Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain

Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain
Studio album by China Crisis
Released	12 November 1982
Recorded	Amazon Studios, Liverpool, Strawberry South, Stockport and Red Bus studios, London, 1980 - 1982
Genre	New wave
Length	39:30
Label	Virgin
Producer	Peter Walsh, Steve Levine, China Crisis, Gil Norton, Jeremy Lewis
China Crisis chronology
Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain (1982) Working with Fire and Steel – Possible Pop Songs Volume Two (1983)
Singles from Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain
"African and White" Released: 1981 "No More Blue Horizons (Fool, Fool, Fool)" Released: 1982 "Christian" Released: December 1982

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain is the debut album by English new wave group China Crisis released in 1982. It spent 17 weeks on the UK Albums Chart and peaked at number 21 in February 1983.^[2]

Track listing[]

All tracks written by Daly/Lundon/Reilly.

Side One - "Difficult Side"

1. "Seven Sports for All" – 3:18
2. "No More Blue Horizons (Fool, Fool, Fool)" – 3:48
3. "Feel to Be Driven Away" – 2:55
4. "Some People I Know to Lead Fantastic Lives" – 3:33
5. "Christian" – 5:37

Side Two - "Entertainment Side"

1. "African and White" – 3:46
2. "Are We a Worker" – 3:30
3. "Red Sails" – 4:43
4. "You Never See It" – 2:57
5. "Temptation's Big Blue Eyes" – 3:25
6. "Jean Walks in Fresh Fields" – 1:53

Personnel[]

China Crisis

• Gary Daly – vocals, synthesizer, bass on tracks 6, 10
• Eddie Lundon – guitar, vocals, synthesizer on tracks 1, 9 and percussion on tracks 2, 8
• Dave Reilly – drums, percussion + synthesizer on tracks 1, 9

Other personnel

• George McFarlane – bass on track 1
• Pete Walsh – synthesizer (solo) on track 2, electric piano (chord organ) on track 5
• Frank Walsh – trumpet on track 2
• Andy Pask – fretless bass on track 5
• Mike Timoney – synthesizer on track 7
• Jean – vocals on track 7, 10

Producers

• Steve Levine – Tracks 1, 3
• Peter Walsh – Tracks 2, 4, 5
• Jeremy Lewis – Track 6
• Gil Norton & China Crisis – Tracks 7-11^[3]
• Peter Saville Associates - cover design

Critical reception[]

In a retrospective AllMusic review Stephen Schnee wrote that the duo of Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon "made their fascinating debut, Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain, on a low budget, and their magic was already in place, especially on the Steely Dan-ish "No More Blue Horizons," the upbeat groove of "Some People I Know to Lead Fantastic Lives" and "You Never See It", the gorgeous "Christian," and their early hit "African and White." Their quirkiness doesn't quite translate on a few tracks ("Temptation's Big Blue Eyes" and "Are We a Worker"), but the charm of this album will win you over if you like smart, yet slightly eccentric, pop songs. It is plainly obvious that, no matter how uncommercial a particular song may be, the boys in China Crisis put their heart and soul into it, creating something uniquely their own, and building upon it."^[1]

In a Trouser Press review of the album Jim Green wrote: "The rhythms — R&B, funk, reggae, Afro-gypsy, bossa nova — are so gently, modestly, melodiously proffered that it goes down too smoothly. Then you notice that the dreamily enunciated sentiments interface the political and the personal, with hopeful dreams and admissions of self-doubt and inner struggle. The cohesive feel is maintained despite four different producers; China Crisis' sturdy intellectual backbone emerges often enough to avoid wimpiness."^[4]

References[]