Exercise Your Every Right

Another long overdue debut selection on this blog for China Crisis.

 

This one has been a fair old time getting from idea to execution, going all the way back to a 2022 post at The Vinyl Villain, where JC provided a great summary of the band's history whilst also admitting that he wasn't all that moved by their music, back in the 1980s or 40 years later.

That didn't stop Martin Elliot ("Our Swedish Correspondent") from contributing a China Crisis collection to TVV's Imaginary Compilation Album series in January 2023. And very enjoyable it is too, drawing on B-sides, deep cuts and less familiar singles.

Eighteen months later and I've finally got around to posting a follow up or companion of sorts. I'm firmly in the "love China Crisis" camp and think that they are a hugely underrated band. Their debut album, Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms: Some People Think It's Fun To Entertain, could frequently be heard through the walls of my brother's bedroom next door and in subsequent years, I got my own copy of the first and second albums plus secondhand copies of most of their 12" singles between 1982 and 1985.

It's the latter that today's selection focuses on, featuring most (if not all) of the extended versions included on 12" singles during the 1980s. There are some obvious omissions - Christian, Wishful Thinking and Arizona Sky - which used the full length album versions. A few 12" singles such as Scream Down At Me, Best Kept Secret, You Did Cut Me and Black Man Ray didn't include longer versions of the A-side. 

 

For the latter, I've sourced an extended edit of the song by Spiral Tribe, who produced a seemingly endless series of bootleg edits on CD during the mid-1990s. Sound levels are all over the place, but it's a fairly sympathetic extension of Black Man Ray, so it's made the cut.

I've also included a few B-sides which, unlike their contemporary A-sides, did get the 12" treatment. Cucumber Garden is the flip of debut single Scream Down At Me and is an early example of the gold that could be unearthed on 7" and 12" vinyl. 

 

Wishful Thinking was issued as a 4-track 12" in 1983 with the aforementioned full length album version of the A-side and an extended mix of B-side This Occupation, which has clearly been spending time in the back of New Order's car, cruising around town. Some People I Know To Lead Fantastic Lives was a standout song on the 1982 debut album and features here, along with an extended mix that I've used as the opening track on today's selection.

I bought the 7" of Arizona Sky at my local record shop, which came with a free cassette of China Crisis classics and snippets from their soon-come album What Price Paradise. I really liked Arizona Sky and the other new song samples were good but not enough to buy the album at the time. I've a much greater appreciation of the music now, though I can understand why 15-year old me was less taken.

 

Similarly, 1989 album Diary Of A Hollow Horse - and it's singles - passed me by at the time and I didn't hear Saint Saviour Square until I bought the China Crisis Collection 2CD in 1990. I acquired the 12" of Saint Saviour Square in subsequent years and I prefer it in it's extended form.

Animalistic is the strangest song on the selection, tucked away on the other side of the Black Man Ray single but included on the bonus B-side CD with the aforementioned greatest hits compilation. For a start, it's a very long version, over eleven minutes in length. It starts off innocently enough, a pleasingly if inoffensive groove with strolling bass, twinkly keys and Gary's deft lyrics. 

 

The song starts to fade out around the 3:30 mark, and that's went it all goes a bit weird, cutting to plucked string effects, with animal noises, and conversational voices coming in and out of focus. As the mix title suggests, the latter sounds exactly like a field recording from a day at the zoo. This goes on for a few minutes, until a male voice comes back in (Eddie? Gary?), commenting that "his eyes fucking bug me" before the main song drops back in for a reprise. Weird and wonderful.

China Crisis are still going strong, touring regularly and thanks to Last Night From Glasgow, back with new (kind of) album. China Greatness came out in May and features re-recorded and reworked versions of songs from their first four albums. I received a copy of the single vinyl, 11-track version as part of my LNFG membership package and I'm really enjoying it. Copies are still available on red or yellow vinyl or deluxe CD with a bonus disc of 8 additional versions. 

Today's post is dedicated to Martin, JC and fellow gig-goer (and occasional guest writer) Mike, who might enjoy this slice of extended Eighties nostalgia!

 

1) Some People I Know To Lead Fantastic Lives (Extended Mix By Steve Power) (1983)

2) King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up) (Extended Version By Walter Becker) (1985)

3) Hanna Hanna (Extended Mix By Mike Howlett) (1984)

4) Cucumber Garden (Extended 12" Version By Jeremy Lewis) (1982)

5) No More Blue Horizons (Fool, Fool, Fool) (12" Version By Peter Walsh) (1982)

6) Black Man Ray (Spiral Tribe Extended) (1995)

7) African And White (Remixed And Extended Version By Jeremy Lewis) (1982)

8) This Occupation (Extended Mix By Steve Power) (1983)

9) Saint Saviour Square (12" Mix By Mike Thorne) (1989)

10) Tragedy & Mystery (12" Version By Mike Howlett) (1983)

11) Animalistic (A Day At The Zoo Mix By China Crisis & Pete Coleman) (1985)

 

1982: African And White EP: 7

1982: No More Blue Horizons (Fool Fool Fool) EP: 5

1982: Scream Down At Me EP: 4 

1983: Tragedy & Mystery EP: 10

1983: Wishing Thinking EP: 1, 8

1984: Hanna Hanna EP: 3 

1985: Black Man Ray EP: 11

1985: King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up) EP: 2 

1989: Saint Saviour Square EP: 9

1995: Spiral Tribe EP (bootleg): 6

Exercise Your Every Right (1:09:20) (KF) (Mega)