Crass - Christ: The Album / Well Forked - But Not Dead 2LP

"Christ - The Album" was the fourth album by Crass from 1982. It was originally 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) and a large-sized 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.

Ratcheting up the continued "leave no stone unturned" lyrical approach that characterized the group from the start, Crass again sounds like the group's about to explode in eight million directions.

 Ignorant takes over the lead vocal role again, his rough ramalama bitterly leading the charge against the loathed Thatcher government and the society that allowed it to come into power. Libertine, here appearing as Peeve Libido, adds backing vocals while De Vivre takes the lead on Birth Control and Sentiment. Free's guitar work roars along with the usual vim, as does the Pete Wright aka Sybil Right / Rimbaud rhythm section, while continual spiking of the musical punch via production or sonic collages, or even almost power pop catchiness at points, prevents things from being one note.

Tracklist:

- CHRIST: THE ALBUM -

1. Have a Nice Day
2. Mother Love
3. Nineteen Eighty Bore
4. I Know There Is Love
5. Beg Your Pardon
6. Birth Control 'n' Rock 'n' Roll
7. Reality Whitewash
8. It's the Greatest Working Class Rip-Off
9. Deadhead
10. You Can Be Who?
11. Buy Now Pay as You Go
12. Rival Tribal Revel Rebel (Pt. 2)
13. Bumhooler
14. Sentiment (White Feathers)
15. Major General Despair

- WELL FORKED - BUT NOT DEAD (LIVE) -

1. Banned at the Roxy
2. The Sound of One Hand
3. Punk Is Dead
4. Nagasaki Nightmare
5. Darling
6. Bata Motel Blues
7. Berkertex Bribe
8. Fold It In Half
9. Big Hands
10. Heart-Throb of the Mortuary
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
18. G's Song
19. Securicor
20. I Can't Stand It
21. Shaved Women
22. A Part of Living
23. Do They Owe Us a Living
24. So What
25. Salt 'n' Pepper

About this product: this reissue is pressed on 2x black vinyl, housed in a box. Includes a 6-panel foldout poster, a 26-page booklet and a download code.