Customer Reviews

Flaunt the Imperfection

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember looking all over the place for this disc when I first heard them. Can't fathom why they weren't a bigger hit in the states - but I saw them in concert in and around NY a few times and these guys were very special. The allusions to Steely Dan are certainly correct in the progressive and somewhat haunting style of music (as well as the WB collaboration on the present disc). Though all of their albums are quite good Flaunt is clearly the best.

I hate to even call this simply a pop album from mid 80's from an obscure group;It's anything but.It's a mixture of rich experimental global rhythms that not only bring to mind Steely Dan (like other reviewers noted) but also contains faint doses of General Public and Tears For Fears;you hear the music,try to pinpoint where you've heard something like this before, but just can't. This is the kind of admirable musical artistry that a lot of new groups lack today and that I miss. China Crisis is not calculated or contrived in any of their tracks;They seem to go with their gut instinct which works every time...Their later projects contained a more soft pop,jazz-like ambient sound ( 1989's Diary of A Hollow Horse)...

...they might have grown up listening to the Beeb and watching "Top of the Pops." The world got a taste of what might have been when, in 1985, Walter Becker teamed up with China Crisis, five of Britain's most underappreciated popsters of the day, and produced "Flaunt the Imperfection."

It's not entirely fair or accurate to lump this disc together with Steely Dan's output: There's a different sensibility at play here, a keener eye cast toward the world of pop. China Crisis never had the raw edge of, say, "Reelin' in the Years." While China Crisis' lyrics could sometimes match Becker and Fagen in the obscurity department, they lacked the bad-boy sinisterness that we all knew was hiding under the surface of Steely Dan's increasingly jazz-flavored stylings.

That said, however, "Black Man Ray" is probably the best song Steely Dan never made.

Fifteen years later, "Flaunt the Imperfection" still holds up remarkably well to re-examination and stands as China Crisis' best work.

This is a very upbeat excursion into pop, somewhere between Steely Dan and Digital Cowboy. What I prefer about this music is that it is not self-conscious or melodramatic like SD usually is. Each song has at least one great riff backed up by solid rhythms and arrangements. "Gift of Freedom" and "Bigger the Punch I'm Feeling" are particularly captivating.

The lyrics reflect the mixed feeling of personal freedoms abandoned in a social context of spiritual malaise. Though very dancable, the music is for personal consumption and does not seem to be really that phased by the social issues it talks to. Hence, the sound is very clean and any forlorn aspects are overcompensated by greater energies, which are very much full of amusement and hope - just the right tonic for our current spiritual quagmire.

China Crisis was an interesting group, largely ignored in the U.S., who had a brief but richly creative run from the early to late 80s.

This album, produced by Walter Becker of Steely Dan, is to me their high point. While earlier albums had their moments and are very enjoyable, this one maintains a high level of excellence throughout, and its tone and sound is remarkably consistent. Every song flows beautifully into the next, with a rich polyglot of world rhythms, sound, horns, melodic bass, background vocals, and memorable melodies.

Personal favorites include "Bigger the Punch I'm Feeling," a peerless pop tune, which flows smoothly into "The World Spins, I'm Part of It," a perfect sound environment that can't help but make you feel good. This is one worth searching for, listening to it will make you happy. Isn't that enough?

This is a haunting work, very much looking at life in a minor key, but no less beautiful for that. This music cuts really deep into the soul. Buy it now!

Excelent album. Find myself listening to is a lot. Smooth New Wave Steely Dan.

I may not be able to step into a time machine (and I wouldn't want to anyway), but "Flaunt the Imperfection" is one of the few albums that I not only still love as much as I did as a teen, but is also one that still makes me feel exactly the same inside and is as emotionally rich as I remember.

The very first time I heard it was at a Sam Goody's in Owings Mills Mall in 1987, the opening to "The Highest High" (very appropriately titled) sweeping out of the store's speakers with an innocence and wisdom that was almost intoxicating.

I want to know who these calm, beautiful sounding people are, I thought, and I went up to the front desk to ask the clerk what was playing. He answered by showing me the cd jewel box case. Simple and blue with understated gray lettering and a wood-cut design in the middle, the cover would turn out be the perfect touch, capturing the true spirit of its contents.

It was the first album I ever bought because I heard it playing in a record store. I took it home (in cassette, because I didn't yet own anything that played compact discs) and fell in love with the rest of it immediately.

The gentleness I loved so much in "The Highest High" pretty much continued throughout. And other more quirky and bouncy stuff (like "King in a Catholic Style (Wake Up)") just made me smile like crazy!

This became an album that I listened to during the good and bad times of high school and it always had this strangely pleasant and hypnotic effect on me that made any worries fly right out the window.

To this day, it still does that for me and, long after I've forgotten my other 80s favorites with their novelty act routines and short shelf lives, this is one I return to again and again!:)

This is one of my best cd's. Actually, I have this Long Playing Album, vinyl in the Philippines. I was in high school when I bought this at the time it came out in the 80's.

This is a stylish and well produced album. "Gift of Freedom", "Bigger the Punch I'm Feeling", "The World Spins I'm Part of It", "Strength of Character", the list of great songs goes on and on. The vocals are sweet and the lyrics are clever.

"Collection" and "Acoustically Yours" are also worthwhile China Crisis album purchases. If you only want one, "Flaunt the Imperfection" would be my choice, though.