A Certain Ratio > Live at Electrowerkz

Back of Soul Jazz Records flyer for 'The Return of 1977' where ACR played live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London on Friday 29 March 2002
Back of flyer shown left

ACR played live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London on Friday 29 March 2002. Andrew Weatherall (whose all-time favourite band is ACR) was the DJ.

Transcript of flyers

[right] PUNK REGGAE ELECTRO FUNK DISCO

THE RETURN OF 1977
A CERTAIN RATIO
RICHARD H. KIRK
DJ'S: ANDY WEATHERALL
JERRY DAMMERS
TREVOR JACKSON
100% DYNAMITE!



[below] SOUL JAZZ RECORDS PRESENTS

A CERTAIN RATIO

ACR
"Early"
released 25/3/02

SANDOZ
"Sandoz in Dub: Chant to Jah"
released 18/3/02

PLAYING LIVE AT 1977
Fri. 29th March 2002, Electrowerkz, Torrens Street, London N1
Plus Special Guest: RICHARD H. KIRK (Cabaret Voltaire / Sandoz)

Plus DJ's: ANDY WEATHERALL
SoulJazzSoundSystem, Trevor Jackson (Playgroup), Jerry Dammers, 100% Dynamite Sound System & more!

Flyer for ACR live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London on Friday 29 March 2002
SoulJazz Records flyer for ACR live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London on Friday 29 March 2002
Daily Telegraph review of ACR live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London on Friday 29 March 2002
Daily Telegraph review of ACR live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London on Friday 29 March 2002

Daily Telegraph review

Pop
A Certain Ratio
Elektrowerkz, N1

CLOSE your eyes for a moment and imagine it's the late Seventies. In the basement of a dingy warehouse venue a solitary figure is hunched over a set of keyboards; industrial electronic beats pour forth, occasionally smothered by bursts of electronic interference.

Later, in the upstairs bar, a band oscillates between the gloomy sounds of Joy Division and the mad funk of Parliament and Funkadelic, before picking up whistles and imitating the sound of a Rio street carnival.

Billed as "The Return of 1977", this event focused on a heady time when industrial and punk were fused into a new kind of Madchester dance music. The band upstairs, A Certain Ratio, were central to this development.

In those days they took to the stage looking like a mildly eccentric Nazi youth organisation, with short trousers and Teutonic haircuts. Their extraordinary 12-inch single, Flight, was a historic compromise between Simon Topping's doom-laden vocals, Donald Johnson's funky drumming, and some atmospheric mixing by producer Martin Hannett. Another single, the funk work-out Shack Up, was a transatlantic dancefloor hit.

Although they influenced everyone from Talking Heads to the Happy Mondays, the Ratios never really made it, perhaps because their instrumental sound is so maladjusted. As their first London gig for many years progressed, contradictions resurfaced between Johnson's funky soul drumming and Jeremy (Jez) Kerr's Joy Division-ish bass, between Martin Moscrop's Bee Gees-style funk guitar and sections of Latin percussion.

When soul diva Denise Johnson sang Keep on Dancing, and Turn me on to Life, the dislocation between Manchester death-wish and Motown sentiment was just too much.

Yet the nostalgia was so intense, and the goodwill from the punters so strong, that the Ratios managed to steer us cheerfully through many old favourites. Kerr, now lead vocalist, summed up the heroic failure of the evening with the odd sardonic remark: "We're going to play some jazz now, so that's nice."

As for the figure in the basement: Cabaret Voltaire's Richard H Kirk, suffered less from the time warp, and his minimal, aggressive beats had not dated one iota.

Richard Wolfson

From the Daily Telegraph