Christ – The Album

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Christ - The Album
CrassChristTheAlbum.jpg
Studio album by Crass
Released 1982
Recorded July 1981 - February 1982
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
Penis Envy
(1981)		 Christ - The Album
(1982)		 Yes Sir, I Will
(1983)
Alternative covers
Cover of the remastered Crassical Collection re-release

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 disk of new studio material and another, entitled Well Forked.. but not dead, of a live recording of their 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 (which featured 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 size poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album was well received and the band considered it their best.[2]

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. - Paul Du Noyer's review in NME[2]

Unlike previous Crass albums, Christ took almost a year to record, produce and mix, during which time the Falklands War had taken place. 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 they had been overtaken and made to appear redundant by real world events.[2][3]

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" and they were issued as "tactical responses" to political situations.[2]

Re-releases of the album bear the line "With love to Steve Herman who died on the 4th of February 1989" on the back cover. Steve Herman was Crass' guitar player during their first few months.

The Crassical Collection version of this release, including new artwork by Gee Vaucher, remastered sound, liner notes by Steve Ignorant and Rimbaud, and bonus material, was released May 2011. It does not contain the original album cover or the Series Of Shock Slogans booklet.

Studio tracks[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[4]
  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" - 3:28
  8. "It's The Greatest Working Class Ripoff" - 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 (Pt. 2)" - 3:09
  13. "Bumhooler" - 3:19
  14. "Sentiment (White Feathers)" - 3:36
  15. "Major General Despair" - 4:34

Out-takes included on the Crassical Collection re-release:

  1. "Have a Nice Day"*
  2. "Mother Love"*
  3. "Buy Now Pay As You Go"*
  4. "Birth Control 'n' Rock 'n' Roll"*
  5. "You Can Be Who?"*
  6. "Reality Whitewash"*
  7. "The Greatest Working Class Rip-Off"*

Live tracks (Well forked - but not dead)[edit]

  1. "Banned from the Roxy"
  2. "The Sound of One Hand" (titled "One Hand..." on the 2011 remaster)
  3. "Punk is Dead"
  4. "Nagasaki Nightmare"
  5. "Darling"
  6. "Bata Motel Blues" (titled "Kind of Who" on the 2011 remaster)
  7. "Berkertex Bribe"
  8. "Fold It in Half"
  9. "Big Hands" (titled "Tony's Big Hands" on the 2011 remaster)
  10. "Heart-throb of the Mortuary" (demo) - included as part of track 9 on the 2011 remaster.
  11. "Bumhooler"
  12. "Big A Little a"
  13. "First Woman"
  14. "Arlington 73"
  15. "Bomb plus Bomb Tape"
  16. "Contaminational Power"
  17. "I Ain't Thick, It's Just a Trick"
  18. "G's Song"
  19. "Securicor"
  20. "I Can't Stand It" (demo)
  21. "Shaved Women"
  22. "A Part of Life" (titled "Not Apart" on the 2011 remaster)
  23. "Do They Owe Us a Living"?
  24. "So What"?
  25. "Salt 'n' Pepper"

Personnel[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "A Series Of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums". Exitstencil Press. 1982. Retrieved 23 December 2016. 
  2. ^ a b c d Berger, George (2006). The Story of Crass. Omnibus Press. 
  3. ^ Sword, Harry (2 April 2012). "30 Years On: Christ The Album By Crass Revisited". The Quietus. Retrieved 23 December 2016. 
  4. ^ Ned Raggett. "Allmusic review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. 
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