A Certain Ratio - 1982 (Deluxe Edition) (2023)

There's some humor to A Certain Ratio starting 1982 with a track titled after Jean-Michel Basquiat and Al Diaz's joint graffiti tag "Samo," an abbreviation of "same old shit." Fortunately, it's not an embedded warning in a song that celebrates the New York art scene the Manchester band first encountered during a formative 1980 trip. Although its midtempo funk foundation is familiar -- a duly casual interlocking of drums, bass, and guitar from core members Donald Johnson, Jez Kerr, and Martin Moscrop, plus layers of Brazilian percussion including cuíca -- "Samo" sounds fresh for 2023. It's also augmented by the breathy, cool voice of fellow Mancunian and lineup addition Ellen Beth Abdi, further stressing ACR's mix of the old and the new, to borrow one of their phrases. The same largely goes for what follows. It was daring of ACR to title the LP after the year they released two of their strongest albums, Sextet and I'd Like to See You Again -- even more so that "1982" itself works a dusky groove not unlike Sextet apex "Knife Slits Water," incorporating ominous synthesizer and vocoder worthy of Kraftwerk and Afrika Bambaataa. Other audible and legible echoes of the past are in the rhythms, lyrics, and titles. "A Trip in Hulme" neatly recalls "Back to the Start" with a slight twist (coincidentally the ACR-like patterns in Tricky's "Lyrics of Fury" cover as well). The self-referencing finale also fuses the sound of ACR's earliest and most severe output with that of their mannered jazz offshoots Swamp Children and Kalima. In addition to Abdi, Manchester's younger generation is represented with a terse verse from Chunky. Another tight connection to the past is kept with Tony Quigley, whose saxophone was first showcased on 1985's "Sounds Like Something Dirty." He's more prominent in the mix here than he was on ACR Loco, combining with Moscrop's trumpet on "Afro Dizzy" (which recalls Brit-funk bands like Atmosfear as much as Fela Kuti) and adding heft to "Holy Smoke" (its title acknowledging the very evident inspiration of the Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost"). The whole set affirms the band's continued relevance with a clear sense that they're having a ball with their past and influences while linking with another cohort of homegrown talent.© Andy Kellman /TiVo