A Certain Ratio
 

Been listening to them a lot lately.

It`s fair to say that they probably spent most of their career under the shadow of Joy Division at Factory, but that shouldn`t detract from some of the stuff they did.

They`re a good mix of of post punk with funk influences.I`ve seen them described as Joy Division mixed with James Brown , which is probably true for their first single but it doesn`t really do justice for the rest.

anyway here`s a link for Early , a retrospective collection of some of the bands work at their peak from 81-85.

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=SXPVMJ2V

Sweet, I've been meaning to get into them.

Thanks Urban.

A Certain Ratio are pretty top notch, I always find myself making compararions to Gang of Four when listening to them which, generally is a good thing. I'd Like To See You Again is my favourite album, though they never made an albums worth of material that stood out to me, just a couple of great songs each album.

a band that only brits seemed to ever like... what i've heard I thought was pretty dull...

will give that link a try tho

I have Early and I love it, but I hear the rest of their output is pretty uneven and they don't really have any albums worth buying. Is that true?

Pretty much.

They seem to be one of these bands that deteriorate with every album , they became more & more electronic with each album. To Each their first albums is where most of the Joy Division comparisons came in. Sextet & I'd Like to See You Again are more funk & electronica based.
Anything after those three are really not worth bothering with.

I like them a lot. To Each and Sextet are my favorite albums. They're not really the best at making a good album but they do write damn good songs.