China Crisis - Diary Of A Hollow Horse (2cd)

[roc51]

FINALLY!! It seems the China Crisis remasters are finally seeing the light of day.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Hollow-Ex ... l_2#disc_2

From Amazon UK:

Restored into the running order are the original and previously unreleased Walter Becker (Steely Dan) produced versions of Red Letter Day , St. Saviour Square and All My Prayers , so that this re- issue provides fans with the experience of hearing for the very first time, the whole album as the band intended! Extensive bonus tracks include the subsequently re-recorded Mike Thorne versions tracks of these commissioned by Virgin plus the unreleased 12 inch Extended Version of All My Prayers and an unreleased alternate mix of Red Letter Day called the Bazilington DJ Vibe Mix. Issued in full consultation with Gary Daly of China Crisis, this re-issue contains all the original band produced demos, live studio sessions and extensive illustrated sleeve notes with introductions by Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon.

Disc: 1

1. St.Saviour Square (Original Walter Becker Production)
2. Stranger By Nature
3. Sweet Charity In Adoration
4. Day After Day
5. Diary Of A Hollow Horse
6. Red Letter Day (Original Walter Becker Production)
7. In Northern Skies
8. Singing The Praises Of Finer Things
9. All My Prayers (Original Walter Becker Production
10. Age Old Need
11. Back Home
12. St.Saviour Square (Extended 12 inch Mike Thorne Mix)
13. Diary Of A Hollow Horse (Acoustic Version)
14. All My Prayers (Extended 12 Mike Thorne Mix)
15. Red Letter Day (Bazilington Dj Vibe Mix)

Disc: 2

1. St.Saviour Square (Mike Thorne Re-Recorded Version)
2. Red Letter Day (Mike Thorne Re- Recorded Version)
3. All My Prayers (Mike Thorne Re- Recorded Version)
4. St.Saviour Square (Band Demo)
5. Stranger By Nature (Band Demo)
6. In Northern Skies (Band Demo)
7. Sweet Charity And Adoration (Band Demo)
8. Diary Of A Hollow Horse (Band Demo)
9. Singing The Praises Of Finer Things (Band Demo)
10. All My Prayers (Band Demo)
11. Red Letter Day (Band Demo)
12. Age Old Need (Band Demo)
13. St.Saviour Square (Live Session)
14. All My Prayers (Live Session)

[moni]

If they are planning to do their whole Virgin back catalogue it's a bit strange that they are starting in reverse order. Anyway i will be getting this of course as soon as amazon sort out their silly pricing.

[magnum]

An impressive selection of unreleased material,the album wasnt their finest work IMHO......but it certainly raises the hope that DSAPR and WWFAS and FTI well get the deluxe 2cd treatment,all of which are great albums.

http://magnum71mixes.blogspot.co.uk/
http://soundcloud.com/magnum71

http://soundcloud.com/magnum1971

http://soundcloud.com/71magnum

"Gregg is sat right down waiting for the gift of SOUND and vision - coz he can't tell the difference between different mixes"

[omar]

All i can say is "Finally !!!" It's about fucking time.

[blaaah]

Strange one to start on!

[roc51]

I believe the band might feel this is their finest hour. I remember buying this on release, the CD version had the extra track, and being really excited that a new China Crisis long-player was out.

The thrill of buying new releases back in those pre-internet days was a joy, a really exciting thing. Couldn't wait to get home to listen for the first time, usually 3-4 times in one sitting. The pre-internet days were fantastic times of discovery...

But back to China Crisis...I remember being excited that Walter Becker was back on board (I was and still am a big Steely Dan fan) and my first impression was that of amazement - this was a very mature, adult album, very well produced. It doesn't reach the highs of their earlier work but it is still a fantastic work of art and I am looking forward to hearing the unreleased Becker produced tracks.

Well done to the band for doing a deluxe edition the way it should be done.

[omar]

I agree. DOAH was their best and most accomplished album overall .

[Sean]

[quote][i]Originally posted by moni[/i]
<br>If they are planning to do their whole Virgin back catalogue it's a bit strange that they are starting in reverse order. Anyway i will be getting this of course as soon as amazon sort out their silly pricing.
[/quote]

I thought the same thing. The one album I really want for a 2cd deluxe edition would be "Working With Fire And Steel (Possible Pop Songs Volume Two)". Most of my favorite songs from the band are off this album.ý

[Sean]

I'd also like to say Virgin is weird!!!

[discoginfo]

I don't know about the commercial success & sales for their albums, but typically in a re-issue situation a careful label would "test the market" by starting with the album that sold the most at the time, and then decide whether to re-issue more albums. /JW

http://www.discog.info/china-crisis.html
www.discog.info (my music site)
www.howtodealwithdifficultcoworkers.com (my new book)
www.jonaswarstad.com (my author site)

[roc51]

Remember, the band has entire contol of this reissue so this seems to be the band's call and not the label...

[moni]

This was the hardest album of theirs i found at the time to get to grips with mainly because of Gary Daly's singing style on it which i found quite hard to decipher what he was singing about but i love it now. All their albums were very good but their masterpiece in my opinion was Flaunt The Imperfection. This is a lot cheaper at sainsburys at the moment http://tinyurl.com/dyhqucc

[thunderbird2]

I think this is a very odd choice for the first to get the deluxe treatment , its a worry that if this doesnt sell well they will not do the others

Any of the first four would have been much better

So hears waiting for Working with Fire and Steel and Flaunt the imperfection , I will be really annoyed if the second does not have the brilliant track never too late on it

[chimera]

I would love to see 2CD remasters of the first 3 albums too.

Word of caution that this remaster appears to be on Cherry Red.

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4157

I'm hoping that Cherry Red don't just re-release this album and don't or can't obtain the rights for the others.

[roc51]

[quote][i]Originally posted by chimera[/i]
<br>I would love to see 2CD remasters of the first 3 albums too.

Word of caution that this remaster appears to be on Cherry Red.

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4157

I'm hoping that Cherry Red don't just re-release this album and don't or can't obtain the rights for the others.


[/quote]

Cherry Red reissues can be so random...I really hope Virgin licensed their entire back catalogue to them and we will see the others. I don't think the remastering of some of their recent reissues has been that bad so here's hoping they do a good job of it...I'll be buying anyway.