To Each...

Last updated

To Each...
To Each....jpeg
Studio album by
A Certain Ratio
Released1981 (1981)
StudioE.A.R.S., East Orange, New Jersey
Genre
Length46:10
Label Factory
Producer Martin Hannett
A Certain Ratio chronology
The Graveyard and the Ballroom
(1980)		To Each...
(1981)		 Sextet
(1982)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

To Each... is the second album and debut LP by English band A Certain Ratio, released in 1981 by record label Factory. It is sometimes considered the band's official first album. It was recorded in New Jersey and produced by Factory mainstay Martin Hannett. [4]

Contents

The album spent twenty weeks in the UK Independent Chart, peaking at number 1. [5]

Despite being panned by some critics and being unfavorably compared to Joy Division, To Each... has received widespread acclaim from record companies that reissued the album, with many praising it for its unconventional sound and rhythm sections. Turntable Lab hailed it as a landmark release of the post-punk era.

Reception

To Each... received generally positive reviews. Stranded Records said of the album's direction, "...To Each… pushes to A Certain Ratio's powerhouse rhythm section to the foreground. Within the supple dynamics to the album's songs, Donald Johnson's flawless percussive syncopations brace the limber basslines from Jez Kerr. Tracks like "Felch," "Forced Laugh" and "The Fox" recoil and lunge with intensity and grace, as A Certain Ratio fills in the blanks with swarms of guitar noise, bursts of militant trumpet and sporadic vocals." [6] Attack Magazine referred to the album as a "set of pioneering monochrome funk." [7] Soul Jazz Records deemed it as "seminal," calling it "one of ACR's finest moments." [8] Turntable Lab considered To Each... to be a landmark post-punk album, noting that it found the band "fusing heavy funk, dub, and punk to create a completely new and influential sound." [9] Piccadilly Records wrote: "The sound is good for lo-fi recordings, and the band is, for all of their musical amateurishness, precise and controlled. Those seeking an idiosyncratic, interesting art-funk band can do no wrong with this release." [10] Patrick Ryder of The Vinyl Factory stated, "...the LP swaggers along the precipice of post punk and odd funk to the syncopated hats and flying triplets of Donald Johnson’s faultless drumming. The rubbery twang of Jez Kerr’s bass rounds out the primal, powerhouse rhythm section, while Martin Moscrop’s plangent trumpet and a succession of warped vocals create an ever present sense of unease. Bookended by the clipped groove of ‘Felch’ and the percussion led voodoo of the standout ‘Winter Hill’, To Each… saw ACR further develop an increasingly unique sound." [4]

AllMusic, Trouser Press and The Quietus were less favorable. Keith Farley of AllMusic wrote that with the album, "the group dropped much of the bleak dance-punk of early material in place of what sounds like a shallow attempt to seize the baton dropped by gloom giants Joy Division after the death of Ian Curtis", calling the record "a bit too mired in its own misery to make an impression on listeners." [11] Trouser Press wrote: "The studied tedium of To Each... [...] snuffed the [band's] early promise, as the band buried itself in dreary rhythms and astonishing self-indulgence." [12] The Quietus echoed similar sentiments. [13]

Track listing

  1. "Felch" – 3:45
  2. "My Spirit" – 2:28
  3. "Forced Laugh" – 5:53
  4. "Choir" – 2:51
  5. "Back to the Start" – 7:49
  6. "The Fox" – 3:46
  7. "Loss" – 3:23
  8. "Oceans" – 3:30
  9. "Winter Hill" – 12:45

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References

  1. ↑ "A Certain Ratio - To Each... LP Mute". Stranded Records. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024. The album's finale is another standout, taking detour from the concise funk-punk numbers for a nearly 13-minute voodoo mantra in "Winter Hill.
  2. ↑ Farley, Keith. "A Certain Ratio - To Each..." AllMusic. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  3. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th Concise ed.). United Kingdom: Omnibus Press. p. 29. ISBN   978-1-84609-856-7.
  4. 1 2 Ryder, Patrick (4 November 2016). "An introduction to A Certain Ratio in 10 records". The Vinyl Factory . Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  5. ↑ Lazell, Barry (1997) Indie Hits 1980–1989, Cherry Red Books, ISBN   0-9517206-9-4, p. 1
  6. ↑ "A Certain Ratio - To Each... LP Mute". Stranded Records. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  7. ↑ Simpson, Dave (3 June 2019). "A Certain Ratio: 40 years on the floor". Attack Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  8. ↑ "A Certain Ratio - To Each... (ACR Loco Edition) | Soul Jazz Records". Sounds of the Universe. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "A Certain Ratio: To Each... (White Colored Vinyl) Vinyl LP". Turntable Lab. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "A Certain Ratio - To Each / Mute from Piccadilly Records". Piccadilly Records . 24 November 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  11. ↑ Farley, Keith. "To Each... – A Certain Ratio | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  12. ↑ Flashner, Graham; Sheridan, David. "TrouserPress.com :: A Certain Ratio". TrouserPress.com . Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  13. ↑ Middles, Mick (26 September 2014). "The Quietus | Reviews | A Certain Ratio". The Quietus . Retrieved 12 May 2016.
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