Christ – The Album is the fourth album by Crass, released in 1982. It was released as a boxed-set, double-vinyl LP package, including one disc of new studio material and another, entitled Well Forked.. But Not Dead, a live recording of the band's June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos and tape fragments. The box also included a book, A Series of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums (featuring Penny Rimbaud's essay "The Last of the Hippies", telling the story of the suspicious death of his friend Wally Hope),[1] and a large poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album was well received and the band considered it their best.[2]
| Christ - The Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Recorded | July 1981 – February 1982 | |||
| Studio | Southern Studios (Wood Green, London) | |||
| Genre | Anarcho punk, art punk, hardcore punk | |||
| Length | 95:07 47:44 (original studio disc) 47:23 (live disc) | |||
| Label | Crass | |||
| Producer | Crass | |||
| Crass chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative covers | ||||
 Cover of the remastered Crassical Collection re-release | ||||
In 2011, a two-disc remastered CD edition of the album was released as a part of the band's Crassical Collection reissue series. This edition featured extra content, with the studio album (and the bonus tracks) featured on the first disc and the live album featured on the second disc. On 2 October 2020, the Crassical Collection edition was reissued, with the bonus tracks added to the second disc.
Background and release
editUnlike previous Crass albums, Christ took almost a year to record, produce and mix, during which time the Falklands War had taken place.[3] This caused Crass to fundamentally question their approach to making records. As a group whose very reason for existing was to comment on political issues, they felt that they had been overtaken and made to appear redundant by real-world events.[2][4]
For subsequent releases, including the singles "How Does It Feel to Be the Mother of a Thousand Dead", "Sheep Farming in the Falklands" and the album Yes Sir, I Will, the band stripped their sound "back to basics", issuing the singles as "tactical responses" to political situations.[2]
Rereleases of the album bear the line "With love to Steve Herman who died on the 4th of February 1989" on the back cover. Herman was Crass' guitar player during their first few months.
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
| Ox-Fanzine | [7] |
| Select |   [8] |
Christ – The Album is considered by former members of Crass to be among their best recordings.[2] In a retrospective article written for the album, Harry Sword of The Quietus refers to it as "the most caustic realization of their vision" and called it "a seething howl that remains most intensely relevant to politics and vibrantly forward thinking in terms of music."[9] Trouser Press referred to it as "quintessential" for it "proves the band's courage and conviction."[10]
Reviewing the album in NME, Paul Du Noyer wrote: "There's always something exciting about such raw passion; anger which hits you so hard that every idea in your head gets shook up, violently."[2]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Have a Nice Day" | 2:44 |
| 2. | "Mother Love" | 2:52 |
| 3. | "Nineteen Eighty Bore" | 4:09 |
| 4. | "I Know There Is Love" | 2:47 |
| 5. | "Beg Your Pardon" | 3:07 |
| 6. | "Birth Control 'n' Rock 'n' Roll" | 2:59 |
| 7. | "Reality Whitewash" | 3:07 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 8. | "It's the Greatest Working Class Rip-Off" | 3:21 |
| 9. | "Deadhead" | 2:16 |
| 10. | "You Can Be Who?" | 3:01 |
| 11. | "Buy Now Pay As You Go" | 2:22 |
| 12. | "Rival Tribal Revel Rebel, Part 2" | 3:09 |
| 13. | "Bumhooler" | 3:19 |
| 14. | "Sentiment (White Feathers)" | 3:36 |
| 15. | "Major General Despair" | 4:34 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Banned from the Roxy" | 3:00 |
| 17. | "The Sound of One Hand" (titled "One Hand..." on Crassical Collection edition) | 1:29 |
| 18. | "Punk Is Dead" | 1:59 |
| 19. | "Nagasaki Nightmare" | 4:31 |
| 20. | "Darling" | 1:50 |
| 21. | "Bata Motel Blues" (titled "Kind of Who" on Crassical Collection edition) | 0:26 |
| 22. | "Berkertex Bribe" | 1:42 |
| 23. | "Fold It in Half" | 0:58 |
| 24. | "Big Hands" (titled "Tony's Big Hands" on Crassical Collection edition) | 2:15 |
| 25. | "Bumhooler" | 2:22 |
| 26. | "Big A Little A" | 4:27 |
| 27. | "First Woman" | 1:01 |
| 28. | "Arlington 73" | 1:25 |
| 29. | "Bomb Plus Tape" | 4:13 |
| 30. | "Contaminational Power" | 1:40 |
| 31. | "I Ain't Thick, It's Just a Trick" | 1:50 |
| 32. | "G's Song" | 0:22 |
| 33. | "Securicor" | 1:49 |
| 34. | "I Can't Stand It" | 1:48 |
| 35. | "Shaved Women" | 2:43 |
| 36. | "A Part of Life" (titled "Not Apart" on Crassical Collection edition) | 0:28 |
| 37. | "Do They Owe Us a Living?" | 1:22 |
| 38. | "So What?" | 1:20 |
| 39. | "Salt 'n' Pepper" | 2:15 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Have a Nice Day" (alternative version) | 3:37 |
| 17. | "Mother Love" (alternative version) | 2:11 |
| 18. | "Buy Now Pay As You Go" (alternative version) | 2:37 |
| 19. | "Birth Control 'n' Rock 'n' Roll" (alternative version) | 1:57 |
| 20. | "You Can Be Who?" (alternative version) | 2:49 |
| 21. | "Reality Whitewash" (alternative version) | 2:42 |
| 22. | "The Greatest Working Class Rip-Off" (alternative version) | 5:04 |
Personnel
edit- Joy De Vivre - vocals
- Steve Ignorant - vocals
- Peeve Libido (Eve Libertine) - vocals
- Phil Free - synthesizer, guitar
- $ri Hari Nana B.A. (N.A.Palmer) - rhythm sitar
- Sybil Right (Pete Wright) - bass guitar
- Paul Ellis - strings
- Elvis Rimbaud (Penny Rimbaud) - drums, radio
- Steve Herman - guitar (on the two demos on 'Well Forked')
- Jean Paul Marat - liner notes
References
edit- ^ "A Series Of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums". Exitstencil Press. 1982. Archived from the original on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c d e Berger, George (2006). The Story of Crass. Omnibus Press.
- ^ n/a (2015-06-15). "The Crassical Collection: Christ, The Album". eyeplug.net. Eyeplug. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Sword, Harry (2 April 2012). "30 Years On: Christ The Album By Crass Revisited". The Quietus. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
- ^ Ned Raggett. "Allmusic review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (27 May 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Review".
- ^ Finlay, Leo (October 1990). "Their Only Silver Discs". Select. No. 4. p. 126.
- ^ Sword, Harry (2012-04-02). "30 Years On: Christ, The Album By Crass Revisited". thequietus.com. The Quietus. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Fricke, David and Robbins, Ira. "Crass Overview". trouserpress.com. Trouserpress. Retrieved 11 May 2017.