CONCERT: China Crisis [UK]

Liverpool originals China Crisis have always made music that’s far easier to love than to define.Formore than four decades now Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon, collectively better known as China Crisis,have been writing and performing some of the mostdistinctive,catchy and sophisticated pop songsout there, from“Wishful Thinking”, “Black Man Ray”, and “King in a Catholic Style” to “Christian”,“Arizona Sky” and “Down Here on Earth”.The band originally emergedin 1981 from their nativeKirkbyas the songwriting duo of vocalist/keyboardistDaly and guitarist/vocalistLundon, who havebeen working together ever since. Citing influences as varied asBrian Eno,Davie Bowie, StevieWonder, Eric Satie andTalking Heads, it’s not surprising that their sound was quickly distinguishableamongst their peers, combiningsynthpop withreggae, country and other styles with their ownunique melodies and harmonies to create distinctivelysophisticated but catchypop in a style all itsown.Their 2024 release China Greatness(featuring elevated, cinematic new arrangements of thesongwriters’own favourite tracksfrom across their catalogue, and mixed bymultiple-Grammyawardwinner Mark Phythian)peaked in the…