Any China Crisis fans? I have a ticket to see China Crisis & Men Without Hats at the WXPN World Café Live in Philadelphia next Monday, June 15, 2015. When it comes to China Crisis, I only own the 2 disc best of compilation called "Ultimate Crisis." Can someone please recommend where to move from here with their discography? Best album? Worst album? Has anyone seen them live? Any stories to tell? Thanks in advance.
Library Jon
Their third album, "Flaunt the Imperfection", was produced by Walter Becker of Steely Dan fame. That's their best. I believe they're still touring as a duo, vocalist/keyboardist Gary Daly and guitarist Eddie Lundon. - And the shows here last Fall were comprised of acoustic, "intimate" versions of the tunes. You might be liking Men Without Hats at the end of the night a lot more. Interestingly, both bands are here next week, but performing separately 2 nights apart at the same room, Iridium Jazz Club.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." - Roger Waters, 2014
"I'm a collector. And I've always just seemed to collect personalities." - David Bowie, 1973
I heard China Crisis in the 1980's and thought the songs were pleasant enough - I still have a couple of cassette somewhere - but not essential acquisition. Certainly better than a lot of the miserable muck that emerged during the 80's. There were a number of bands that had a very similar sound and who I used to confuse with one another: China Crisis, Fiction Factory, and one other whose name eludes me for the moment.
I only ever heard the one song from Men Without Hats (not to be confused with Men At Work, who would definitely be wearing safety hats). Did MWH have more than one hit?
Couple of good tracks, otherwise not a fan, despite having a couple of LPs. Rather disappointing on the whole.
I only have their second one, "Working With Fire And Steel : Possible Pop Songs Volume Two". There were a couple of minor hits on that one, like Wishful Thinking. I always thought their arrangements in a couple of tracks were quite similar to the string-arrangements of Genesis' "From Genesis To Revelation". Some fine fretless bass on some songs. All in all a nice album. And they're coming to Europe to in September, so I bought me a ticket too.
Here are two versions of "Wishful Thinking" and especially the first one has that string-arrangement I meant. In the second one the synths seems to be replaced by real strings.
A couple of Kirkby lads done good...my home town!
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
Yeah, fan here. Saw them way back in the day in some club on long island. Kevin Wilkinson was their drummer, later worked with Fish, sadly committed suicide. Really great drummer I thought.
Good to hear they're still around. 'What Price Paradise' is pretty easily my favorite, and their most mature I think. 'Its Everything' and 'A Day's Work for the Dayo's Done' are great tracks. Next, I think, maybe 'Flaunt the Imperfection', or 'Diary of a Hollow Horse'. My wife likes 'Warped by Success', a mellower but nice enough album. Their earlier stuff isn't as good I don't think. Hadn't really developed as songwriters yet.
I checked out the track listing for 'Ultimate Crisis' and don't think that collection does them justice. Beginning with one of their worst songs, 'King in a Catholic Style' and a lot of their earlier stuff (although I do like 'Tragedy and Mystery' among their earlier tracks). I think you may be pleasantly surprised by an album like 'What Price Paradise' or 'Flaunt The Imperfection'.
Didn't know he died. Noticed he also played with The Waterboys and Howard Jones.Originally Posted by gpeccary
I got to see China Crisis and Men Without Hats at WXPN World Cafe Live in Philadelphia last night. I really enjoyed the bands. If you grew up listening to early 80s New Wave music, than this was a worthwhile concert for you. China Crisis were the opening act and got about an hour. Despite the fact that they were having trouble with their keyboards and could not bring a full band with them, they sounded very good. Kind of mellow but in a good way. They actually did a cover of the Carol King song called "It's Too Late" which was actually very good. The new songs were good. I bought the new album and have listened to it a few times today. It is a more of the same type album but also in a good way. Men Without Hats got about an hour fifteen minutes. They opened with an acoustic version of " The Safety Dance" and also closed with a full band version as the last song. They were much better overall than I thought they would be. I expected to only get into a few songs and wound up digging the whole set. The lead singer talked about growing up listening to Prog bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson. He said that he was thrilled that Ian Anderson played flute on one of his albums. I also bought their newest album after the show and also liked it in a more of the same way. So, anyway, it was a great night of music and I really enjoyed myself. By the way, both bands came out signing things after their set and were very friendly to the fans. Really nice guys.
Library Jon
Last edited by Library Jon; 06-16-2015 at 03:15 PM.
Thanks for the review. Looking forward to the September gig from CC.
So the new album is out already?
The band were selling the new CD but I don't think that it is officially out yet.
Library Jon
Ah. Suspected as much. My wife will be thrilled, China Crisis is one of her favorite bands.
Saw China Crisis last Friday. I enjoyed the music, but I was very much impressed by their guitarist Colin Hinds:
I believe he also played with Toyah, but this is certainly a musician I would love to hear a solo-album from.
China Crisis have scheduled a one week winter tour of the north eastern USA. I bought a ticket to the Philadelphia show on Sunday, December 20, 2015. The venue is a bar that I have never been to before called Kung Fu Necktie. Anyone else going?
Library Jon
The Philadelphia China Crisis show is this Sunday night, December 20, 2015. I will be there. Anyone else going?
Library Jon
I did wind up making it to the China Crisis show in Philadelphia last Sunday night. I really enjoyed the concert. They played all of the bigger songs as well as three songs from the new album. They also threw in their new cover of Carole King's "It's Too Late." The band played for about 75 minutes. After the performance, the band promised to be back in 2016, so there is hope that we will see them in the USA relatively soon.
Library Jon
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