Crime & The City Solution continue reissues series on Mute
Crime & The City Solution continue reissues series on Mute
(Photo by Christiania Krueger) Crime & The City Solution continue their reissues series on Mute with their 1985 mini-LP, “Just South of Heaven”, and their debut full-length album, “Room of Lights” (1986). Both reissues will be out on June 7. The band recently released their sixth studio album, “The killer”.
The band will perform two very special shows next week in Berlin with the three-piece acoustic line up of Bronwyn Adams (violin and vocals), Simon Bonney (vocals) and Joshua Murphy (acoustic guitar and vocals). Crime & The City Solution will perform acoustic shows at Eschschloraque Rümschrümp in Berlin on the 17 & 18 April before a tour across the island of Ireland in May.
“Just South of Heaven” (available in limited edition blue vinyl) features Crime’s London line up of Simon Bonney, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard, Harry Howard and Epic Soundtracks. The material was recorded between the legendary Hansa Tonstudios in Berlin and London’s Strongrooms with producer Flood (Frank Tovey, Depeche Mode, Erasure).
1986’s full length debut album, “Room of Lights” (available in limited edition yellow vinyl), would be the final recording by the London line up. The album includes one of their most beloved songs, “Six Bells Chime”, and this lineup reached its zenith with a historic swansong performance of the track in Wim Wenders’ 1987 cinematic masterpiece “Wings of Desire”.
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 & The City Solution with their friend Rowland S Howard, with his brother Harry Howard on bass and Epic Soundtracks on drums. The London incarnation – encapsulated by these two reissues – disbanded soon after their performance in “Wings of Desire”.
The first Berlin incarnation which followed is represented by three albums recently reissued on Mute – “Shine” (1988), “The Bride Ship” (1989) and “Paradise Discotheque” (1990), and the live album, “The Adversary”. Another 20 years would pass before the band, then based in Detroit, would return with their fifth studio album, “American Twilight”.
Watch the band perform a brand new, exclusive session version of “Witness” from the album for Le Cargo.
Crime & The City Solution (Acoustic)
- 17 April – Berlin, Eschschloraque Rümschrümp
- 18 April – Berlin, Eschschloraque Rümschrümp
- 10 May – Inis Oírr, Áras Éanna Arts Centre
- 11 May – West Cork, Levis Corner House
- 14 May – Belfast, Accidental Theatre
- 15 May – Doolin, The Attic
- 16 May – Borrisokane, The Barn
- 17 May – Galway, Taibdhearc
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
