A Certain Ratio: Early (Soul Jazz)****

BEFORE A CERTAIN Ratio there was The Pop Group but, the latter apart, no one can claim to have played an earlier role post-punk's then seemingly improbable mutation into white funk. With their austere crew-cuts and khaki chic, Factory's ACR came on like pale young Mancunian boys on a solemn safari to the heart of funk's darkness, like fugitives from It Ain't Half Hot Mum gone strangely native.