I'm Green, I'm terrible'. He'd been out the night before with Marc Almond and he looked a bit the worse for wear." The trio continued work on "Small Talk" which had been started by Gamson and Gartside in the UK and was later remixed by Nile Rodgers. They hoped to release it as a new Scritti Politti single. However, due to the legal battle involving Green's release from his contract with Rough Trade, the single was never released. "Small Talk" would eventually appear as a track on Cupid & Psyche 85. Another song from this period written by Gartside and Gamson, "L Is for Lover", was recorded by American R&B singer Al Jarreau and released as the title track of his 1986 studio album. Green remained in New York with his new musical partners, and with the help of his new manager Bob Last he finally resolved his problems with Rough Trade and signed major label deals with Virgin Records in the UK and with Warner Bros. Records in North America. He also used the time to set up meetings with musicians and producers that he wanted to work with, later recalling, "I seemed to get put in touch with anybody I wanted to meet and they were all very enthusiastic". Following the signing of the new record deals, the band remained in New York and recorded three songs with producer Arif Mardin: "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)", "Absolute" and "Hypnotize", all of which would later become singles from the new album. Gartside told NME, "He was the producer I most wanted to work with. We sent him some demos and he liked them very much and wanted to do it. It was his work with people like Chaka Khan over the past few years that made me want to work with Arif. Her version of [ the Beatles'] 'We Can Work It Out' – incredible!" Gamson brought the influence of black American radio acts such as Parliament-Funkadelic, while Gartside took inspiration from nascent hip hop music. According to Uncle Dave Lewis of AllMusic, "no prior pop album had integrated the techniques of sampling and sequencing to such a great degree". Composition and release The first single to be released from the album was "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" in February 1984, its subtitle alluding to the Aretha Franklin song "I Say a Little Prayer" which producer Arif