Just over a year ago I wrote a review of A Certain Ratio's new album "Mind Made Up" which at the time was only released in France. It's now well noting that it has gained a UK release courtesy of the excellent LTM label. Apart from one remix of "I Feel Light", the tracklisting remains the same.
After a year of repeated listening, this would rate as one of their most accessible albums alongside "Force" and "Good Together".
I first saw A Certain Ratio at an event called "Factory In The Park" in Finsbury Park in London in June 1987, at this point ACR had already been together for 10 years. They have been around a while. You do the maths. Not that much has changed, apart from a few different record labels and with the odd exception of a small number of chops and changes of band members. And a few more balder heads.
Tonight's moderately attended show kicks off with an unexpected Q&A session with Jeremy Kerr and Martin Moscrop. They spoke about their sizable back catalogue and how difficult it was putting set lists together I asked them whether there was any chance of hearing any songs in the set from the 1989 A&M crossover-attempt `Good Together', an album that I really like. Although I already knew the answer, Jeremy laughed and said he was embarrassed about the album and that it made him cringe. So I took that as a no then.
The band took to the stage and knocked out a great set, combining the old and the new (including tracks from the latest album `Mind Made Up' - still unavailable in the UK) and the inbetween. Highlights for me were `Mickey Way' and `Knife Slits Water' - two tunes that both have the bass line as the chorus. How cool is that? All in all, a good night was had by all.
Here are some pictures that I took on the night.
As there is not yet any footage from the gig at Dingwalls, here are two clips of ACR recently performing in Portugal.
This is the first A Certain Ratio album for over a decade. As per usual, it's arrival hasn't really caused anything more than a mere ripple amongst their die-hard fans, like me, who have followed the band through their career, all the way back to the Factory Records days.
`Mind Made Up' doesn't hit the spot right away and needs at least two or three listens until some of the tracks make sense. For ACR it's business as usual, with a nice mix of funky pop with with some darker elements and the odd slice of spikey guitar, with understated vocals from Jeremy Kerr, contrasting with Denise Johnson's soulful warbling.
Stand-outs are `Everything Is Good', `Skunk', `Way To Escape', `Rialto 2006', `Bird To The Ground' and the latin-flavoured percussion work-out `Very Busy Man' which reminds me of `Tribeca` and the live favourite `Si Firmir O Grido'.
Note that this album has only been released in France on the Le Maquis label.
ACR are playing some dates over the coming months: 29 May 2009, Primavera Festival, Barcelona, Spain 31 May 2009, Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal 15 June 2009, The Beat Happening Sessions, Dingwalls, London 4 July 2009, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK 6 September 2009, Offset Festival, Chigwell (near London), UK 3 October 2009, Le Plan - Factory Festival, Nr Paris, France
Here are two clips of ACR. This first is of the band in the studio recording `Mind Made Up' and the second is `I Feel Light', the opening track from the album.
