China Report June 2024

Founded in the southern German city of Bietigheim-Bissingen by Heiko Maile, Oliver Kreyssig and Marcus Meyn in the year 1984, the band Camouflage scored an unexpected international hit with their debut album 'Voices & Images' in 1988. Their sophomore album 'Methods Of Silence', released just a year later, was an even bigger success. Songs like 'The Great Commandment' and 'Love Is A Shield', went on to become perennial classics of the synth pop genre. Heiko Maile and Marcus Meyn recorded their fourth album 'Bodega Bohemia' in the synthsound studio of Belgian producer and electro-pop pioneer Dan Lacksman. It was released on 26 April 1993. To mark the 30th anniversary of the album, the band opened up the archives to assemble a special bonus edition including a wealth of rare and unreleased recordings.

This two-disc deluxe version was produced with the full cooperation of that band. The set contains many bonus tracks, BBC Sessions as well as demos.
China Crisis underwent a complete change in sound for their third album, completely ditching the heavy dub rhythms and challenging arrangements of 1982's Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain and 1983's Working with Fire and Steel (Possible Pop Songs, Vol. 2) with an altogether smoother and less aggressive sound. That doesn't equal a commercial capitulation, however; if anything, the choice of Walter Becker (of the then-unfashionable Steely Dan) as producer was a more commercially daring maneuver than anything the group had previously attempted…

Digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of the Liverpool band's 1982 album. The bonus CD includes non-album tracks, radio sessions and more.
Like fellow Liverpudlians O.M.D., China Crisis began life as a synthetic duo who performed brilliantly executed pop songs with quirky edges. And like O.M.D., they seamlessly mixed their love of guitar-based pop with (then) modern musical technology (i.e., synthesizers). Unlike O.M.D., China Crisis' legacy languishes somewhere between there and then with no sign of them ever being considered "hip." Not to say that that is their fault! Gary Daly (the quirky vocalist/keyboardist) and Eddie Lundon (the smooth vocalist/guitarist) made their fascinating debut, Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms…

Digitally remastered and expanded three CD edition of the Liverpool band's 1983 album. The bonus CDs includes non-album tracks, remixes, radio sessions and more.
China Crisis main men Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon were great songwriters searching for that one song that would make a difference. "Working with Fire and Steel" was that song. Although they had hits before, and they would have hits after, no other song defined China Crisis' essence more. With its percolating beat, Daly's hiccupping vocals, and a smashing chorus, it was the perfect modern pop song. With that said, there was also so much more to China Crisis than that one song. This, their sophomore album, features songs cut from the same cloth as "…Fire and Steel," including "Animals in Jungles" and "Hanna Hanna," but also reveals a band with deeper meaning and ambitious ideas…

In the path of successful compilations such as the Progressive Rock Trilogy, Punk Trilogy and Heavy Metal Trilogy, Music Brokers presents Glam Rock Trilogy, a wonderful three-disc album that summarizes all the splendor of the style that influenced much of British rock, from punk through Brit pop to techno pop. As a cultural and musical style, glam rock was born in 1971, with the release of the song Ride A White Swan by T. Rex. From that moment forward, there arose a veritable fever which invariably topped the European charts. Artists such as David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Roxy Music, Slade, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, New York Dolls, Suzi Quatro, Glitter Band, The Sweet, Mott, Cockney Rebel, Suede and the aforementioned T. Rex became the heads of style, and all are included in Glam Rock Trilogy, the definitive album.