A Certain Ratio – A 1982 playlist

5 Minute Read

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Music

Mancunian punk-funkers pick us tracks from 1982 ahead of the release of their spritely sounding new album out this month.

A Certain Ratio emerged from the late 70s punk-funk scene in Manchester with a burst of fire and energy. Over the years they’ve explored a range of styles, filtered through their own Mancunian lens. Their latest studio album, 1982, continues in this tradition – and sounds surprisingly fresh for a band who have been at it for over forty years – drawing on multidimensional sounds that draw from searing Afrobeat, mind-melting jazz and moody electronic experiments.

There’s always been an unpredictability about ACR and it’s on show again with this new album, recorded straight off the back of their three acclaimed 2021 EPs. Purposefully limiting their time in the studio before each element before it has a chance to grow stale, the band’s aim is to “broaden out the tired old stereotypes of what ‘Manchester Music’. The album features collaborations with Mancunian rapper Chunky and rising neo-soul musician Ellen Beth Abdi. It is also a tribute to their former long-standing vocal collaborator Denise Johnson, who passed away in 2020.

Ahead of said release out this month on Mute Martin Moscrop from the band put us together a playlist of 1982 inspirations.

“1982 was a massive year for A Certain Ratio, and for music in general. We released two albums on Factory, Sextet and I’d Like To See You Again and we went to New York for the third time where witnessed the developments of a new movement with Hip Hop, Electro and great dance music. Madonna supported us for her first ever gig at the renowned Danceteria and New York gave us the opportunity to discover loads of new music: Latin, Puerto Rican, Jazz, Samba, Funk, African… which led to making our own music more diverse than ever. I had a great day going through my record collection to see what I could dig out from 1982.”

LISTEN

Azymuth – May I Have This Dance?

This is off Azymuth’s 1982 album, Telecommunication. Every track on that album is killer and this is Brazilian Jazz Funk at its best. This album, and all of Azymuth’s albums, have been a massive influence on ACR – especially in 1982 on Sextet and I’d Like To See You Again but equally so for our new album, confusingly titled, 1982.

Azymuth – May I Have This Dance?

This is off Azymuth’s 1982 album, Telecommunication. Every track on that album is killer and this is Brazilian Jazz Funk at its best. This album, and all of Azymuth’s albums, have been a massive influence on ACR – especially in 1982 on Sextet and I’d Like To See You Again but equally so for our new album, confusingly titled, 1982.
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five – The Message

1982 would never have been the same without this record and the world wouldn’t have either. We were so lucky going to New York in 1980, 1981 and 1982 and staying there for a few weeks at a time. We witnessed the beginnings of Hip Hop and so much good music. From previously listening to people like The Last Poets and Gill Scott Heron, it was good to hear new artists like this delve into issues that mattered.
Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood / Genius of Love

2-3 years before this record was released, Tina Weymouth was teaching us to tune our guitars when we toured with Talking Heads in the UK. That tour was a great learning curve and it gave us chance to step out of the Factory world into something a bit different. Most double A side singles never work because one song is usually stronger than the other. That’s not the case with this 12”, as both sides are killers.
Drop The Bomb – Trouble Funk

We loved Go Go and Trouble Funk and they came to play the Hacienda the year it opened (1982). They were amazing live and there must have been about 15 of them on stage. We have a song on our album Force called ‘Nostromo a Go Go’ and one on ACR Loco called ‘Bouncy Bouncy’ – both nod to Trouble Funk and the whole Washington Go Go scene. Donald had the Go Go beat off to a T and with the rest of us hitting cowbells and timbales we were Manchester’s answer to Trouble Funk 😊
Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock

They took the rhythm idea from ‘Numbers’ and the melody from ‘Trans Europe Express’ by Kraftwerk and made a great Electro Hip Hop tune with Arthur Baker. We actually saw their first performance in Manhattan in Sept 1981 and they did ‘Planet Rock’ on that night, so we heard it before it was released. It was a night that Malcom McLaren put on at The Ritz (we think) with Bow Wow Wow and Afrika Bambaataa. B-Boys the Rock Steady Crew and Floor Masters battled on the dance floor. This was certainly a jaw dropping experience for a bucnh of young men from Manchester.
Grand Groove Bunch – !Catch The Groove! (Inst & Breaks)

We played this record to death in 1982, on tour using our Ghetto Blaster and in our flats in Hulme, Manchester. Me and Tony Quigley lived in a place called Charles Barry Crescent and on the day I brought this record home from Spin Inn Records, we took acid or mushrooms and listened to it. We put it on the turntable and half way through the instrumental we heard the words “Charles Barry”. We looked at each other and both thought “wow, this is a strong trip”. To this day when we listen to it, it still sounds like they are saying Charles Barry. Barry was a famous architect who designed the Houses of Parliament, and the crescents in Hulme were ironically named after him. There is no way the Grand Groove Bunch, who were from the US, were name-checking Barry was there? Is it a message?
Man Parrish – Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop)

When we were in New York you only had to touch the dial on the radio to find good music. WBLS was a great station and they used to hammer tunes like this. It really made you think that you were part of something new, and this is another song that paved the way for a more Electro Hip Hop beat. The clap rhythm that was copied a million times.
This Stupi Scientist - Scientist Wins The World Cup)

Scientist was a huge influence on us in the early ‘80s and inspired us to dub anything we could. Our music was a mix of world, jazz funk, punk, disco, dub and Scientist certainly helped put the dub into ACR. In 1982 we released our own Dub 12” under the name Sir Horatio. Scientist albums were always playing when you went round to Jez and Pete’s flat in Epping Walk, Hulme.
D Train – You’re the One for Me

A worldwide club hit and responsible for similar keyboard riffs for the next few years.
It certainly was a floor filler and the production still stands up to this day. Every club in Manchester and around the world played this throughout 1982
Pat Metheny Group – Are You Going with Me?

We played this record to death on tours as well, especially when something to chill out to was needed. This was written by Pat and Lyle Mays who sadly left us in 2020. Lyle’s synths on this are out of this world., Pat also used a Roland Guitar synth which was the reason I bought one in the early ‘80s.