Crime & the City Solution

First Vinyl Reissues In A Series — OUT NOW

CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION — SHINE, THE BRIDE SHIP & PARADISE DISCOTHEQUE 

FIRST VINYL REISSUES IN AN ONGOING SERIES – OUT NOW ON MUTE

Crime & the City Solution, who recently returned to the studio to record a cover of The Doors’ classic 1967 ode to alienation, ‘People Are Strange’, have today released the first in a series of long out of print catalogue albums, reissued on vinyl for the first time in decades: https://mute.ffm.to/catcs-ri 

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Shine (1988 / limited gold vinyl), The Bride Ship (1989 / limited white vinyl) and Paradise Discotheque (1990 / limited orange vinyl) are three albums that founder Simon Bonney considers the origin of his true voice and the definitive sound he sought for Crime & the City Solution.

Crime & the City Solution’s second album, Shine, heralds the arrival of the first Berlin incarnation, and sees Simon Bonney, Mick Harvey and Bronwyn Adams decamp from London to Berlin. With a more experimental sound, which drew less on Melbourne post punk scene roots and took a more explorative musical approach, this lineup featured Einstürzende Neubauten’s Alexander Hacke on guitar, ex-DAF/Liaisons Dangereuses electronic genius Chrislo Haas on vintage Korg MS20 semi modular synth, and free jazz bassist Thomas Stern. The three Berliners joined forces with Bonney, Harvey and Adams to create what AllMusic described as “another winner… rough around the edges and jagged”. 

The Bride Ship soon followed and saw the Berlin line up return to Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin, this time with Gareth Jones lending a hand with production, to show a band effortlessly charting their own course.

In 1990, following a move by Simon Bonney and Bronwyn Adams to Vienna, the now classic line up travelled to Conny Plank’s legendary studio to record Paradise Discotheque. With the momentum of the previous releases powering the band, their fourth studio release see the players in particularly adventurous form, crescendo-ing with the epic four-piece ‘Last Dictator’ saga closing the album.

Formed in Sydney by Simon Bonney at the age of 16, Crime & the City Solution’s early performances from 1977-1979 had a big impact on key figures of the early Melbourne art-punk/post punk scene. In 1984, Bad Seed Mick Harvey shipped Bonney to England to form the London based Crime with their friend the brilliant and ever influential ex-Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S Howard, with his brother Harry Howard on bass and Epic Soundtracks on drums. Two years on, having toured Europe, the UK and US and released several EPs and an album, this lineup reached its zenith at its finale in a historic swansong performance in Wim Wenders’ cinematic masterpiece ‘Wings of Desire’.

Following the Berlin incarnation, encapsulated in these three reissues and the live album, The Adversary, it would be 20 years before the band, then based in Detroit, would return with their fifth studio album, American Twilight: “as much an elegy to the American Dream that’s turned into a global nightmare as it is a damn fine rock & roll album” -The Quietus

Back now after a 10-year hiatus, Simon Bonney and Bronwyn Adams have been touring through Europe with a new Berlin based incarnation, further dates to be announced.

Listen / buy: https://mute.ffm.to/catcs-ri 

Listen to a Crime & the City Solution playlist

https://www.facebook.com/CrimeandtheCitySolution

https://www.instagram.com/crimethecitysolutionofficalwww.mute.com 

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