The Guardian's 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die commences with (rather appropriately) Early (2002) by ACR.

"Named after a Brian Eno lyric, ACR fused jagged Wire guitars and George Clinton beats to create the now commonplace sound of punk-funk. They were too far ahead of their time to be successful, but Early compiles the 1978-85 cuts that influenced everyone from former ACR support acts Talking Heads and Madonna to, more recently, LCD Soundsystem and the Rapture."

Representing the letter 'B' we have Blurt - The Best of Blurt, Vol 1 (2003)...

"Blurt have been fronted by puppeteer-turned-eccentric-saxophonist Ted Milton since 1980 - perhaps the epitome of warped genius. His nearly tuneful squawks and lyrics shouted like a newspaper seller are as extraordinarily inspired as his song titles, which include My Mother Was a Friend of an Enemy of the People."

Cabaret Voltaire kick off the letter 'C' with 'The Original Sound of Sheffield 83/87' (2001).

"The 78/82 companion to this album traces the Cabs' pioneering Burroughs/cut-up experiments in industrial/electronic music, but this traces their equally influential but more accessible dancefloor period. The 12in mixes of their singles are sinister, cold but deliriously sensual electrothrobs a few years ahead of techno."

Still to come later this week - the letters 'D' - 'Z'.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Blurt, Brian_Eno, Cabaret_Voltaire

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