Customer Reviews

Early (Bonus CD)

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It's a shame that this two-disc set is all the ACR that remains in print. Between 1978 and 1982 they recorded three unique and intriguing albums (The Graveyard and The Ballroom, To Each, and Sextet) plus a slew of fantastic singles all under the direction of vocalist Simon Topping. Topping was often unjustly maligned for sounding too much like Ian Curtis. Yet his departure brought the magic to an abrupt end, and ACR lingered on for years playing increasingly tame, insipid dance music to ever diminishing audiences.

Fortunately, this collection is largely culled from their Topping era stuff, which could best be described as a wonderfully weird amalgamation of funk, salsa, electro, krautrock, and African percussion. ACR daringly emphasized rhythm over melody with brilliantly original results.

Despite its length, "Early" isn't as cohesive or interesting as the shorter and rarer Factory compilation "The Old and The New," which covers the same time period. But there's plenty here to whet your appetite.

Since most longtime fans will already have all of the songs from disc one on CD or vinyl, it's a pity disc two isn't available separately. It's a short but fascinating collection of live broadcasts recorded for John Peel's legendary radio show with a few b-sides tacked on at the end.

Fans of Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras, ESG, and Talking Heads will really like this.

Reading the (actually quite excellent) liner notes, you'd think that A Certain Ratio were on the leading lights in postpunk England, rather than the minor figures they actually were. That said, their music has dated pretty well, and their instincts about funk, dance, dub and cross-Atlantic musical hybridization were right on the money. This is a pretty generous package - 13 'hits' on one CD, and 11 obscurities on another, as well as a short film. Sound, presentation, track selection and appropriate liner note contextualization add up to a nifty set - you definitely don't need any more ACR than this, but you sort of do need at least this. If you're on the edge, Soul Jazz (same label that released this) also has a package called "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm" that features two of the tracks contained herein, as well as fine sounds from This Heat, the Slits and others...

Factory Records are the only label where I bought anything they produced without listening first - at least for the first few releases. A Certain Ratio were for me their star band, much though I loved Joy Division. This compilation is worth buying for their version of Shack Up. Or for Flight. Or - especially - for Knife Slits Water. I don't think there has ever been such a dangerous, compelling slice of raw funk/punk as Knife Slits Water. They became a bit more funk mainstream as they went on, but the quality was always there. A great band. Where the hell is Simon Topping now???

I was introduced to A Certain Ratio after I had gorged the childlike innocence of ESG and the spontaneous, intense post-funk of Liquid Liquid. A Certain Ratio were reissued on the same label as ESG and I had strong hopes that they would provide another angle to the post-funk sound that was a generally-overlooked but very interesting part of the underground of the 1980s.

Unfortunately, in comparison to the two great groups mentioned above, A Certain Ratio have none of the passion or charm needed to make their sound hold up and be interesting for the music listener. Instead of relying on simple, sparse bass-and-drum rhythms as ESG did or tight, densely locked grooves as Liquid Liquid did, A Certain Ratio took far too many of the worst clichés of more mainstream 1980s music. Although their music does not sound in any way like the pompous sound of commercial music of the eighties, it still does possess a synthesised sound that can best be described as dated - and at times, as on "Sounds Like Something Dirty", the band does indeed move into territory which is really at the worst end of 1980s bad taste. Even when they stya free of these influences, they never have the emotion or beauty of ESG or Liquid Liquid's spontaneity.

Another bad problem for A Certain Ratio is Simon Topping's annoying voice. He might wish to sound very much like a soul singer - far from an unknown trait among white musicians of the period - but he never pulls it up and ends up sounding like the worst kind of pop singer from the modern age. Never does his voice possess the solidity necessary to make the low pitches he uses sound at all touching or compelling. With a more deeply emotional singer the material on "Early" would definitely have potential, but with the echo-y singing it feels very annoying.

All in all, it is best to stick with ESG or Liquid Liquid of you want really good post-funk.