A Certain Ratio - Live In America
1983 and most of 1984 were bad times for A Certain Ratio. The original band had fractured when key front man Simon Topping left for the latino rhythm schools of New York and second guitarist Peter Terrell found religion, they would be replaced by uninspiring, soulless backing singer Carol McKenzie. The resulting jazz-pop funk plunged the band on a nose dive into dull mediocrity. The only single from this era, I Need Someone Tonite backed with a cover of Stevie Wonder's Don't you Worry 'Bout A Thing was ok, but this more for a Level 42 audience than the hardcore A Certain Ratio raincoat brigade. Their's and Factory's desire to chase New Order into the hit parade had worn away the sharp edges of ACR's creative dark funk.
A sharp, solid jolt back to excellence was the sublime late 84 single, Life's A Scream. McKenzie had been thankfully dumped and bass man Jez Kerr assumed both lead vocals and songwriting duties. This was a new A Certain Ratio. There was a revived energy and direction, the hard edges were back but now underpinned by Kerr's proper songs, most of which exposed, imho, a subtle dark lyrical genius. This new sound eventually progressed to the excellent Force album, but also unleashed the powerful hard dance of the Wild Party single. ACR's first gigs with the new line-up were nervy and dour, but by 1985 the band had re-found their feet, and your author was lucky enough to be part of a large audience at a London ICA gig in March 1985. Myself and some friends shared a beer with Donald Johnson pre-show, in his own gentle, calming south Mancunian words, "we're back and we're much harder, much much harder". ACR were back, and if you know where to look, you can hear for yourself, as live recordings of that gig have surfaced on the world wide web.
The band also revived some of their earlier work, with original tracks like Flight and The Fox given a makeover, all clearly refreshed by Andy Connell's splendid work on keyboards.
Following a successful appearance at that year's WOMAD festival (a video of their set exists), A Certain Ratio joined headliners New Order for a lengthy US tour in August 1985. It is from those support gigs that this album was created. Originally sold as a cassette at gigs later that year, Dian Barton's (who until recently still worked the desk at ACR gigs) live desk recording of the band captures the pure energy and power of A Certain Ratio onstage - I very much doubt that their touring partners and label-mates have ever sounded so assured live.
Ripped from a vinyl album released on Dojo Records DOJOLP 47) in 1986 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio.
A1
Sounds Like Something Dirty
A2
The Fox
A3
Shack Up
A4
Life's A Scream
A5
Wild Party
B1
Flight
B2
And Then Again
B3
Touch
B4
Knife Slits Water
B5
Si Fermir O Grido
