Playing this gig as a threepiece, China Crisis – guitarist eddie Lundon, vocalist gary daly and keyboard player brian mcneil – deliver strippeddown versions of the outfit’s best songs, new and old. the loose format gives daly in particular the opportunity to crack on with the audience and he’s an amusing, idiosyncratic host. After someone from the audience shouts out; “We love you guys!” daly fires back, “i know. And we love you too! in a different way… it’s all gone a bit spike milligan up here…” With Lundon mainly on acoustic guitar and mcneil studiously coming up with everything else, it’s like China Crisis are in your living room, playing to a bunch of mates.Autumn In The Neighbourhood is China Crisis’s first album in 21 years and several numbers get an airing, including the ska/reggae-flavoured title track and the Lundon-written Fool. the band had the album crowdfunded via pledge music and, as daly informs us, “We’ve had all kinds of idiots wanting to put it out for us. i want it in tesco’s or nowhere!” China Crisis’s sound is so distinctive that no matter what type of music of music they play it’s always uniquely them, a point illustrated when daly tells us that they were recently asked to record a cover. “We never do covers, ’cos we’re such great songwriters ourselves. then i found out what the money would be!” their version of Carole King’s It’s Too Late fits in as if it’s an original. daly’s vocals are instantly recognisable, and hearing the songs performed in such an uncluttered way re-enforces that he and Lundon genuinely are great songwriters. Best Kept Secret drips poignancy, Black Man Ray still sounds like no-one else, and Diary Of A Hollow Horse has words that are clever but never get in the way of the melody. Working With Fire And Steel is still an uptempo gem but misses the great bass line of the recorded version. Wishful Thinking, sung by Lundon, isn’t much different to the record, and King In A Catholic Style still pops like crazy; as with Seven Sports For All (“it’s only taken us 32 years to play it,” remarks daly), the lyrics remain a mystery. the artful atmospherics of African And White are made even more effective by the lack of instrumental pyrotechnics to get between song, performers and audience. With the new album doing well and the venue much fuller than when China Crisis played it a couple of years ago, it’s time somebody got these guys – with their full band – onto a major eighties tour. oh, and if tesco’s are reading this…
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