The band was formed by vocalist Simon Topping and guitarist and electronics player Peter Terrell, who after initially performing as a duo, were soon joined by bassist and vocalist Jez Kerr and then guitarist and trumpeter Martin Moscrop, the band played without a drummer for a year. [13] The band's name is taken from the lyric of Brian Eno's song "The True Wheel" from his solo studio album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974). [14] Their early influences included the Velvet Underground, Kraftwerk, [15] the Pop Group, Pere Ubu, [16] Wire, Brian Eno, [17] Parliament, Funkadelic, and Earth, Wind & Fire. [18] A Certain Ratio, by early 1979, were "beginning to forge links between post-punk industrial and dance-floor funk" (Tony Wilson, Factory Records). [19]
ACR's line-up, with a dark bass-heavy industrial and funk sound, recorded the group's debut single, "All Night Party", released by Factory Records in September 1979 (the label's first single artist release), [6] with Factory label boss Tony Wilson also becoming their manager, proclaiming the band to be "the new Sex Pistols". [13] [20] [21] The 5,000 copies that were pressed soon sold out. [22]
On 1 October 1979, the band recorded a session for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, by which time Donald Johnson had joined the band on drums. The session included "Do the Du", "All Night Party", "Flight" and "Choir" and was broadcast on 17 October. [9] [23]
ACR played their first tour of bigger venues as the opening act on American rock band Talking Heads' UK tour in December 1979. There are suggestions that watching ACR perform encouraged lead vocalist David Byrne and Talking Heads to go in a more funky musical direction. [11] [15]
Early albums
Their next release, the cassette-only compilation of demos and live tracks The Graveyard and the Ballroom , was released in January 1980. [20] [24] The Graveyard side of the album was recorded at Graveyard Studios, Prestwich, Greater Manchester in September 1979, produced by Factory's Martin Hannett. The Ballroom side was a live recording of ACR’s October 1979 gig at the Electric Ballroom, Camden, London. A Certain Ratio consider the release to be "our most punk-funk album. It's got real indie undertones, post-punk undertones". [25]
Martin Moscrop started a second band in 1980, Swamp Children (the name later changed to Kalima), that would go on to share several members with A Certain Ratio. [20]
In July 1980, the band's second single, a cover version of Banbarra's "Shack Up", [9] recorded at a cost of £50, [13] was released. This was followed in November with "Flight" on 12", [26] [27] which saw their first placing on the UK Independent Chart, peaking at no. 7. [20] [28] "Shack Up" got a US release in January 1981, going on to peak at no. 46 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, [29] and the band expanded to a six-piece with the addition of former Occult Chemistry vocalist Martha Tilson, with Topping focusing on trumpet and percussion. [20] [13]
The expanded line-up recorded their debut studio album, To Each... The album was recorded in New Jersey with Martin Hannett producing, and released in May 1981. [18] [21] It topped the UK Independent Chart. [20] [28] To Each... represents a development in the ACR sound from the raw harshness of The Graveyard and the Ballroom to a percussion-based post-punk funk.
They recorded a second Peel session in June 1981. The session, which included "Knife Slits Water", "Day One" and "Skipscada", was broadcast on 2 July. [23] ACR finished the year with the single "Waterline", which was another top 10 indie chart hit. [28] "Waterline" was the first record self-produced by the group. All of ACR’s previous recordings had been produced by Factory's Martin Hannett but the band wanted a different sound. "We thought he was making us sound too much like Joy Division" (Martin Moscrop, ACR). [6] "Waterline" has a more funk and jazz sound than earlier recordings.
The band's third studio album, Sextet , followed in January 1982, [9] now incorporating elements of acid jazz, funk, and Latin music, and again topped the indie albums chart, [28] also peaking at no. 55 on the UK Albums Chart. [20] [30] Tony Wilson had arranged for ACR to go to New York to record To Each… but that album had already been largely written and the influences of New York didn’t really appear in ACR’s music until Sextet . The band's recent stay in New York had increased the Latin, jazz and Cuban percussion influences in their music. Sextet was the first album that was self-produced by ACR and is closer to the "dark funk" sound the band wanted. [25] ACR rate Sextet as one of their stand out albums. [31]
In February 1982, they released the dub reggae single "Abracadubra" under the pseudonym 'Sir Horatio'. [1] [20] ACR had further indie charting singles that year with "Guess Who?" and "Knife Slits Water". [28] The group recorded a third Peel session in November, now without Tilson, but with Andy Connell added on keyboards and percussion. This session saw the group show more of a jazz influence in the three tracks ("Who's to Say", "Piu Lento" and "Touch") which were broadcast on the John Peel show of 1 December 1982. [23]
The band's fourth studio album, I'd Like to See You Again , [9] was released in November 1982, reaching no. 2 on the indie albums chart. [20] [28] "The new music offered disciplined latin disco, inspired in part by Cameo." [15] The album received mixed reviews. "ACR aren't sounding like ACR anymore so much as the latest New York disco imports" ( New Musical Express , 1982) [15] "I'd Like to See You Again represented an aesthetic low. In striving for a more accessible sound, the group had become overly clinical." (Adrian Thrills, New Musical Express, August 1985) [32]
Founders leave
The band's two founding members, Topping and Terrell, left the band in late 1982. [22] Simon Topping recorded a solo single before forming T-Coy with former Quando Quango (and later M People member) Mike Pickering. [20] The band regrouped and returned in October 1983 with the single "I Need Someone Tonight" (with Carol McKenzie on vocals), another top-10 indie hit. [20] Tony Quigley of Kalima joined on saxophone, and the band released three singles in late 1984 and 1985 – "Life's a Scream" (December 1984), "Brazilia" (February 1985) and "Wild Party" (June 1985). [33]
The Old and the New, a compilation album bringing together many of the non-album singles released from ACR's formation up to the end of 1985, came out on Factory Records in January 1986. [33] Connell left in 1985 to form Swing Out Sister, whose lead vocalist Corinne Drewery guested on ACR's next studio album, Force (1986), their last for Factory, released in November 1986. [20] Stuart James co-produced the album with the band. It was recorded and mixed between July and August 1986 at Yello 2 Studios in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The album received good reviews from music critics, and spent nine weeks on the UK Independent Albums Chart, peaking at No. 2. "Mickey Way" was the first single from the album, released exclusively in the UK. "Bootsy" was the second single from the album and was released exclusively in Australia. Neither single charted. [34] In January 1986, ACR performed live on Channel 4 music show The Tube . [35]
