A Certain Ratio are chiefly praised for their late 70s/early 80s scratchy punk-funk but their late 80s/early 90s stuff is just as good. They seemed to live permanently in the shadow of Joy Division and New Order. The Four To The Floor e.p. and MCR album successfully incorporated samplers and sequencers into their songs just as New Order were hitting the dancefloor with Technique. All these things got mashed together when they re-recorded and re-released their early calling card Shack Up with a remix by Electronic, which I've got somewhere and genuinely can't remember if it's any good or not. I'll have to go and listen to it I suppose.
During the 90s ACR released a whole load of singles on Rob's Records, Rob Gretton's label- New Order's manager who found himself at a loose end when NO stopped talking to each other. One of the best ACR singles from this period is this one, 27 Forever. My favourite version is the 'normal' 12" mix but I don't have that on the hard drive, so this is the Jon Da Silva remix. Don't let that put you off though- Da Silva keeps all the right elements intact and just toughens up the drums a bit. Today this sounds like a pretty good reflection of what you'd hear in some of Manchester's bars in 1991/2ish, and being ACR it does that slightly maudlin, sad dance music thing really well.
A Certain Ratio - 27 Forever (Jon Da Silva Remix) (92).mp3
A Certain Ratio - 27 Forever (Jon Da Silva Remix) (92).mp3