To Each...
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox album
| name = To Each...
| type = studio
| artist = A Certain Ratio
| cover = To Each....jpeg
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|1981}}
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio = E.A.R.S., East Orange, New Jersey
| genre = {{hlist|Post-punk|art funk|funk punk{{cite web|date=2 May 2024|title= A Certain Ratio - To Each... LP Mute|url=https://www.strandedrecords.com/products/a-certain-ratio-to-each-lp|access-date=2 May 2024|publisher=Stranded Records|quote=The album's finale is another standout, taking detour from the concise funk-punk numbers for a nearly 13-minute voodoo mantra in "Winter Hill.}}}}
| length = 46:10
| label = Factory
| producer = Martin Hannett
| prev_title = The Graveyard and the Ballroom
| prev_year = 1980
| next_title = Sextet
| next_year = 1982
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{rating|2.5|5}}{{cite web |last1=Farley |first1=Keith |title=A Certain Ratio - To Each... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/to-each-mw0000100939 |website=AllMusic |access-date=22 March 2021}}
| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
| rev2Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2007 |publisher=Omnibus Press |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-84609-856-7 |pages=29 |edition=5th Concise}}
}}
To Each... is the second album and debut LP by English band A Certain Ratio, released in 1981 by record label Factory. It is sometimes considered the band's official first album. It was recorded in New Jersey and produced by Factory mainstay Martin Hannett.
The album spent twenty weeks in the UK Independent Chart, peaking at number 1.Lazell, Barry (1997) Indie Hits 1980–1989, Cherry Red Books, {{ISBN|0-9517206-9-4}}, p. 1
Despite being panned by some critics and being unfavourably compared to Joy Division, To Each... has received widespread acclaim from record companies that reissued the album, with many praising it for its unconventional sound and rhythm sections. Turntable Lab hailed it as a landmark release of the post-punk era.
Reception
To Each... received generally positive reviews. Stranded Records said of the album's direction, "...To Each… pushes to A Certain Ratio's powerhouse rhythm section to the foreground. Within the supple dynamics to the album's songs, Donald Johnson's flawless percussive syncopations brace the limber basslines from Jez Kerr. Tracks like "Felch," "Forced Laugh" and "The Fox" recoil and lunge with intensity and grace, as A Certain Ratio fills in the blanks with swarms of guitar noise, bursts of militant trumpet and sporadic vocals."{{Cite web |date=April 30, 2024 |title=A Certain Ratio - To Each... LP Mute |url=https://www.strandedrecords.com/products/a-certain-ratio-to-each-lp |access-date=April 30, 2024 |website=Stranded Records}} Attack Magazine referred to the album as a "set of pioneering monochrome funk."{{Cite web |last=Simpson |first=Dave |date=June 3, 2019 |title=A Certain Ratio: 40 years on the floor |url=https://www.attackmagazine.com/features/long-read/a-certain-radio-40-years-on-the-floor/#google_vignette |access-date=April 30, 2024 |website=Attack Magazine}} Soul Jazz Records deemed it as "seminal," calling it "one of ACR's finest moments."{{Cite web |date=April 30, 2024 |title=A Certain Ratio - To Each... (ACR Loco Edition) {{!}} Soul Jazz Records |url=https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/to-eachacr-loco-edition |access-date=April 30, 2024 |website=Sounds of the Universe}} Turntable Lab considered To Each... to be a landmark post-punk album, noting that it found the band "fusing heavy funk, dub, and punk to create a completely new and influential sound."{{Cite web |date=April 30, 2024 |title=A Certain Ratio: To Each... (White Colored Vinyl) Vinyl LP |url=https://www.turntablelab.com/products/a-certain-ratio-to-each-colored-vinyl-vinyl-lp |access-date=April 30, 2024 |website=Turntable Lab}} Piccadilly Records wrote: "The sound is good for lo-fi recordings, and the band is, for all of their musical amateurishness, precise and controlled. Those seeking an idiosyncratic, interesting art-funk band can do no wrong with this release."{{Cite web |date=November 24, 2017 |title=A Certain Ratio - To Each / Mute from Piccadilly Records |url=https://www.piccadillyrecords.com/118058/A-Certain-Ratio-To-Each-Mute |access-date=April 30, 2024 |website=Piccadilly Records}} Patrick Ryder of The Vinyl Factory stated, "...the LP swaggers along the precipice of post punk and odd funk to the syncopated hats and flying triplets of Donald Johnson’s faultless drumming. The rubbery twang of Jez Kerr’s bass rounds out the primal, powerhouse rhythm section, while Martin Moscrop’s plangent trumpet and a succession of warped vocals create an ever present sense of unease. Bookended by the clipped groove of ‘Felch’ and the percussion led voodoo of the standout ‘Winter Hill’, To Each… saw ACR further develop an increasingly unique sound."{{Cite web |last=Ryder |first=Patrick |date=November 4, 2016 |title=An introduction to A Certain Ratio in 10 records |url=https://thevinylfactory.com/features/introduction-a-certain-ratio-10-records/ |access-date=April 30, 2024 |website=The Vinyl Factory}}
AllMusic, Trouser Press and The Quietus were less favourable. Keith Farley of AllMusic wrote that with the album, "the group dropped much of the bleak dance-punk of early material in place of what sounds like a shallow attempt to seize the baton dropped by gloom giants Joy Division after the death of Ian Curtis", calling the record "a bit too mired in its own misery to make an impression on listeners."{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/to-each-mw0000100939 |title=To Each... – A Certain Ratio
Track listing
- "Felch" – 3:45
- "My Spirit" – 2:28
- "Forced Laugh" – 5:53
- "Choir" – 2:51
- "Back to the Start" – 7:49
- "The Fox" – 3:46
- "Loss" – 3:23
- "Oceans" – 3:30
- "Winter Hill" – 12:45
Personnel
Simon Topping
Donald Johnson
Jeremy Kerr
Peter Terrell
Martin Moscrop
Martha Tilson (vocals on 'Back to the Start', 'Loss' and 'Oceans')
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs master|30971}}
{{A Certain Ratio}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:A Certain Ratio albums