A Certain Ratio

oh, come on. acr could be a mighty band, but nothing they did touches "hilltop". (and nothing in the entire universe touches the hilltop megamix. an album in a song! genius.)

that said: i did go through a small period of genuinely believing "i won't stop loving you" to be the greatest song in the whole world, so ask me again in a year's time.

Oh, wait.

Bimble - is the 'horns' thing you refer to Tony Quigley's soprano sax work? If so, yes it's great and unique. The solo in And Then She Smiled is wonderful.

It's interesting that SXXV were mentioned - I think both bands are cut from the same cloth - experimentalists wh0 never stayed still. In fact that's really the Factory ethos. I think of ACR and SXXV in the same way as I think of Can. In fact Can must have been really important influences on both bands. (look out for the cheeky steal of the Aspectacle bass line in Knife Slits Water! There's also a ley line direct from Monster Movies to Aways Now)

Bimble - what is it about Sextet that makes it hard to deal with for you? I agree about MCR - it's kinda dull.

I agree with grimly's comments re : Hilltop and it's megamix. Staggering!

Do the Du if anyone cares.

Nice. :-)

(You'll approve, Dr. C, I actually *purchased* some LTM stuff recently, so I am not solely living off largesse. Cath Carroll's England Made Me, the Department S disc...even Crawling Chaos's The Gas Chair. ;-))

England Made Me is one of the greatest records ever made.

"the big E" is a good song; "won't stop ..." is a fucking powerhouse of propulsive genius, the single greatest new order song new order never made.

if you don't have MCR, bimble, and haven't heard that version ... you need to rectify that. and MCR ain't easy to come by. e-mail me if you want, eh, a hand finding it. weesimon AT mac DOT com

i'll just slink off now and make an arse of something else.

The crazy thing is that I bought that Homonculus outtakes record *first*.

England Made Me is one of the greatest records ever made.

I am about to listen to it here at work. :-)

Anyway, I don't know of this "Won't Stop Loving You" thing (you mean they changed the title and everything? bastards!), but I do hope they didn't mess around with it too much. Much as I love New Order, I do not think bringing Barney into every situation automatically means a fabulous record. But I will look around for it.

BUT when looking over their discography again, I realized I had never even heard the MCR album at all! The album I *had* heard some of was "Change The Station" from 1997 and I didn't like it. I never even heard that album from 1992 that had "27 Forever" on it, the name of which now escapes me but was on Rob's Records. Because by then I'd just assumed they must be crap! But what if I was WRONG AND IGNORANT? It keeps me awake at night these days.

And I swear to god if I'd ever SEEN that "Won't Stop Loving You" 12" in a store, I would have bought it for the Bernard mix, but now I can't find it so Fiendish I do need your help if you have time.

Dr. C - Silly me I was in a hurry the last time I read your Dec. 23rd post and this bit slipped by me:

Tony Quigley's soprano sax work? If so, yes it's great and unique. The solo in And Then She Smiled is wonderful.

YES YES YES and YES. "AND THEN SHE SMILED" IS THE SONG ALL ACR SKEPTICS SHOULD GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HEAR. Simply unforgettable, that one.

It's interesting that SXXV were mentioned - I think both bands are cut from the same cloth - experimentalists wh0 never stayed still. In fact that's really the Factory ethos. I think of ACR and SXXV in the same way as I think of Can. In fact Can must have been really important influences on both bands. (look out for the cheeky steal of the Aspectacle bass line in Knife Slits Water! There's also a ley line direct from Monster Movies to Aways Now)

This is an interesting theory. Surely I thought about the way Can was an influence on the Fall, but never went as far as making any connection to ACR & Section 25. It doesn't seem so far fetched, though.

best thing is to e-mail me off the board so we can sort something out: weesimon AT gmail DOT com (or mac.com, it doesn't matter which. it all ends up in the same place).

as for section 25: the can influences are even stronger on the second album, "the key of dreams". it's can-tastic, in fact.

so i tried this, on an hour-long bus ride around arran, and it was amazing. music for the edge of consciousness. drifting in and out of the sound. i'd heartily recommend it.

to my immense surprise, i've just found "good together" in my itunes library. added (from vinyl) on september 9, 2002. and, er, unlistened to ever since. how odd!

god, this ("every pleasure") is fantastic. i will grow old listening to music like this.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I don't understand about it. I almost felt embarassed for liking at the time I first discovered it and figured later on as the years went by I'd probably pull it out and wouldn't be able to stomach the sappiness at all. Somehow they make it work and I don't understand how.

When the beginning of "Rivers Edge" starts with the sax thing, I'm just gone. It is simply one of the most beautfiul things I've ever heard. And that Denise Johnson she's not so bad either, you know? Jeez.

I was so sure that this record was going to completely turn me off by now. I don't understand it. And to think it wasn't even on Factory.

Oh now "Every Pleasure" is on. No, I can't type anymore. It's too much to speak of. I've avoided this record for about 10 years or something. Just plain gobsmacked am I.

I've also now got the "Live in America 1985" album for the first time because way back when I was trying so hard to buy all their records, I never found this one. It's the only one I never found! The version of "Shack Up" is really bizarre. Interesting stuff. And then the bass player plays "America The Beautiful" on his own for a bit just before the start of another song - how absolutely crazy and surreal! The last time I even thought about that song I was probably 8 years old.
OOh and then they add a nice New Ordery keyboard part to "Flight"!

Oh God did I mention that ACR are one of my favourite bands of all time? Exquisite, magnifique, etc...

they're kinda still going: http://www.acrmcr.com was updated in 2003. oh: there's quite a good biography there. i didn't realise half of "four to the floor" was also on MCR.

Just took a glance at the ACR link above - wow!

Andy Connell left as a full-time member just after Force came out, but still guested on the odd song here and there. As far as I know Quigley is still in the band and was on MCR, but may also play other instruments. e.g he used to play some bass in the Swamp Children, but since ACR already have Jez Kerr and DoJo on bass it's doubtful. Maybe keybds.

Love Is The Way is of course the track I was trying to remember the title of. I tend to be a sucker for that kind of bass action.

**And that Denise Johnson she's not so bad either, you know? Jeez.**

I'm not sure that she's on Good Together. Isn't it Flo McSweeney? It's certainly FM on 'Your Little World'. Great chorus in that song.

Live 1985 - that IS an odd one. It's that transitional period after Connell joined, but before Force, when they put out Wild Party and Life's A Scream. It sounds like they're playing in an aircraft hanger IIRC. I'll dig this one out tonight.

I mean NEAT SOPRANO sax!!!

Would love to have heard/been at that gig, Rob M.!

Dr. C you are probably right about Flo McSweeney. I was making a lazy assumption.

Dr. C, were you referring to the album or the song?