🎵 AotW China Crisis WHAT PRICE PARADISE (A&M SP 5148)

[LPJim]

1 It's Everything 5:09
2 Arizona Sky 5:25
3 Safe As Houses 4:26
4 Worlds ApartComposed By – Kevin Kelly (4) 3:34
5 Hampton Beach 4:43
6 The Understudy 5:45
7 Best Kept Secret 4:08
8 We Do The Same 4:21
9 June Bride 3:49
10 A Day's Work For The Dayo's Done 4:14

• Recorded At – The Manor
• Recorded At – Westside Studios
• Mixed At – Westside Studios
• Phonographic Copyright (p) – Virgin Records Ltd.
• Copyright (c) – Virgin Records Ltd.

• Arranged By [Brass] – Brian McNeill, Gary Barnacle
• Arranged By [Brass], Recorded By – Langer*
• Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings] – David Bedford
• Artwork [Collage] – Jeanne Panton
• Artwork [Design & Art Direction], Photography By – Andrew Ellis
• Backing Vocals – Davie Dover, John Lewis (14)
• Bass Guitar, Sequenced By – Gary "Gazza" Johnson*
• Composed By – China Crisis (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 10)
• Drums, Percussion – Kevin Wilkinson
• Engineer – Winstanley*
• Engineer [Assistant] – Fiona D'Eathe, Julian Wheatley, Nick Blundell, Nick Davies*, Richard Sullivan
• Guitar – Stuart Nisbet
• Guitar, Backing Vocals – Eddie Lundon
• Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Brian McNeill
• Lead Vocals – Gary Daly
• Percussion – Martin Ditcham
• Producer – Clive Langer And Alan Winstanley*
• Saxophone, Flute – Gary Barnacle
• Trombone – Pete Thoms*
• Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Luke Tunney

Early pressing made in Japan for the U.S. market as printed at bottom of disc face

Recorded at the Manor Oxfordshire and Westside Studios London.
Mixed at Westside Studios summer 1986.

Entered the Billboard Top 200 on March 7, 1987
Charted for 12 weeks and peaked at # 114
There are no corresponding albums for SP 5146 or 5147

JB

 

[Rudy]

This Liverpool-based group came off of their famous Walter Becker-produced Flaunt the Imperfection CD with this A&M debut. Quite a nice little album, as it still has some of Becker's influence despite having different production. I wouldn't say it's a Liverpool take on Steely Dan, but it does have a mix of pop, jazz and other elements that make for some nice easygoing listening, with enough lyrical "meat" to keep it all interesting. China Crisis just might be one of the best kept secrets (pun intended) out there.

 

[Mr Bill]

"Arizona Sky" is my favorite China Crisis song.

--Mr Bill

 

[Rudy]

It's also another case of band names being deceiving. Back when I'd first heard of Flaunt the Imperfection, the band name brought to mind an emotionally-charge alternative metal/hard rock band. But at the time, Steely Dan was no longer together, there were no talks of reconciling, and many of us were following Fagen and Becker. Fagen recorded on his own, of course, but Becker stepped more into production and songwriting during their hiatus, and Flaunt was one of his projects. Becker returned for Diary of a Hollow Horse, the A&M follow up to What Price Paradise, which was critically praised but did not do that well commercially.

 

[Rudy]

Reissues of their non-A&M recordings, in Deluxe editions, are coming soon.

China Crisis: Expanded Album Reissues