''The Graveyard and the Ballroom'' is the debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English band

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

, released in January 1980 by record label

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , pp. 192–3 It was produced by

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

. It was originally released only as a cassette, designed by Peter Saville. The album has been re-released on CD by Creation Records in 1994 and by Mute Records in 2017. The latter also reissued the album on vinyl, replicating the original PVC pouch of the cassette release. The reissued album spent five weeks in the

UK Independent Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

, peaking at number 29.Lazell, Barry (1997) ''Indie Hits 1980–1989'', Cherry Red Books, , p. 1

Content

Side A of the album, ''The Graveyard'', was recorded at Graveyard Studios in September 1979, while the other side, ''The Ballroom'', was recorded live at the Electric Ballroom in October.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the album as "accomplished enough to be intriguing, but never all that gripping." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' called it "an exciting and original

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

dance record".

Stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...

called it "not only a very interesting historical document but also a pretty entertaining album in its own right".

Track listing

The Graveyard

# "Do the Du (Casse)" - 2:53 # "Faceless" - 2:22 # "Crippled Child" - 2:54 # "Choir" - 3:21 # "Flight" - 3:30 # "I Fail" - 2:12 # "Strain" - 2:31

The Ballroom

"All Night Party" - 3:38 # "Oceans" - 4:05 # "The Choir" - 3:22 # "The Fox" - 3:25 # "Suspect" - 2:24 # "Flight" - 5:32 # "Genotype-Phenotype" - 3:29

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graveyard and the Ballroom, The 1980 debut albums A Certain Ratio albums Albums produced by Martin Hannett Dance-punk albums Factory Records albums Factory Records live albums