path was like Elson's, but a band that I haven't encountered on the list
yet as an inspiration is A Certain Ratio.
I saw ACR open for New Order in Akron, OH in the summer of 1984 and
these guys were funky, arty, austere, jazzy AND they closed the set by
doing an Afro-Cuban drum workout that left the synthpop kids dazzled.
Their records have always been all over the place, but almost always
have some worthwhile tracks. Any word if these guys still record
together? They were on Factory for a long time and don't know if they
made the transition to the new Factory, or what.
Anybody?
laterjme
> There were a lot of 80s synthpop/new wave/mod/ska bands that I did give credit to paving the way towards my eventual interest in Acid
Jazz...particularly the basslines and keyboard parts from artists like
Talk Talk, King, Heaven 17, Wham, The Fixx, The Police, Thompson Twins,
Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones...
...Eventually leading me to mid-80s artists like Level 42 ( I hadn't
heard of them until '86), Paul Young, Swing Out Sister and Sade...
...then early 90s artists like Lisa Stansfield, Deee-Lite, Soul II Soul
&
De La Soul...
..and then, Acid Jazz.