James Freud - China Crimes (1980)

James Randall Freud was born as Colin Joseph McGlinchey on 29 June 1959 in Melbourne, Australia, and his interest in music began before he even started school. This passion for music continued through to his teens, but despite his musical talent, his mother, Hannah, was against the idea. He later changed his name to James Randall Freud, and at the age of 17 he left home to pursue his career, and didn't contact her for over two years. Freud formed his first band, Sabre, at the age of 16, with high school friend and guitarist Sean Kelly and drummer Ian McFarlane, but after hearing the Sex Pistols' 'God Save The Queen' in 1977, Freud formed The Spred with Kelly, and three other members, followed by the glam-punk Teenage Radio Stars in late 1977. By early 1979, with ex-members of Colt, he formed James Freud & the Radio Stars with Murray Doherty on bass guitar, Roger Mason on keyboards, Glenn McGrath on drums and Bryan Thomas on guitar, and later Tony Harvey playing guitar and Mick Prague on bass. This line up plus various guest artists recorded the album 'Breaking Silence' between July and November 1979, with Tony Lugton and Peter Cook contributing before the completion and release in 1980. Many line-up changes later, they signed with Mushroom Records and their debut single, 'Modern Girl', was released in May 1980, peaking at No. 12 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. They supported Gary Numan on his Australian tour, and he was so impressed by 'Breaking Silence' that he offered to produce an album for Freud in the UK. Because there was already a British band known as the Radio Stars, a name change occurred for Freud's backing band, who became known as James Freud & Berlin. In October, they released 'Enemy Lines' from 'Breaking Silence' as a single, followed by 'Automatic Crazy', produced by Numan, in March 1981. The promised album was recorded in London, and produced by Numan, but neither Freud nor Numan were happy with the final result, and so it was put on hold. A month later Freud disbanded the group, and the album was permanently shelved. In 1982, he joined Models as bass guitarist after the departure of Mark Ferrie, reuniting with old collaborator Kelly, remaining with the band until they split in 1988, and they are now the band with whom he is most associated. It's still nice to hear the music that he was making with Numan in 1980, before he progressed to the alt-rock of the Models, and so here is the unreleased 'China Crimes' album, with a subtly coloured and updated cover.   

Track listing

01 China Crimes
02 Imagination
03 Pretenses
04 Receiving Me
05 Shy Boys
06 Central
07 Over My Head
08 Rescue
09 Lies
10 Automatic Crazy