A Certain Ratio — Sextet (White Vinyl)

Limited Edition Reissue with monochromatic artwork and White Vinyl / Repressed in 2020 / A Certain Ratio appeared in the Manchester music scene in the late 1970’s when punk was evolving into post-punk. They signed to Factory records and were contemporaries of Joy Division/New Order. ACR combined the Factory-label sound, typified by Joy Division, with the emerging influence of funk in post-punk music. As Factory’s Tony Wilson put it, ACR were “beginning to forge links between post-punk industrial and dance-floor funk”.

Sextet is ACR’s third album and was released in January 1982. The Graveyard and the Ballroom, the first album ever to be released just on cassette, came out in 1980 and their second album, To Each…, had been released in 1981.

ACR made their post-punk funk agenda clear in 1979 with a cover of Banbarra's Shack Up as their choice for their second single. The band were the support act for the Talking Heads on their 1979 UK tour. There are even suggestions that watching ACR perform encouraged David Byrne and Talking Heads to go in a more funky musical direction.