1980.

Returning home to south Wales at his parents' insistence for a nine-month convalescence period, Gartside had plenty of time to think about the direction the band and their music were going in.

"[7] He explained his reasons for abandoning the band's original "do-it-yourself" philosophy to Smash Hits in November 1981: "In simple terms, we were sick to death of the ghetto of the independent scene.

"[7]As well as his musical change of heart, Gartside had also abandoned the strict Marxist philosophy of the early Scritti Politti ideas and recordings, saying that "a lot of the very oppositional politics that we'd been involved in lost their appeal and credibility for me.

I wanted to go very poppy, but Tom [Morley, drummer] and Nial [Jinks, bassist] weren't very keen on the idea, so in coordinance with the old bookwormish Scritti Politti I decided to make some notes – which in retrospect is a ridiculous thing to do – about the theory and politics of it, and why it was a good thing to do, as opposed to keep slogging away at St. Pancras Records [Scritti Politti's self-financed independent record label].

Also, we were working with Adam Kidron, who was at the time committed to Delta Five [sic] and Pere Ubu and Orange Juice, so it took that much longer to complete.

"[8] Gartside told NME that he had originally planned to call the album Stand and Deliver before Adam and the Ants released their chart-topping single of the same name, and then Junior Gichi before realising that the name could be confused with that of the singer Junior Giscombe, a backing vocalist for the Brit funk band Linx who was just beginning a solo career in 1982.

[12] A German import single of the song arrived in the UK in August 1981 but was quickly withdrawn at the band's request, as they were unhappy with both the mix and the vinyl pressing.

The cover artwork for each of the singles was a homage to the packaging of a luxury consumer item: Dunhill cigarettes for "The 'Sweetest Girl'", Dior's Eau Sauvage perfume for "Faithless", and Courvoisier cognac for "Asylums in Jerusalem"/"Jacques Derrida".

[16] Gartside defended the decision to hold back the album, saying that "we could have released it then, and it would probably have got some nice reviews, sold a few thousand copies and disappeared.

In several interviews at the time of the album's release, Gartside stated his dissatisfaction with Rough Trade's promotion of the record, hinting in one interview that "there's still a lot of problems, as far as I'm concerned, fundamental matters of distribution and economics, promotion, marketing and a bias against their product at radio stations"[10] and in another he complained, "I must say I've been badly disappointed the way RT have handled the past three singles.

In one interview with NME in October 1981 he told the paper, "The politics have moved from an essentialist and reductionist position in which we believed in a history of science which could make sense of the future to one that realized that what you've got is needs, demands, and desires, and you go out and you fight for them.

"[8] In another interview with The Face the following year Gartside said, "My loss has been political conviction, the idea of a correct understanding of the past, present and future (Marxism).

Melody Maker stated that "Green's determination to stamp his brandmark into the nation's consciousness is reflected by the album's pompous title ...

Yet the funny thing is those dubious proclamations just aren't needed because the arrogance embodied in the title is emphatically based on vinyl reality ...

Some people may find Green's sugary vocals and Adam Kidron's lush production just a little too refined; listening to Scritti can be a bit like having honey tipped down your ears, but that seems like a perfect design for mainstream invasion.

It continued, "It's by no means a disturbing record to listen to, which is why it could appeal to the timid, but Green's lyrical preoccupations – language, definitions, the way one's preconceptions determine and control perception – would intrigue the curious ...

"[27] Smash Hits felt that "the two years it took to make may have blunted its impact somewhat" but "there's more than enough in Songs to Remember to establish Scritti Politti as the acceptable face of intellectual pop.

), lilting melodies, winsome wit and wonderful invention ... [it] sounds as delightfully undateable as it did back in 1982 ...Songs to Remember remains a well-named, well-made record".

[22] Mojo said that Scritti Politti had "valiantly spot-welded such rarified tropes [as Derrida and digital dancehall] to an unsuspecting pop chassis ... Lovers Rock and Left Bank intellectualism have rarely combined more fruitfully.