China Crisis Album: “Best of China Crisis”

This release is deceptive since it is really nothing more than China Crisis' 90's albums -- "Warped by Success" and "Acoustically Yours" -- repackaged with a few tracks omitted and a club version added. The above two albums were never released in the States.

"Warped by Success" was more or less panned by critics, but upon listening to these songs, I was pleasantly surprised. Their soft rock, jazzy, Steely-Dan-influenced style continues and it sounds just as good as their late 80's efforts. Some might find it a bit sappy, but it all flows very nicely. The "Acoustically Yours" live tracks are excellent.

Early 80s MTV viewers probably remember China Crisis best for the "Working With Fire and Steel" video and others will remember them from alternative radio. China Crisis never really caught on stateside and it's hard to understand why. China Crisis has a great ear for hooks and catchy melodies; not too far off from Crowded House, later Roxy Music and their oft-mentioned mentors Steely Dan. Walter Becker (ex-Steely Dan) produced a number of tracks from this collection along with Mike Thorne. I dare you not to enjoy any of these tracks...there's nary a dud in the lot of them. I was deep into China Crisis in the 80s and they're one of the groups who I bothered to replace vinyl with CDs when that time came. I regularly listen to them still, which is a testament to how good they are 10 to 15 years on. Many of these tracks were available on the earlier "China Crisis Collection," but that compilation left off at their "Diary of a Hollow Horse" release, whereas this one picks up a number of tracks since then, dropping many of the tracks on "Collection." This is a great starting point for fans who want to hear what China Crisis was up to in the 1990s who may have missed some of those hard-to-find CDs.