China Crisis

It's all a game of paradoxes and contradictions with China Crisis. Not synth-pop enough to sail unnoticed alongside the new romantic crowd, not politically engaged enough to ride the long wave generated by the white soul of Scritti Politti; yet, on the other hand, too pop to strike a chord with the shadowed hearts of new wavers, too intimate and "American" to fully win over British easy-listening lovers. But the contrast extends even to the album titles. Take "Flaunt The Imperfection" itself: an almost impossible task when the perfectionist brand par excellence is involved, namely Steely Dan, present both in the English band's background and in the flesh, in the person of guitarist Walter Becker, recruited here as producer and multi-instrumentalist (even credited as the group's "fifth member" in the liner notes). And indeed, "Flaunt The Imperfection" is a perfect record. From the first note to the last. Both in sound and in substance. Almost a China Crisis greatest hits, given the gems tucked inside its lavish sophisti-pop packaging. But let's rewind the tape for a moment, starting again from an English city that's no stranger to pop. Yes, Liverpool.

Indie-pop ante-litteram

Almost ten years on from the end of the Fab Four, though, the city of the docks had changed its face. Liverpool in 1979 was the psychedelic pop of Echo & The Bunnymen, the lysergic, tormented existentialism of Julian Cope, and the German electronics turned into song by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. This is the world in which Gary Daly (keyboards) and Eddie Lundon (guitars) meet, coming as they did from the suburb of Kirkby, immortalized by Teardrop Explodes in "Kirkby Workers Dream Fades". Compared to the other Merseyside bands, though, China Crisis showed off a dreamy, nostalgic mood, coupled with unusual funk-pop yearnings. The city of the Beatles was, at the time, hardly the ideal soil for such impulses to take root, so it's no surprise that they only landed their first deal much later, at the end of 1981, courtesy of the independent label Inevitable, which released the single "African And White". China Crisis were indie-pop ante-litteram. And in spirit they would remain so forever, even once signed to more ambitious and generous labels.

Having recruited bassist Gary "Gazza" Johnson and drummer Kevin Wilkinson (later of the Waterboys, who took his own life in 1999 at the age of 41), they were signed by Virgin, for whom they released a slightly rough first chapter ("Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun To Entertain") and a far more convincing sophomore effort ("Working With Fire And Steel", 1983), carried by the gorgeous oboe (!) melody of "Wishful Thinking" as well as a handful of delicate ballads steeped in a springlike, twilight mood.

And Steely Dan? Even Eddie Lundon could never have imagined he'd end up working with them, back when, asked during the band's 1984 American tour who he'd want as a producer, he jokingly replied: "Well, someone from Steely Dan!". But Americans, as we know, are very good at making dreams come true when they put their minds to it. Taking the wish at face value, the Warner people promoting Crisis in the States picked up the phone and got in touch with Walter Becker, who, after hearing the material, enthusiastically agreed to produce the band's third album ("China Crisis's lyrics," he later said, "have such an oblique logic that they strike me as brilliant: that's really what they have in common with Steely Dan").

Do it again

Recording took place in 1984 on English soil, at Parkgate Studio in Battle, East Sussex: what up to that point had mostly existed as intention, and as a natural gift for writing good songs, became reality as if by magic once Becker took his seat at the console. On "Flaunt The Imperfection" the songwriting is even more inspired, and the production edges close to formal perfection, making the record not only China Crisis's masterpiece but a genuine hidden gem of Eighties British pop — even though it would reach only No. 9 on the UK chart, staying there for a full 22 weeks and becoming the band's (sole) bestseller.

Having shed the dub rhythms and lopsided arrangements of their early days in favor of a softer, more velvety sound, China Crisis pulled off a tricky feat managed by only a select few others of the era (Style Council, Talk Talk and Tears For Fears chief among them): blending synthesizers and traditional acoustic instruments without ever letting one overpower the other. A balance built on the finest of lines between taste and elegance, made magical by songwriting in a state of grace, capable of churning out sophisticated melodies and sharp lyrics on an endless loop. In a word: sophisti-pop.

When the hypnotic keyboard phrases of "Black Man Ray" burst out of FM radios across half of Europe, it really did seem that the long-awaited turning point had arrived for those two fresh-faced young men. A masterful single, with an aftertaste reminiscent of Eno, its sticky melody delivered in a gentle, confiding tone, while guitar and keyboards caress each other, weaving an exquisite fabric. Refined and just catchy enough — with its double allusion to Ray Charles and the surrealist art of Man Ray — it would warm the tenderest hearts of the mid-Eighties, carving out mainstream space for the Liverpool band that had previously seemed unthinkable.

But while "Black Man Ray" was the icebreaker single for the wider public, the whole album flows just as harmoniously and cohesively from start to finish.

The opening ode to Kirkby, "The Highest High" — introduced by the street-recorded shouts of a kid proclaiming himself "glad to be as happy as a king in the street" — starts out as a whistling nursery rhyme until a lash of bass sets off a chord progression that picks up where XTC left off with "General And Majors" (and it's no coincidence that Andy Partridge would go on to become an avid fan of the band); while the white reggae of "Strength Of Character" winks at Scritti Politti before setting sail with its sax toward the open seas of the Americas. Horns resurface, knowingly, on "You Did Cut Me", a love song that plays almost like a two-person coming-of-age story ("Live and discover/ Take from each other/ A love believing/ And never deceiving"), enriched by Steve Gregory's sinuous sax (ring any bells — "Careless Whisper"?) and Tim Renwick's languid guitar riff (previously heard in Al Stewart's employ on "Year Of The Cat").

If the driving "Wall Of God", inspired by Bob Marley's "Exodus" and built entirely around the interplay between Lundon's Burchill-esque guitar line and Nick Magnus's synth solo, sounds like an omen of what XTC themselves would soon deliver after their Rundgren-inflected turn on "Skylarking", "Gift Of Freedom", with its moving appeal to humanity ("And will the whole damned world fall down/ Before we've learned to share what we've found/ Freedom from apathy/ A god-given choice"), instead unleashes the old Crisis sound, reshaped by Becker's expertise, and follows the same happy fate as the airy, whistle-along second single "King In A Catholic Style", the most uptempo of the bunch, with its tumultuous bass and its combination of fluid, fizzy synth lines. No less astonishing is "Bigger The Punch I'm Feeling", with a nocturnal feeling that leads straight back to Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly", featuring yet another sublime bassline and a melody so graceful it barely seems real. Strictly in evening dress too is "Blue Sea", evoking the mood of the old "The Soul Awakening" in deluxe form.

Forty-three minutes of enchanting music that nonetheless leaves a bittersweet aftertaste: the anguish of new wave — by then fading as the mid-Eighties arrived — hadn't completely dissolved, but had rather softened into disenchantment and melancholy, into a more mature, more self-aware unease about an inescapable collective fate, as the title of the penultimate track seems to suggest: "The World Spins, I'm Part Of It".

Best kept secret

Soft, crystalline vocal harmonies, often given a touch of delay by Becker at the desk, flawless instrumental performances, a cleanliness of sound worthy of Steely Dan's finest work and, above all, beautifully written and arranged songs: everything contributes to the magic of a record you could happily listen to forever.

Thanks to the ten wonders of "Flaunt The Imperfection", the fortunes of the two placid Liverpool cohorts seemed destined to change forever. The China Crisis machine was now equipped to speed confidently down pop's busy streets — but perhaps it was going a little too fast, because in early 1985, right in the middle of promoting the album, a car accident left Daly with a broken arm and Johnson with a fractured jaw, sidelining the band for several months at a crucial point in their career. This is one of the reasons why "Flaunt The Imperfection" made only a fleeting appearance on the American chart and, while becoming their first and only top ten album back home (the two singles, following tradition, both landed in the top 20), never had the huge breakthrough that was well within their reach and that many had hoped for. Add to that a low-key public profile, perhaps at odds with the spirit of the Eighties, and it becomes easier to understand why the band never had its big explosion, and the frustration that followed.

Further quality work did little to change things, from the subsequent "What Price Paradise" and "Diary Of A Hollow Horse" (the former the subject of an ongoing historic dispute between this review's two authors) to the surprising reunion almost thirty years later, with the moving "Autumn In The Neighbourhood". Not even having influenced entire legions of indie-pop bands in the new millennium, devoted to their graceful, intimate gospel, was enough for China Crisis. Perhaps it was their fate all along, to remain one of the "best kept secrets" of the glittering Eighties. Because theirs really is music for delicate souls who shun banality, the expression of a refined melancholy that carries within it a smile, the unexpected ray of sunshine on a mild autumn day.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

20/10/2019