China – S/T (Release Year – 1988)
For the first edition of the new review feature, Rare Rock Rewind, I want to introduce you to a band that hit the music scene in the late 80′s. There were a lot of great bands getting signed during this time, but quite a few never got the marketing push by their record labels, and went greatly unnoticed by the public.
China is perfect example of this!
China is a swiss rock/glam band that started back in 1987. This band features Math Shiverow on vocals, Freddy Laurence and Claudio Matteo on Guitars, John Dommen on Drums, and Marc Lynn on bass. This band was signed by Polygram and got a little help from Krokus members Marc Storace and Fernando von Arb. Krokus front man, Marc Storace sang back up on a few tracks and Krokus guitar player Fernando von Arb has the writing credits on the track, “Back to You“.
I was one of many people that never heard of this band back in the day (and I thought I knew them all). I recently heard a track off of this disc on an internet hard rock radio station that I frequently visit. My first reaction was, who in the hell was that?! I liked it enough to seek out a copy. My persistence paid off, and I was finally able to grab a copy of this one off of Ebay.
I am glad to say that this disc is full of killer 80′s big hair style rock. Some songs have a little more keyboards than I would prefer, but as a whole, this disc rocks!
Check out the video’s below for a couple of the bands songs Shout it Out and Rock City. The sound quality isn’t the greatest, but will give you a good taste of China’s style.
Rock City
Shout it Out
This disc is full of good songs and no filler. All throughout this disc you can hear hard guitar licks mixed with cool keyboard melodies and the great vocals of Math Shiverow. It is harder than typical AOR music and maybe a bit more melodic than some 80′s hard rock groups. I prefer the harder songs on this disc. The stand outs are Shout it Out,Back to You, Rock City, Living on the Stage, and I Need Your Love.
If you can find this disc, I highly recommend picking this one up. Fans of 80′s style hard rock will love this disc!
It has been out of print for a while, so happy hunting!!
China is participating in Switzerland’s SPIRIT OF ROCK Festival in June, so maybe there is hope for new tunes by these guys in the future.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
- Intro
- Shout It Out
- Back to You
- The Fight is On
- Wild Jealousy
- Rock City
- Hot Lovin’ Night
- Living on the Stage
- I Need Your Love
- One Shot to the Heart
- Staying Alive
- Don’t Look Back* (Bonus Track)
hi my names keiron, i had this album many years ago but sadly had it stolen from my car and could not remember what it was called and ive tried to locate it , is it possible to send me a link so i could download the album again i realy did like shout it out , yours keiron
You can purchase the CD from China’s website. http://www.chinamusic.ch/china.html
Bloody Great Hard Rock Band … Except “Wild Jealousy” is there another official clip off that album ???
This band made some realy good albums. Nice you remember them and just a great review you did. I love this album and also their second SIGN IN THE SKY and LIVE from 1991. I also have GO ALL THE WAY but its not so good anymore. CHINA together with PAGANINI, KROKUS, KILLER, and SATROX were one of the best bands from Switzerland.