ORDER LIMITED EDITION COLOURED VINYL REISSUES HERE
SHINE / LIMITED EDITION GOLD VINYL 1000 available worldwide
A band out of time, Crime & the City Solution were perennial outsiders who could not rest in their native Australia, and instead found inspiration in the colder climates of London and Berlin. Their mesmeric, expressive music evolved through many incarnations and a great deal of adversity. The first incarnation of the band appeared in 1977/78, in the midst of Australia’s nascent punk scene and re-grouped in London in 1984 with Simon Bonney being joined by former Birthday Party stalwarts Mick Harvey and Rowland S.Howard, Rowland’s bassist brother Harry and one time Swell Maps drummer Epic Soundtracks. With the departure of Soundtracks and the Howard brothers for the formation of These Immortal Souls, Bonney, Harvey and Adams settled in Berlin. Here they called upon Thomas Stern, Bronwyn Adams, DAF’s Chrislo Haas and Einstürzende Neubauten’s guitarist Alexander Hacke to create Shine. The album was recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in the second half of 1987 and later released in 1988. Shine was more finely tuned, optimistic and delicately abrasive, with the reconstructed line-up admirably marrying Hacke’s post-punk-into-blues guitar with Adam's feathered violin and Bonney’s gruff vocals.
SIDE A All Must Be Love Fray So Low Angel On Every Train (Grain Will Bear Grain) SIDE B Hunter Steal To The Sea Home Is Far from Here
THE BRIDE SHIP / LIMITED EDITION WHITE VINYL 1000 available worldwide
The later line-up of singer Simon Bonney, Einstürzende Neubauten’s guitarist Alexander Hacke, DAF’s synth player Chrislo Haas, jazz bassist Thomas Stern, violinist Bronwyn Adams and Bad Seed’s Mick Harvey on drums recorded 3 studio albums in quick succession. Originally released in 1989, The Bride Ship was a creative turn for Crime. Using the sea as the ultimate metaphor for freedom, the album highlighted Bonney’s skill as a lyricist and sense of melody. The crashing guitars and drums propelled a sprawling narrative which concerned itself increasingly with the universal as opposed to the personal.
SIDE A The Shadow Of No Man The Greater Head Stone The Dangling Man SIDE B Keepsake The Bride Ship Free World New World
PARADISE DISCOTHEQUE / LIMITED EDITION TRANSPARENT ORANGE VINYL 1000 available worldwide
Crime’s freedom of expression and adventurousness reached an apex on 1990’s Paradise Discotheque and its epic Last Dictator saga, which spanned four songs laid out like chapters at the album’s conclusion. The album and the variety of styles used on it, from the metallic sounds of ‘I Have The Gun’ to the magic realism of ‘The Last Dictator’ quartet, were influenced by Bonney and Adams' move to Vienna.
SIDE A I Have The Gun The Sly Persuaders The Dolphins And The Sharks The Sun Before The Darkness SIDE B Motherless Child The Last Dictator 1 The Last Dictator 2 The Last Dictator 3 The Last Dictator 4
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