China Crisis - Flaunt the Imperfection poll

damn, left this open for way too long. got ahead of myself.

I thought this one would be easy, but... no. This is pretty much the only China Crisis album I like, and Becker's production has a lot to do with that, but also I don't think they wrote a collections of songs as good before or after this.

I find this album a pleasant wash. No one makes grand claims for it, I trust?

Pleasant wash then & now. Caught my ear when it came out due to Walter Becker's presence (he'd been *extremely* low profile). Steely Dan's stock was rather low in 1984, to say the least.

voting King In A Catholic Style

"Bigger the Punch I'm Feeling"

did this album get any CMJ/college radio traction?

i was tricked into buying this by my friend when i was 14, so i'm pretty well acquained with it cos at that age you listened to anything you bought 100 times in an effort to make yourself love it even if it was completely awful. revisited it recently and yes, nice production, but these guys are the dictionary definition of wet blanket. if i had to chose, i would say 'you did cut me'

It's either 'Strength of Character' (love the dual-snare thing) or 'You Did Cut Me' for me...

...but it could easily have also been 'Black Man Ray', 'King in a Catholic Style', 'Bigger the Punch I'm Feeling' or 'The World Spins, I'm Part of It' ... the whole album is pretty much a secret '80s favourite of mine.

i really don't know this album but going to give it some time as this poll will be open for awhile.

this is the most competent album I've ever heard in my life

China Crisis is underrated, imo. I only discovered them looking for an 80s Kinks song years ago. Pleasantness to near perfection.

Though personally I like Working with Fire and Steel better than this one, Becker production or not.

Working with Fire and Steel is all time with me, but this is good.

the album i know by China Crisis is Working with Fire and Steel. this one sure is slick isn't it?

calling them "wet blanket" is unfair. listening to this album for the first time, theres an ache to their music that i really dig

Yeah re listened to this today a couple times while riding- now I remember my dislike of that breezy chool 80s sax that showed up. Not a bad collection, but I prefer wwfas.

For me, when it comes to '80s sax I usually go either one way or the another - either it's so obnoxious and badly used, or it blends in well with the music and is well used and I can enjoy it. I think the sax is well used and enjoyable on this record.

Yeah, it's a slick production, but it's very well recorded and engineered and sounds fantastic to me on headphones.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Are we not happy in our own way

i don't know if i've ever heard this band, but flipped through a ton of their records over the years looking for alex chilton and the chills. most bins went straight from chilliwack to china crisis.

Voted 'Strength of Character'

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

'The World Spins, I'm Part of It' could have done with a vote, but otherwise I can't really complain.

so were American college students grooving to this in '85

lol I asked already

I still remember that King In A Catholic Style was playing on CFNY when we drove into Toronto in 1985. Guess it resonated enough in some way to remain memorable.

I was definitely that kid, the answer is no, but I wanted to like it because the previous was quite good

Another Toronto anecdote: this was on the CHUM-FM countdown at the time, as well. So it had an alternative as well as a soft-rock audience here, at least.

picked up a 2cd of their stuff recently.
not given it much time as its a bit too mellow for my needs.
perhaps i need to give it more time ?

https://www.discogs.com/China-Crisis-Collection-The-Very-Best-Of-China-Crisis/release/932293

so were American college students grooving to this in '85

I was still in high school in '85 but a friend of mine had a China Crisis t-shirt w/ that design, so maybe

never heard this and it sounds exactly like Walter Becker producing a synth pop group

i was def grooving to this my sophomore year, had it on cassette, natch

it was popular on WLIR which is where i first heard it

on one of those trackers out there, someone recently posted a WLIR broadcast of a 1985 concert of theirs at the malibu nightclub in lido beach. it doesn't sound like there were too many people in attendance, but the ones who were were screaming like it was the beatles.

01. Wall Of God
02. Gift Of Freedom
03. Tragedy And Mystery
04. Wishful Thinking
05. Black Man Ray
06. You Did Cut Me
07. Bigger The Punch I'm Feeling
08. Strength Of Character
09. Seven Sports For All
10. King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up)
11. African And White
12. Highest High

https://www.mixcloud.com/sinlopez/china-crisis-1985-07-16-malibu-nightclub-lido-beach-ny-usa/

Not "grooving" ..... pleasantly bobbing the head perhaps at most

It holds up surprisingly well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuWyCjIY4zc

my 19 y/o strolled by as i checked this and said barely slowing, "so uh, that's like some off-brand tears for fears"?

Hey, I like this album well enough but wow, what a snoozy live show that would have been to witness

lately i've really been enjoying this dub flute cod folk synth reggae pop thing from their second album...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lejAl7SX2SQ
The Gates Of Door To Door

This is great, thanks for sharing

I fuckin love that album so much. I went looking for my original cassette of it for funnys a couple years ago, but it’s in the great pacific trash gyre somewhere i spose.

ha i didnt like the dan much when they went to becker, respected enough they could and did, the results were a bit of meh to me