It is no big secret I am a huge China Crisis fan, always was, always will be. There are already two articles on this blog dedicated to the wonderful band that had a quite a few chart tunes in the 80’s. In my article, China Crisis – Joy & Spark Reignited, I told you about how I am a person who thinks the past is the past when it comes to music. I don’t like reunions much, even if they are bands I really loved at the time. I just don’t see the point in doing it all over again: it will never be the same anyway. I made an exception for China Crisis because they were always in a league of their own to me. Especially musically. But what struck me the most, and this is the biggest part of the attraction, was that Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon are not stuck in the past at all. They are not merely pumping out their classics on reunion shows, but are still actively producing new material and are surrounded by highly skilled youngsters on stage who provide fresh angles to their signature sound. Eddie has a daytime job teaching talented younger kids at LIPA and is therefore submerged in current music culture and Gary has never stopped listening to new music and is very aware of what’s going on in today’s alternative music. I know that he was a bit frustrated of China Crisis being pinned down as a pseudo-jazz combo due to their collaboration with Walter Becker etc. and always wanted to get back to the electro-pop roots of their first two albums. Well, here is his chance to do exactly that: he is releasing a new solo album entitled “Gone From Here” on 31 May 2019, preceded by a splendid track/video to warm us up (released on April 25th) called “I Work Alone”. Gary says: “I think it’s very early Kraftwerk / early 80’s indie electronic“. I agree (especially that bit at 2:16), but I also revisit traces of “Working with Fire and Steel“, and lovely layered key notes that give it dimension and depth; I hear empty spaces; and above all… a narrator who is grateful for not having had to be a slave to the system for most his life. Someone who was blessed to have the luxury to dance to the beat of their own drum, observe, create and be free like its soaring chorus, “like birds all words are free… free… free“…
The twelve track album “Gone From Here“, will be available to purchase on Music Glue and is now available to pre-order here: https://www.musicglue.com/gary-daly &
I Work Alone:
i work
from home
i work
alone
all day
i stich
and sew
alone
and i know
melodies are fishes in the sea
and i know
like birds
all words
are free
and i know why the wind blows
and rattles my windows
’cause i observe
more than words
and i know
like birds
all words
are free
f r e e
f r e e
and i know why the lark sings
and all the joy that it brings
’till summers end
the lark ascends
and i know
like birds
all words
are free
f r e e
f r e e
Gary Daly: Casiotone 101 / Casio VL- TONE / Upright Piano / Vocals
Sian Monaghan: Drums
Mark Phythian: Electronic percussion / Electric Piano / Roland Jupitor 8 synth bass
Molly Daly:Backing Vocals
Engineered by Danny Woodward / Carl Brown
Produced by Carl Brown
Mixed By Mark Phythian
