5. A Certain RatioThe Old And The New

When the record pile was the most distinguishing thing about you as a teen, there were always two I rotated at the front: ACR’s The Old And The New and the Factory Records’ compilation, Young, Popular And Sexy. Over time, the less hysterically eulogised music from the Manchester 80s has become the most evocative: The Railway Children’s ‘Brighter’, Yargo’s ‘Bodybeat’, Marcel King’s ‘Reach For Love’, Quando Quango’s ‘Love Tempo’, even the first Simply Red record. ACR are the best though. They sound like they’re weaving funk and composition out of drizzle. I’ve probably danced to their cover of Banbarra’s ‘Shack Up’ as many times as ‘Love Sensation’ or ‘Voodoo Ray’. I love the cheap video for it. They wore school shorts on stage, a bold game for Mancunians in any era, and had Bernard Sumner’s haircuts before he did. The bit where they changed instruments in the encore of every show felt actually quite dazzling. Donald Johnson was like our Tony Thompson. This record sounds like every bus journey taken up the Princess Parkway into town on a Friday night between 86-88.