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 and a large size poster painted by Gee Vaucher. The album was well received and the band considered it their best. In 2011, the a two-disc CD remastered 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 featured on the first disc and the live album featured on the second disc.
Background and release
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. 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. Re-releases of the album bear the line "With love toSteve Herman who died on the 4th of February 1989" on the back cover. Steve Herman was Crass' guitar player during their first few months.
Reception
Christ: The Album is considered to be one of Crass' best recordings, the band themselves considers this to be the case. 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". Trouserpress referred to it as "quintessential" for it "proves the band's courage and conviction".
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
