Search - China Crisis :: Working With Fire & Steel

Very under-appreciated, valuable album

Mike | Canada | 08/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is China Crisis moving beyond the sparse synth-pop of "Difficult Shapes & Passive Rythyms" (which I also highly recommend) into a many-layered "complexification" of sounds and images. It resonated with me instantly when I first heard it in 1983, and can still do so today. There are pioneering uses of synthesizers into pop music here that offer the listener an avenue into something *very* different than the top-40 stuff going on at the time.



Interestingly, unlike another similar seminal work in the same period, "New Gold Dream" by Simple Minds, at times the album is tinged by the band's politics (as they're English, the message is subtle but clearly anti-Thatcher). But any political message is subsumed by the use of melody that, like "New Gold Dream", paints a beautiful picture and sends you somewhere else for a moment. In other words, the lyrics and music work hand in hand, not distracting from each other. It's not as subdued as the Simple Minds album, but still works.



The title track is actually the hardest hitting, musically and lyrically of the lot, and I can grow tired of it. But "When the Piper Calls", "Wishful Thinking" and "Soul Awakening" are better examples of what the album is trying to do. For the most part, the album's individual pieces work extremely well on their own, though perhaps a little less so together, hence me giving it only 4/5 stars. Better to be a little stingy!



It's too bad that this album was largely neglected in the U.S. when it was released. Perhaps that explains the difficulty in getting a non-import (i.e. cheaper) version as some of the other reviewers have noted. In Canada, it developed considerable success, though not quite to UK levels (where the band is from). Thanks for reading."