China Crisis - Flaunt the Imperfection

China Crisis
Flaunt the Imperfection

I never really noticed CC in the 80s, and barely rememebered the name of them in the 90s, but finally saw a bargain copy of Flaunt the Imperfection and took the chance.

It is well produced pop in an vaguely arty way. They clearly like social commentary and playing with words much as guys like Cy Curnin of the Fixx and Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, but they lack the cleverness of the former and the anthemic power of the latter.

Sometimes the melodies make you think of Squeeze, sometimes Curiosity Killed the Cat, and flashes of stolen Prefab Sprout circa Two Wheels Good. And it is that kind of almost shiftlessness that makes them listenable, but I can see why they never gained a strong toehold in the US. The production is of good quality for the time, which I attribute to Steely Dan's Walter Becker at the helm.

The strong cuts are King in a Catholic Style, which starts off like a Howard Jones uptempo knock-off, and Wall of God which sports a vocal line oddly reminescent of David Byrne in his Talking Heads period. Overall, a decent slice of 1985.