Dirty Boy

A Certain Ratio have been having a new lease of life since singing to Mute with new singles, old songs excavated from the vaults, re-issues, box sets and gigs. Last year’s single Dirty Boy, featuring guest voices from the living (Barry Adamson) and the dead (Tony Wilson) has been remixed by Chris Massey, a Manchester based DJ, producer and promoter. The remix is if anything better than the original version, Jez Kerr’s bass in the foreground and a thudding house beat putting ACR back at the heart of the dancefloor. The video is a time shifting delight, intercutting footage of Manchester and it’s people from the last forty years, the Hacienda of the late 80s, dancers at a 70s discotheque, ravers at an outdoor festival, Jez and the band live on stage in ’89 and recently, the Mancunian Way then and now, our orange buses and a 60s motorcyclist speeding through the city centre- the old and the new.

 

Dirty Boys

A Certain Ratio are putting out a compilation album in October which by the looks of it mirrors their current live set, opening with Do The Du, Wild Party and Flight and then moving through their back catalogue taking in Mickey Way, 27 Forever, Won’t Stop Loving You, Good Together and finishing with the samba drum fest of Si Firmir O Grido. Attached to the end of the compilation are two new songs, the first of which was posted online yesterday (the 11th anniversary of Tony Wilson’s death, presumably not coincidentally). The song is called Dirty Boys and has the voice of Wilson on it along with vocals from Barry Adamson. It sounds like a reinvigorated ACR still have plenty to contribute.

I Love You Because You’re Different!

I was going to give the Marvel thing a rest but I’ve got several great frames still to use and it’s given the writing of posts a new lease of life for me and I don’t ignore those kind of things when it comes to trying to find something to say every day.

Barry Adamson, a man who has played bass with both Magazine and The Bad Seeds, had several first rate solo albums and a bunch of soundtracks (including The Beach, Lost Highway and Natural Born Killers), has a new e.p. out next month- remixes of his Love Sick Dick 6 track e.p. Love Sick Dick was a kind of modern, urban blues for 2017. One of the remixes out next month is by A Certain Ratio.

Martin Moscrop, ACR’s guitarist and trumpeter, describes the remix as more of a collaboration. ACR built up a new track, with drums, 303, guitar, keyboards and trumpet, dropping in Barry’s vocals, chopped up, and the backing vox. The remix is tagged ACR:MCR Rework and the reference to their 1990 masterpiece is spot on. This sounds like a continuation of the sound of that record, lovely uptempo grooves with Barry’s vocals on top and an extended funky end section. Very good indeed.

ACR have recently signed a deal with Mute and a series of reissues has started, with Good Together and ACR:MCR due next year.

One Of Our Girls Has Gone Missing

I rediscovered this last week, a 1989 single by A.C. Marias. In my 1989 head it somehow sounded like really polished electronic pop but listened to today sounds murkier, less overtly poppy, with a darker, post-punk undertow. The glacial vocal floats over the top of some synths and a clattering rhythm, the lyric recalling a spy thriller or Cold War film. Rowland S Howard and Barry Adamson were involved in the album and I’m assuming played on this single. A.C. Marias was the name for Angela Conway’s recordings, who was also a collaborator of Wire (whose Bruce Gilbert helped out with the A.C. Marias records). A welcome blast from the late 80s I’d completely forgotten about.

One Of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing)