Christ – The Album

Christ - The Album is Crass' fourth album, 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, featuring a live recording of their June 1981 gig at the 100 Club in London along with other studio tracks, demos and tape fragments.

Detail from poster artwork from Christ the Album by Gee Vaucher

The album also included a book, A Series Of Shock Slogans and Mindless Token Tantrums (which featured Penny Rimbaud's essay The Last of the Hippies [1], telling the story of the suspicious death of his friend Wally Hope) and a large size poster painted by Gee Vaucher.

The album took over 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, for as a group whose very reason for existing was to comment upon political issues, they felt they had been overtaken and made to appear redundant by real world events.

Subsequent releases, including the singles "How does it Feel to Be the Mother of A Thousand Dead" and "Sheep Farming in the Falklands" and the album Yes Sir, I Will saw the band strip their sound 'back to basics' and were issued as 'tactical responses' to political situations.

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.

[edit] Studio Tracks (Christ - The Album)

Have A Nice Day
Smother Love
Nineteen Eighty Bore
I Know There Is Love
Beg Your Pardon
Birth Control 'n' Rock 'n' Roll
Reality Whitewash
It's The Greatest Working Class Ripoff
Deadhead
You Can Be Who?
Buy Now Pay As You Go
Rival Tribal Revel Rebel (pt 2)
Bumhooler
Sentiment (White Feathers)
Major General Despair

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

Banned from the Roxy
The Sound Of One Hand
Punk Is Dead
Nagasaki Nightmare
Darling
Bata Motel Blues
Berkertex Bribe
Fold It In Half
Big Hands
Heart-throb Of The Mortuary (demo)
Bumhooler
Big A Little A
First Woman
Arlington 73
Bomb plus Bomb Tape
Contaminational Power
I Ain't Thick
G's Song
Securicor
I Can't Stand It (demo)
Shaved Women
A Part Of Life
Do They Owe Us A Living
So What
Salt 'n' Pepper

[edit] Personnel

Joy De Vivre - Vocals
Steve Ignorant - Vocals
Peeve Libido - Vocals
Phil Free - Synthesizer, Guitar
$ri Hari Nana B.A. - Rhythm sitar
Sybil Right - Bass
Paul Ellis - Strings
Elvis Rimbaud - Drums, Radio
Steve Herman - Guitar (on the two demos on 'Well Forked')
Jean Paul Marat - Liner Notes

v • d • e Crass

Period of activity	Formed 1977, disbanded 1984

Band members	Penny Rimbaud (drums), Gee Vaucher (artwork, films), Steve Ignorant (voice), N. A. Palmer (guitar), Phil Free (guitar), Pete Wright (bass), Eve Libertine (voice), Joy De Vivre (voice), Mick Duffield (films), John Loder (engineer)

Major album releases	The Feeding of the 5000, Stations of the Crass, Penis Envy, Christ – The Album, Yes Sir, I Will, Acts of Love, Best Before 1984

See also	Crass Records, Corpus Christi Records, EXIT, Crass Agenda, Last Amendment, Dial House, Anarcho-punk