Crime & The City Solution: Discography (STUDIO ALBUMS)

 

Crime & the City Solution are an Australian rock band formed in late 1977 by singer-songwriter and mainstay Simon Bonney. They disbanded in 1979 leaving only bootleg recordings and demos. In

late 1983, Bonney travelled to London and in 1985 he formed a new version of the group in the U.K. which included members of the recently disbanded The Birthday Party; later they transferred to Berlin, where they issued four albums – Room of Lights (1986), Shine (1988), The Bride Ship (1989) and Paradise Discotheque (1990) – before disbanding again in 1991. In 2012 Bonney reformed the band in Detroit with two veterans of its Berlin era and a handful of new members.
                                           

[Despite roots dating back as far as 1978, Crime & the City Solution did not truly emerge until 1984, coming to life in the wake of the dissolution of the seminal Birthday Party. The group was led by

evocative singer/songwriter Simon Bonney, a Melbourne, Australia native who led a series of bands under the verbose Crime name throughout the late '70s and early '80s; a longtime friend of the Birthday Party, he contacted former members Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard after the group's breakup, and following the addition of Howard's brother, bassist Harry Howard, the most successful and famed lineup of Crime & the City Solution was born.
                                

In 1985, the quartet debuted with The Dangling Man, a self-produced EP quickly establishing the

band's moody, atmospheric, blues-based aesthetic. Former Swell Maps drummer Epic Soundtracks joined Crime after the EP's release, freeing Harvey to alternate among a variety of instruments for the haunting follow-up, Just South of Heaven. Their full-length bow, Room of Lights, appeared in 1986 and featured the remarkable "Six Bells Chime," which so impressed the acclaimed filmmaker Wim Wenders that he invited the band to perform the song live in his 1988 masterpiece Wings of Desire.
                                

By the time the film appeared, however, the incarnation of Crime & the City Solution presented

onscreen was no more; after Room of Lights, the Howard brothers and Soundtracks exited to form These Immortal Souls, leaving Bonney, Harvey, and violinist Bronwyn Adams (also Bonney's wife and songwriting partner) to relocate to Berlin, where they recruited a number of local musicians, including Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Alexander Hacke, to cut 1988's ornate, intoxicating Shine. Even more baroque was the follow-up, 1989's The Bride Ship.
                                  

In 1990, Crime returned to the studio one final time to record Paradise Discotheque, a record built

around Bonney's ambitious four-part suite "The Last Dictator," a song cycle inspired by the downfall of Romanian warlord Nicolae Ceaucescu. After contributing "The Adversary" to the soundtrack of Wenders' Until the End of the World, Crime & the City Solution disbanded; while Harvey continued to record and perform with former Birthday Party mate Nick Cave in the Bad Seeds, Bonney began work on his 1992 solo debut Forever and followed it with Everyman in 1995.
                                   

Bonney, Adams, and Hacke re-formed the band in 2011 for the purpose of recording and touring. They enlisted David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower, Woven Hand), Jim White (Dirty Three), Troy

Gregory (Dirtbombs, Swans, Spiritualized), and Matt Smith (Outrageous Cherry, Andre Williams) to record and tour. In anticipation of a forthcoming album, Mute Records released the compilation A History of Crime: Berlin 1987-1991: An Introduction to Crime & the City Solution in the fall of 2012. In March of 2013, American Twilight was released.
By Jason Ankeny]

DISCOGRAPHY (STUDIO ALBUMS)

01. Room of Lights (1986)
02. Shine (1988)
03. The Bride Ship (1989)
04. Paradise Discotheque (1990)
05. American Twilight (2013)

ROOM OF LIGHTS 1986

                                        

Room of Lights is the debut studio album by Crime & the City Solution, released on October 27, 1986

through Mute Records. The album received positive reviews upon release, much like the EPs that preceded it. Byron Coley wrote that the album "touches a dim, forgotten nerve-root lurking deep in the bowel of a mud-wad giant. The pace and instrumentation both seem poured from a jug of arsenic-laced dog-honey and Simon's voice and lyrics strip nude a whole new patch of soul-turf [...] I've heard that there're people who don't like this, but I don't believe it. I can believe people not liking the Doors, but [...]" David Sheridan found the album to feature "a noticeably heavier and thicker sound. With the predominance of slow tempos, Bonney's somewhat unattractive voice and the overly serious lyrics, supplied mostly by violinist Bronwyn Adams, the disc is laboriously endurance-defying. The band seems to be somewhat stunted developmentally; these eight songs are merely variations on previously introduced themes."
                  

Crime & The City Solution – Room Of Lights
Label: Mute – 32XB-257
Format:    CD, Album
Country: Japan
Released: May 25, 1988
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Post-Punk, Avantgarde

TRACKS

                         

01. Right Man, Wrong Man
02. No Money, No Honey
03. Hey Sinkiller
04. Six Bells Chime
05. Adventure
06. Untouchable
07. The Brother Song
08. Her Room Of Lights (For Lisa)
09. Rose Blue
10. The Coal Train
11. Stolen & Stealing
12. Five Stone Walls
13. Trouble Come This Morning
14. The Wailing Wall
15. It Takes Two To Burn
16. The Kentucky Click

MEMBERS

Simon Bonney – vocals
Epic Soundtracks – drums, piano on "No Money, No Honey" and "Hey Sinkiller"
Mick Harvey – piano, guitar, organ on "Right Man, Wrong Man", Tom-toms on "Her Room of Lights"
Harry Howard – bass guitar
Rowland S. Howard – guitar, organ on "Hey Sinkiller" and "Adventure", piano on "Untouchable"

ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL

Bronwyn Adams – illustrations, violin on "The Brother Song"

MP3 @ 320 Size: 171 MB
FLAC  Size: 423 MB

THE BRIDE SHIP 1989

                          

The Bride Ship is the third studio album by Crime & the City Solution, released on July 11, 1989 through Mute Records.

Starting with "The Shadow of No Man," the band's zoned atmospherics accentuated by both a nicely grimy keyboard drone and brisk pace, Crime & the City Solution continue carving its own strange path. The same lineup from Shine reappears here -- keyboardist Chris Haas appears only as an auxiliary member, but still adds to the music here and there, while Mick Harvey doubtless contributes most of the organ work. Simon Bonney continues to evolve into more of his own man -- if anything, he's embracing country and western more explicitly in his singing style, where Nick Cave would prefer blues and Vegas-style show tunes. He takes over the lion's share of the lyrics this time as well, again working with the mix of sometimes cryptic, sometimes concrete imagery of empty landscapes, forlorn towns, ill-lit city streets and the people who live there. In terms of performance, the lineup carries out its shadowy brief well once again -- Alexander Hacke sounds a little more integrated into the mix than before, as well as a touch more prominent, while Harvey's peerless drumming remains a delight. Bronwyn Adams, meanwhile, still performs her violin with skill and haunting style.
                                

A number of interesting approaches surface -- consider the deeply funky guitar/keyboard intro to "Stone," which gives the track a major boost of power as well as nicely sitting apart from the band's usual approach. The second half of the album consists of a suite of songs called "The Bride Ship," starting with the track of that name and continuing through "Free World" and "New World." Bonney sometimes sounds far more like Cave than ever, but otherwise, it's a dramatic convolution of everything from Moby Dick to modern apocalypse, with appropriately doom-laden backing. The CD version includes B-side -- "Three/Four," an OK enough track, and an alternate take on "The Bride Ship."
By Ned Raggett
                         

Crime + The City Solution – The Bride Ship
Label: Mute – CD STUMM 65, Mute – 5016025610655
Format:    CD, Album, Repress
Country: UK
Released: Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Post-Punk, Avantgarde

TRACKS

                                

01. The Shadow Of No Man    5:27
02. The Greater Head    4:22
03. Stone    4:12
04. The Dangling Man    4:30
05. Keepsake    4:41

The Bride Ship   

06. The Bride Ship    6:23
07. Free World    3:12
08. New World    3:38

The Single "B" Side
    
09. Three/Four    3:16
10. The Bride Ship    6:24

MEMBERS

Bronwyn Adams – violin
Simon Bonney – vocals
Chrislo Haas – guitar, synthesizer
Alexander Hacke – guitar
Mick Harvey – drums, piano
Thomas Stern – bass guitar

ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL

Ralph Droge – trombone

MP3 @ 320 Size: 108 MB
Flac  Size: 274 MB

PARADISE DISCOTHEQUE 1990

                                     

                                           
Paradise Discotheque is the fourth studio album by Crime & the City Solution, released on September 3, 1990 through Mute Records.

What turned out to be Crime & the City Solution's final album was, in the end, its most unique and striking record, with all the promise and fire of its past at last giving a wholly individual expression, foreshadowing Simon Bonney's equally impressive solo career. Lead single and opening track "I Have the Gun" shows the band's new power in particular, shifting between a countryesque blend of jump blues and sorrowful twang, and a snarling, forceful electric guitar build. Alexander Hacke's work on the latter part is especially impressive, while Mick Harvey shifts between the two gears with aplomb. Bonney, meanwhile, has shaped his now slightly dryer but no less passionate vocals into a unique instrument, easily able to move from the smoky late-night jazz moods of "The Sly Persuaders," to the stunning reworking of the old traditional "Motherless Child."
                                 

The band's collective grasp of mood and style make Paradise both the most varied and most attractive Crime album of the lot -- everything's a little more on edge, tensions are higher in performance and delivery, and the mood is not simply building doom, but threatening plenty along the way. "The Dolphins and the Sharks" is especially notable, with a quick but subtle bass pulse from Thomas Stern relentlessly driving the increasingly edgy performance, as Hacke's guitar, and Bronwyn Adams' violin contribute ever more layers of shade. The combination of looped African percussion and what sounds like muffled orchestration on "The Sun Before the Darkness" is just as striking, especially in concert with Bonney's delivery. The last half of the album is a fitting farewell bow for the band -- like the concluding part of The Bride Ship, it's an extended multi-song piece, called "The Last Dictator." With Bonney's portrayal of the titular character -- a bizarre but fascinating musical/political figure -- at the center, it's a tour de force for both band and singer.
By Ned Raggett
                                            

Crime And The City Solution – Paradise Discotheque
Label: Mute – CD STUMM 78
Format:    CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: Sep 1990
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Avantgarde, Post-Punk

TRACKS

                                          

                             
01. I Have The Gun   3:34
02. The Sly Persuaders    4:10
03. The Dolphins And The Sharks    4:43
04. The Sun Before The Darkness    5:15
05. Motherless Child    3:49
06. The Last Dictator I    4:40
07. The Last Dictator II    5:01
08. The Last Dictator III    4:33
09. The Last Dictator IV    2:48

MEMBERS

Bronwyn Adams – violin
Simon Bonney – vocals
Chrislo Haas – guitar, synthesizer, production
Alexander Hacke – guitar, illustrations
Mick Harvey – drums, piano
Thomas Stern – bass guitar

MP3 @ 320 Size: 92 MB
FLAC  Size: 219 MB

AMERCAN TWILIGHT 2013

                  

American Twilight is the fifth studio album by Crime & the City Solution, released on March 26, 2013

through Mute Records. The album was recorded after a 23-year hiatus that found the band relocating from Berlin to Detroit. Detroit was the perfect location for Crime & the City Solution to record their first album in 22 years. They couldn't have been framed by a better metaphor than setting up in a city consumed with the fight -- often against itself -- for survival. Founder, lead vocalist, and lyricist Simon Bonney is joined by longtime collaborators violinist Bronwyn Adams and guitarist Alexander Hacke. 

         

They are accompanied by drummer Jim White (Dirty Three), David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower, Woven Hand), visual artist Danielle DePicciotto, and Detroit natives Matthew Smith (Outrageous Cherry) on keyboards, and Troy Gregory (Witches, Dirtbombs) on bass. Everybody sings. Co-produced with the Motor City's Dave Feeny, American Twilight retains C&CS's trademark senses of cinematic drama and dynamics, but the sound is meatier, denser, and grimier, and Adams' violin has a much more prominent role than it has in the past (a real plus).
By Thom Jurek
                                 

Crime & The City Solution – American Twilight
Label: Mute – CDSTUMM339, Mute – 5099962448222
Format:    CD, Album
Country:Europe
Released: Mar 22, 2013
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Post-Punk, Avantgarde

TRACKS

               

01. Goddess    3:50
02. My Love Takes Me There    4:10
03. Riven Man    4:33
04. Domina    6:48
05. The Colonel (Doesn't Call Anymore)    6:31
06. Beyond Good And Evil    4:09
07. American Twilight    5:19
08. Streets Of West Memphis    5:49

MEMBERS

Vocals – Simon Bonney
Violin, Backing Vocals – Bronwyn Adams
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Matthew Smith
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Alexander Hacke, David Eugene Edwards
Drums – Jim White
Bass, Backing Vocals, Cello – Troy Gregory
Pedal Steel Guitar [Pedal Steel] – David Feeny (tracks: 6, 8)
Guest, Vocals – Churibina

MP3 @ 320 Size: 100 MB
FLAC  Size: 255 MB

You Can find Crime & The City Solution: "Shine" 1988 HERE