A Certain Band

I'm really enjoying ACR Loco, the new album from A Certain Ratio. ACR certainly rations their releases, this being their first new LP in 12 years. It's a funky album with lots of influences that resonate with old folks like me, like: 

• The patented Factory Records bass on "Friends Around Us (Part 1)."

• "Bouncy Bouncy" at times calls to mind Primal Scream's Screamadelica due to the "Come Together" cowbell percussion, lyrics ("Brothers and sisters, we all need, we all need to come together, to fight the greed"), and contribution by long-time collaborator Denise Johnson, God rest her soul. 

• "Supafreak" is New Order's "Tutti Fruity" meets Prince's "Erotic City" by way of Midnight Star.

• "Family" demonstrates Denise Johnson's ability to pull a song together, not unlike her work on "Be What You Wanna Be," despite the initial similarities to the lyrical rhythm of "Maggie's Farm."

• "What's Wrong" enlists the voices of the Smiths' Mike Joyce and nu-disco and ESG fans Maria Uzor and Gemma Cullingford (Sink Ya Teeth) to deliver a science fiction narrative featuring "If You Move Kill Them" (thanks again, Andrew Innes) wah wah guitar line.

• "Taxi Guy," the closer, takes us back to the samba rhythms and whistles that started it all, fully informed by Martin Mosrop's carribean-slash-jazz fusion (a hallmark carried from ACR through Kalima and back to ACR). It reminds me at times of Doves' "There Goes the Fear" as well as the third act of Ferris Bueller. Listen to this from the 2:45 mark and try to not imagine Matthew Broderick running through your barbecue to the English Beat's "March of the Swivelheads."

Some additional highlights for me include:

• "Always in Love." This is a new direction for ACR, featuring a subdued bass and effective echo effects.

• "Berlin." I'm haunted by Denise's closing. "You never ever leave your head alone..."

The album comes with one of four random colors of vinyl, some rarer than others. I got "red," which is listed as "fairly rare" at 900 copies. It also includes an art card signed by drummer Donald Johnson, bassist/vocalist Jez Kerr, and Mosrop, as well as designer Trevor Johnson (who collaborated with Peter Saville and, with Tony Panas, designed some classic LP sleeves, including Electronic's debut).