Customer Reviews

To Each

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, this album and the follow up, Sextet, are absolutely unique in sound, and still fully ahead of their times. Those of who were into this band at the time have never forgotten these albums...horns, latin percussion, funk...there's no describing them. And ...to Each was produced by the infamous Martin Hannett.
If you are thinking about buying this album, don't: just buy it.

This album is worth buying not just for the extraordinarly haunting blend of funk with the best of ambient despair emerging from the UK synthesiser movement of the late 1970's and 80's, but also simply so that you can say you have listened to world war three. The final track on this album, Winter Hill, sums up virtually all fears and all horrors of the Cold War,a frightening and sinister military precussion that builds and explodes across the better part of twelve minutes. The use of incredibly powerful bass rhythms detonate every few minutes as the nuclear weapons of the world tear apart the aural fabric. It is an incredibly powerful piece of music that will oneday find a home in a very powerful movie.

I originally bought the album sextet by a certain ratio for a dollar because it had a great album cover. When I got it home and dropped the needle, I was a fan forever. It is really to bad that so little of these guys music is available here

Someone else wrote a review about Winter Hill representing a nuclear war. Here is the truth about Winter Hill. Winter Hill is a real hill near A Certain Ratio's home town of Manchester, England. On top of Winter Hill is a huge television transmitter mast. Close to the transmitter is a small hut full of electrical equipment. This hut makes a droning noise which changes every ten seconds or so between two different notes about 2 semitones apart. The changing drone on the song is not a recording of this hut, and is not the same notes, but it is a musical reminder of the sound the hut makes. How do I know? Because I walked to the top of Winter Hill in approximately 1987, and as soon as I heard the hut, I knew that this was the inspiration for the song. I don't know if the hut is still there, or if it still makes the same noise.

The album is definitely worth having for Forced Laugh, Winter Hill and a few others, but there is too much filler to give it 5 stars.