a certain ratio

To my surprise I discovered last week I had apparently purchased an A Certain Ratio double album compilation from some mail order concern. Bit exciting. When I was a child I had bought their 'Shack Up' single and quite liked it, and then a few years ago I had picked up for almost no money a 12" EP of theirs, water damaged sleeve, but fun. I don't know what made me think, when doing that thing of scanning the internet for records I might possible want to own, that I really needed some more ACR in my life. It doesn't matter because I'm enjoying what I'm hearing here. They have that kind of dark, dank Factory sound a lot of the time and it's sort of stilted funk I suppose often a bit like the funk version of dinky cocktail jazz but I still think it often works. Look I found a picture of them:

What a bunch. I suppose they squandered a lot didn't they. They were pretty famous there for a moment. There's no real personality in there though, or if there is, it's hidden away pretty hard to reach. Who's at the heart of this thing?