Track Listing

1. Forgotten Town
2. Harvest For The World
3. The Perfect Moment
4. What's In A Word
5. Born Again
6. Words
7. Ideal World
8. The Bottle
9. When The Fingers Point
10. Father
11. Greenbank Drive
12. Hooverville (And They Promised Us The World)
13. Small Axe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11311 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 65 minutes

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!!!
I have been listening to The Christians since I was little and Garry Christian's voice has always been extremely soothing and smooth. These days it's rare to hear music that actually tries to address something as most of it seems to be rubbish about clubs and backsides! The Christians are classic music and if ever you get the chance, go and see them live!! If you want something that is going to make you think about what you are listening to and will also give you a taster of real music then buy this! Makes a great addition to the other Christians albums!

Social messages fused with great music
I think it goes without saying that The Christians were underrated as a band. From the same city that spawned The Beatles this outfit explore timeless issues of social problems, love and hate in classics such as "Harvest For The World", "Ideal World", "Words", and "Bottle". I would think that not everyone wants pop to preach, but when it is done like this then it makes compelling listening. Sadly, The Christians short-lived famne was confined to the late 80s, but with this compilation you are left in no doubt as to why much of todays pop is empty pap.

A perfect fusion of sweet soul and sheer vitriol
For all that nowadays The Christians are a band most likely to be mentioned in the "Whatever Happened To...?" sections of music journals, their music has aged very gracefully and has clearly been an inspiration to a whole generation of younger musicians. This collection provides a welcome opportunity to review the material of a band that had a few moments of fame in the late 1980s, then disappeared more or less without a trace after three fantastic and woefully under-rated albums. The biggest surprise, perhaps, is that the music has aged so well. The keyboard on their signature tune, "Forgotten Town", sounds perhaps a little tinny now, but the sheer vitriol in songs like "When the Fingers Point" and the anti-apartheid classic, "Ideal World", sound somehow all the more relevant in the days of anti-paedophile vigilantism and the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. This was always The Christians' greatest talent: to dress up sharp social comment in a package of sweet soul music, lush harmonies, and melodies which later generations of northern soulsters such as the Lighthouse Family have often striven to imitate, and seldom come close. All the classics are on this collection, as well as some more minor hits ("Greenbank Drive" and "Perfect Moment" being two of the sweetest, most uplifting songs I've heard in years) and the unexpected gem of a close-harmony, Gospel rendition of Bob Marley's "Small Axe" to close the set. This is music well deserving of another visit. It will help you chill, but it will also make you think.