As part of Mute Records’ ongoing reissue slate of the A Certain Ratio catalog, on August 8, the label is giving Live in America, originally self-released on cassette in 1985 and sold at shows, a snazzy upgrade across multiple formats, including vinyl, compact disc, and a minuscule cassette edition that’s already sold out. Sequenced from a series of gigs opening for labelmates (then and now) New Order, the music delivers a surprisingly coherent statement from a band that was essentially in transition.
The label that A Certain Ratio shared with New Order at the time of the tour, that is documented on Live in America, was Factory Records. As the imprint responsible for bringing Joy Division’s catalog into the store bins, Tony Wilson’s Factory remains one of the cornerstones in the whole post-punk shebang. Formed in 1977 and debuting on wax with the “All Night Party” single two years later, A Certain Ratio were contemporaries of Joy Division, although their sounds were quite distinct.
One could argue that A Certain Ratio paved the way for New Order to get increasingly dance-oriented as that band progressed as a beacon for disaffected youth on both sides of the pond. But New Order, while dancy, lacked the overt funkiness of A Certain Ratio as exemplified by their highest profile single, a cover of Banbarra’s “Shack Up.” If New Order eventually perfected dancefloor synth-pop, A Certain Ratio made a considerable impact in the creation of post-punk disco.
But by 1985, A Certain Ratio’s two founding members, guitarist-electronics player Peter Terrell and vocalist Simon Topping, were long gone. Bassist-vocalist Jez Kerr and guitarist-trumpeter Martin Moscrop, who were quick to join and solidify the early lineup, remained in the band for the 1985 tour alongside keyboardist Andrew Connell, drummer-vocalist Donald Johnson, and saxophonist Anthony Quigley. This is the exact personnel who recorded the band’s last album for Factory, Touch, which was released in 1986.
As part of the Factory roster and active for over half a decade by 1985, A Certain Ratio was surely a known entity in the States as New Order’s popularity steadily grew and sparked interest in the label as a whole, but it’s also true ACR were going to meet a larger audience in the opening slot for New Order on a swing up the East Coast of the USA and into Canada.
Assembled from shows at the Felt Forum in NYC, the Opera House in Boston, the Agora Theatre in Akron, OH, the Bismarck Theatre in Chicago, and the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, Live in America established that ACR was prepared to meet the moment. Initially issued on numerous releases that predate the tour, all but two of the tracks on the album can be found on the Early compilation that Soul Jazz released in 2002, making Live in America a suitable companion to that comp.
The “Shack Up” on Live in America is certainly up to snuff if not as sharp as the enduring studio version, but much of the material surrounding it touches upon ACR’s jazzy angle. Following “Shack Up,” the groove does get a solid extension with “Life’s a Scream,” “Wild Party,” and “Flight.” If the overall sequence is intended to represent an actual setlist from the tour, it becomes easy to understand the momentum swing that led to Touch.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
