40 years ago, the English post-punk band A Certain Ratio began recording a cover of a Talking Heads song “Houses In Motion”. At the time, the recording was intended to be a collaboration with Grace Jones. Grace Jones never finished her part and the song got abandoned. Now, the band has finally finished recording the song. The recording was reworked from the original tapes and the final product has a cool funk vibe to it.
Band member Jez Kerr says this of the recording
It was great to find this lost track and, even though the original idea was for Grace Jones to sing on it, I think this version captures the essence of ACR at their best – when we are being ACR and sounding like no one else
40th Anniversary Happenings
In celebration of the bands 40th anniversary, they will be releasing a new box set titled acr:box that will be availabe on May 3. Pre-orders are available now. The box set includes a brand new acoustic version of the track “Won’t Stop Loving You”, included below. The box set will also include over 20 unreleased tracks and will be available as a signed 7X coloured vinyl set with only 1000 copies in print. A 4X CD set will also be available.
Box Set Track Listing
Singles and B-sides
1 All Night Party
2 The Thin Boys
3 Blown Away
4 Son And Heir
5 Waterline
6 Funaezekea
7 Abracadubra
8 Sommadub
9 Guess Who?
10 Tumba Rumba
11 Knife Slits Water (12″ version)
12 Kether Hot Knives (Mix In Special)
13 I Need Someone Tonight
14 Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing
15 Life’s a Scream
16 There’s Only This
17 Si Fermir O Grido (Touch Cassette Version)
18 Brazilia 6.10
19 Sounds Like Something Dirty
20 The Runner (Greetings Four Version)
21 Inside (Greetings Four Version)
22 Bootsy (Greetings Four Version)
23 Fever 103 (Greetings Four Version)
24 Loosen Up Your Mind
25 The Planet
26 Turn Me on (7″ Edit)
27 27 Forever (Jon Dasilva’s Testimonial Mix)
28 Shack up (Electronic Radio Edit)
Unreleased
29 Houses In Motion (Demo Version 1)
30 Houses In Motion (Demo Version 2)
31 And Then Again (Another version)
32 Piu Lento (John Peel Session)
33 Nostromo A Go Go (Demo)
34 Force (Demo)
35 Backs to The Wall (Demo)
36 The Big E (Demo)
37 Every Pleasure (Demo)
38 Rivers Edge (Demo)
39 Stadium (Demo)
40 Thin Grey Line (Demo)
41 Repercussions (African Mix)
42 BTTW 90 (Demo)
43 Spirit Dance (Demo)
44 Bitter Pill (Never Released)
45 It’s Trippin When I’m Fine (Previously Unreleased)
46 Mello (JD 800 Perc Mix)
47 Tekno 4 an Answer (120bpm)
48 Samba 123 (Demo)
49 Some Day (ACR rework)
50 Happy Meal (Working Title)
51 Flight Won’t Stop (Unfinished Demo)
52 Fruit Song (Unfinished Demo)
53 Say What You Mean (Unfinished Demo)
54 W.S.L.U.
Tour Dates
The band will also be touring to commemorate the anniversary.
APRIL
- 27th Barrow-In-Furness, Barrow Underground Music Society
MAY
- 4th London, Islington Assembly Hall
- 10th Wolverhampton, Newhampton Arts Centre
- 11th Belfast, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
- 23rd Liverpool, Phase One
- 24th – 25th Manchester, Yes
- 30th Sheffield, Leadmill (steel bar)
- 31st Newcastle, Riverside
JUNE
- 1st Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms
- 2nd Leamington Spa, Zephyr Lounge
AUGUST
- 16th We Out Here Festival
- 17th Green Man Festival
- 18th County Durham, Hardwick Live Festival
OCTOBER
- 24th Liège, Belgium, Le Reflektor
- 26th Den Haag, Netherlands, T’Paard
- 27th Cologne, Germany MTC
- 28th Berlin, Germany Columbia Theatre
- 29th Hamburg, Germany Uebel und Gefrahrlich
NOVEMBER
- 2nd Dublin, Sugar Club
- 8th Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
- 9th Birmingham, The Crossing Digbeth
- 15th Stoke-On-Trent, The Sugarmill
- 16th Glasgow, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
- 17th Huddersfield, The Parish
DECEMBER
- 6th Stockton on Tees, Georgian Theatre
- 7th Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
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