Crime & The City Solution continue reissues series on Mute

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(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

Bernard - Side-Line Staff Chief editor

Bernard Van Isacker is the Chief Editor of Side-Line Magazine. With a career spanning more than two decades, Van Isacker has established himself as a respected figure in the darkwave scene.

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