A Certain Ratio: Live In America (1985)

Herein, we have 10 tracks recorded live in 1985 during a tour of America, and by that, they mean the United States. The British are so imprecise. The 1985 release was on cassette, with the vinyl following in 1986. Oddly, no version of this album was released outside of the UK on any format. Even the CD releases were only dropped in the UK. What's up with that?

I think that this is a really solid live record with really fine live versions. I've embedded the studio version of Shack Up. It's really hard to find clips from this tour, but the entire album in on Youtube.

A Certain Ratio: Greetings Four (1986)

"Looking for a certain ratio
Someone must have left it underneath the carpet
Looking up and down the radio
Oh-oh, nothing there this time
Looking for a certain ratio"

- Brian Eno, The True Wheel

It took me some time to figure out if this band should be alphabetized under A of C. It goes without saying that I would never alphabetize something that began with the under T, unless the band was The The. A, being an indefinite article, I opted to put this under C.

By the mid 80s, A Certain Ratio had shifted from a sort of post-punk to a more dance-oriented band with some funk influences. I liked the former better, but this is cool. There is some really cool bass work on this EP.

The EP contains four tracks.

Bootsy
Fever 103°
The Runner
Inside