A Certain Ratio ‎– "The Graveyard And The Ballroom" (Factory ‎– Fact 16) 1980

One of the earliest of the post-punk crowd to introduce the 'Funk'into the 'Punk', was Manchester's shorts wearing doom funk merchants, A Certain Ratio.

Factory undoubtedly flirted with Fascist chic,both in their artwork and the group names.There are obvious examples,but here we're looking at 'A Certain Ratio'. Their name came from a speech by Hitler referring to the ratio of Jewish blood someone needed to have before they were considered as being a Jew.This was later explained away as coming from Eno's song "The True Wheel".....if correct, maybe they should have done a bit more research before using it.....but then again why not? These days all one has to do is mention anything 'Third Reich'-y, and the finger pointers are out labelling one a Nazi.Which is a major violation of the old adage, "Forget the past and you're doomed to repeat it".

A bit like pop music and art I suppose. 

Back when Cassettes were futuristic in conception,this cassette only release,hit the streets in February 1980,and came in plastic pouches of various colours and designs.Not very Nazi-chic,until you see the photo of four sharp young men clad in various tank tops,cardigans,with the odd moustache,then think that this wouldn't have looked out of place on the cover of a Laibach album in the 90's. 

"The Graveyard and the Ballroom" contains 14 tracks: 7 demo songs from a session recorded at Graveyard Studios in September 1979 (side A) and 7 songs from a gig at the Electric Ballroom in October 1979 (side B), together with Joy Division* and The Distractions.

This album captures ACR at their best, still raw (as in BH...before Hannett),Dark and not too funky.

[*NB....Just so happens that I have a bootleg of the Joy Division set from that night as well.....which you can download by clicking HERE!]

Tracklist:

The Graveyard
A1 Do The Du (Casse)
A2 Faceless
A3 Crippled Child
A4 Choir
A5 Flight
A6 I Feel
A7 Strain

The Ballroom
B1 All Night Party
B2 Oceans
B3 The Choir
B4 The Fox
B5 Suspect
B6 Flight
B7 Genotype/Phenotype

DOWNLOAD from beyond the graveyard HERE!

Various Artists ‎– Love Not Devotion" (Deleted Records ‎– DELP 001/Fuck Off Records ‎– FLP 002) 1982

This is a re-post of a re-ripped Fuck Off/Deleted Records shared album from 1982(at 320k,for those who care); featuring The Instant Automatons, Britpunkfunk combo Blue Midnight, and Street Level super groop The Hambirger All-Stars, featuring various members of Here and Now and Alternative TV, among others.
Blue Midnight are particularly fine, with their brand of punky brass led DIY funk.Like a cross between Pig Bag and early Dexy's sans the awful Kevin Rowland.
The Hambirger All-Stars are also, very fashionably for 1982, Dubbed up, Funky and Punky. A sooper groop of sorts, with 'Here and Now' street hippies Steffy and Grant Showbiz;
Anno, Mark and Dennis from Alternative TV;alomg with someone called Justin Adams from Impossible Dreamers.
Then we have, the late great, Protag and Mark automaton with 6 tracks of Instant Automatons' skewed DIY pop songs on behalf of Deleted Records.Including the classic "Short Haired Man (In a Long Haired Town)".
How can you argue against a line up like that?
Wot a great,and very lost, record!?

Tracklist:

A1 –Blue Midnight -Quarter To Blue 2:23
A2 –Blue Midnight -Fireplace 2:37
A3 –Blue Midnight -Joy! 2:21
A4 –Blue Midnight -Crazy 3:51
A5 –Blue Midnight -Hot And Cold 2:26
A6 –Hamburger All-Stars -I Woke Up 2:52
A7 –Hamburger All-Stars -Swinging London, Pt. 1 2:00
A8 –Hamburger All-Stars -Studded Leather Jacket 2:58
B1 –Hamburger All-Stars -My Life Is A Mess 1:37
B2 –Hamburger All-Stars -Swinging London, Pt. 2 5:15
B3 –The Instant Automatons -Worcester Avenue 2:38
B4 –The Instant Automatons -Catacomb 1:57
B5 –The Instant Automatons -Too Big! 1:59
B6 –The Instant Automatons -Violence 2:42
B7 –The Instant Automatons -Drunk In Woolwich 3:01
B8 –The Instant Automatons -Short Haired Man 2:31

DOWNLOAD with devotion and love HERE!

Kokomo ‎– "Kokomo" (CBS) 1975

Roogalator weren't the only Funky band on the Pub Rock scene you know!...They were by far the best and most edgy pub funk group around, but there was also Kokomo, who played a soft, almost chart friendly form of Funky Disco, with a splash of white soul.
This was very a fashionable sound for 1975, when the Disco beat had started to infiltrate the Funk, ironing the Funk out of it.
Classic Funk had more or less fizzled out by the dawn of 1975, pretty much like every other form of music.
Formed in 1973, this blue-eyed soul band was made up from the remnants of several British groups.
Vocalists Dyan Birch, Paddie McHugh and Frank Collins were ex members of Arrival, a superior pop harmony band, while Neil Hubbard (guitar) and Alan Spenner (bass) had previously worked with Joe Cocker's Grease Band.They split in 1977, along with everyone else.In fact,Kokomo made very pleasant easy listening for making love to yer best girlie to.......who's says this blog isn't eclectic?

Tracklist:

Kitty Sittin' Pretty 4:53
Anytime 3:53
I'm Sorry Babe 4:02
Forever 4:23
It Ain't Cool (To Be Cool No More) 5:00
Feeling This Way 4:33
Sweet Sugar Thing 5:04
I Can Understand It 7:45
Angel 5:20

DOWNLOAD some chart friendly pub funk HERE!

Roogalator - "Danny Adler - The Roogalator Years" (1977)

One of the great forgotten Pub Rock bands were Roogalator, featuring errant american-born muso Danny Adler. 
Formed in 1972, and Playing a type of smoothly performed tight funk; they formed a bridge between the terrible country rock of Brinsley Schwarz and the R&B of Dr.Feelgood.
By all accounts they were a hot proposition in a live environment, and rumour has it that pub rock monsters, The Sex Pistols, refused to go on stage after Roogalator at one of their earlier gigs. It was easy to be intimidated by the shear musicality of Danny Adler and the boys, even if you were in one of the most intimidating groups of all time.They could have been The Average White Band, but they had short hair and more than just two good tracks in the can.
From their bio: "They knew that time was passing them by. Dexterous funk wasn't "in" anymore.The punks stole Roogalator's 
thunder,and Costello stole Adler's geek in glasses persona."(As well as playing a Fender Jazzmaster.)

This compilation features tracks recorded in 1977 for their sole (not Soul) album "Play it by Ear", and their three singles for three different labels.

Tracklist:

1 Zero Hero (Do It 7" 1978) 3:07
2 Tasty 4:18
3 Cincinnati Fatback 5:59
4 Water 2:58
5 Sweet Mama Kundilini 2:56
6 Sock It To My Pocket 3:50
7 All Aboard!! 4:54
8 Humanitation 4:59
9 Change 5:06

10 Cincinnati Fatback (Stiff b-side 1976) 6:19

11 Tasty (2) 4:44

12 Water (2) 2:59

13 Love And The Single Girl (Virgin 7" 1977) 3:09

14 All Aboard (Stiff 7" 1976) 5:46

DOWNLOAD from that funky smelling pub HERE!