China Crisis

China Crisis - A special case history

"Difficult shapes and passive rhythms"

Founded in Liverpool, England by Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon. The two started working together in 1979 after leaving school.

China Crisis debuted in 1981 with the single "African and White", then followed another single "Scream down at me" in 1982. Both these releases were on a small Liverpool independent label, Inevitable Records.

The band was then signed by Virgin Records who re-released "African and White", which then became a minor UK hit, reaching number 45 in the singles chart.

The debut album "Difficult shapes and passive rhythms, Some people think it's fun to entertain" surfaced in late 1982 and hit the number 21 spot in November. Production credits were shared by Pete Walsh, Steve Levine, Gil Norton and Jeremy Lewis. At this stage the band consisted of Gary Daly (vocals, synths and bass guitar), Eddie Lundon (guitar and vocals) and Dave Reilly (percussion).

The album spawned two more singles "No more blue horizons" and "Christian", the latter peaking at number 12 in the UK singles chart.

In 1983 the singles "Tragedy and mystery" (UK no. 46) and "Working with fire and steel" (UK no. 48) preceeded the second album, "Working with fire and steel, Possible pop songs volume two", this time with Mike Howlett behind the wheel. The album was released in November.

At this stage Kevin Wilkinson (drums) and Gary "Gazza" Johnson (bass) had joined the band. Kevin Wilkinson will further on in his career share his time between his commitment to China Crisis and playing together with The Waterboys, Proclaimers, Squeeze etc.

The third single from the album, "Wishful Thinking" became China Crisis' biggest hit, reaching number 9 in the UK and charting all over Europe. It was voted most popular song of the week on the swedish radio show "Poporama" in the spring of 1984. Later in the spring "Hanna Hanna" reached no. 44 in the UK charts.