Huang Chung - s/t

Name: Huang Chung
Album: s/t
Year: 1982
Style: New Wave, new romantic
Similar Bands: Thomas Dolby, Psychedelic Furs, Ultravox, Police
"One-Word" Review: Synthy Smooth Soundscapes
Based Out Of: London
Label: Artista,

Cover, Record

 Record, Back

Huang Chung (1982)

1. Hold Back The Tears 4:05
2. I Never Want to Love You In a Half-Hearted Way 3:12
3. Ti Na Na 4:24 (single)
4. Straight From My Heart 2:45
5. Dancing 4:35 /
6. China 3:24
7. Rising in the East 5:25
8. Chinese Girls 2:48
9. Why Do You Laugh 4:00
10. I Can't Sleep 3:15

Album Rating (1-10): 7.0

Members & Other Bands:

• Jack Hues (Jeremy Ryder) - Guitar, Lead Vox, Piano (Scabb Harry, Intellektuals, 57 Men, Blanket of Security, Martin Page, Strictly Inc, Eg, Tony Banks, Led Bib, Bose, Definition Of Sound, Gene, Arkarna, Fey, Edurne, The-Quartet, )
• Nick De Spig (Feldman) - Bass, Percussion, Vox (Pig Williams, Intellektuals, 57 Men, Blanket of Security, Promised Land, Suggs, Tom Robinson, )
• Hogg (David Burnand) - Sax, Percussion, Vox (Blanket of Security)
• Darwin (Darren Costin) - Drums, Percussion, Vox (57 Men, Blanket of Security, Heroes)
• Rhett Davies - Producer (Roxy Music)
• Roger Bechirian - Remixing & Producer (Undertones)
• Fin Costello - Photos
• Steve Joule -Design
• Alex Feldman - Logo Design
• Ged Doherty - Mgmt
• Andy Hilton - Mgmt
• Nigel Mills - Engineer
• Stuart Henderson - Engineer
• Dave Bellotti - Engineer

Unknown-ness: Never heard of this band, but with an Asian name, but non-Asian band members (looking at the back pics), I'm not sure how to react to the album, although four of the ten tracks also have a Chinese theme, so will this be Chinese appropriated new wave? Not sure!

Album Review: So this band went on to a name change into Wang Chung once they became the second band from the UK to be signed to Geffen (their next album. Asia was the first UK band signed), because the label saw their name get mis-pronounced as Hung Chung. "Wang" was more phonetically accurate. The name means Yellow Bell, and is the first note in the Chinese classical scale. The songs are cold, smooth soundscapes full of synth and bouncy beats, with only a touch of Asian assimilation. The vocals remind me a lot of Thomas Dolby: cold and calculated, and emotive when they need to be.

Stand Out Track: Chinese Girls

Links:
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