Chris Christian (1981) (mainstream pop album)

Chris Christian is the self-titled fifth studio album by Christian singer - songwriter Chris Christian. It was released in September 1981 on Boardwalk Records. The album was produced by Bob Gaudio. This is his second self-titled album after his first self-titled album was released back in 1977.

Released just two months after his Christian music album Just Sit Back, Christian puts out his first, and only, solo mainstream pop album and has worked with a who's who in the music business. Christian previously was a member of Cotton, Lloyd & Christian in the early 1970s and had a couple of hit songs on the adult contemporary chart. Robert Kardashian, late father of reality TV star and actress Kim Kardashian, was a friend and manager of Christian's and was responsible for his signing with Boardwalk Records. Guest artists and musicians on Chris Christian include Frankie Valli, Christopher Cross (playing electric guitar on the opening track "Don't Give Up On Us"), Tommy Funderburk, Bill Champlin, Paul Jackson, Carlos Vega, Greg Mathieson and Amy Holland among others. Holland is best known for her 1980 Top 40 hit "How Do I Survive." Christian partners with J.C. Crowley on co-writing eight out of the album's ten songs. Crowley was one of the co-founders of the soft rock band Player, who are best known for their 1978 number one hit "Baby Come Back."

The lead single "I Want You, I Need You" was Christian's only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at number 37 and his only Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart climbing to number 8 by November 1981. Television actress and singer Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angel) sings backing vocals on the track. The second single is a cover of two Motown songs done in a medley with "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By" and sung as a duet with Holland. Both songs were written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, known professionally as Ashford & Simpson. The song hit number 21 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 88 on the Hot 100 by August 1982. Others songs were released as singles like "The Last Goodbye" and "Make It Last."

After close to four decades, Chris Christian was reissued on CD jointly by Retroactive Records and Christian's record label Home Sweet Home Records on November 16, 2020, released as part of The Legend Series. In addition to the original ten songs, it contains seven bonus tracks, including a David Foster-

arranged version of "The Last Goodbye" that was only released in Europe as a non-album single, backed with the album track "What Can There Be." There are also three unreleased tracks: an exclusive mix of "Day Like Today" featuring Gerry Buckley of the soft rock duo America, "Justice in Love" and "Chemistry."

The track "Déjà Vu," written by singer and songwriter David Martin, was originally planned for Christian's second mainstream pop album, but never materialized. It was included on later pressings of the original album. "Walnut Hill" features a guitar solo by musician Dann Huff, who at the time was the original guitar player of the Christian rock band White Heart. The CD booklet contains lyrics, photos and liner notes written by Christian himself and a trading card with Christian's face on the front and information about the artist and the album on the back.

A digital version of Chris Christian (taken from the 1998 reissue that was only available in Japan) is available to stream and for digital download purchasing from Home Sweet Home. To not be confused with Christian's 1977 self-titled debut album, it was released as I Want You, I Need You, named after the lead single. The track "Love's Not One to Forget" swapped with the original album mix of "The Last Goodbye" in the song order and a completely different mix of "Make It Last" with extra lead guitar and percussion replacing the original album mix and five bonus tracks: "Walnut Hill," "Déjà Vu," "Only Wanna Be With You," "Day Like Today" and the instrumental track "Santa Barbara," from Christian's 1990 instrumental album Sketches.

Track listing on I Want You, I Need You

All songs written by Chris Christian and J.C. Crowley, except where noted.

1. Don't Give Up On Us (electric guitar by Christopher Cross) -3:58

2. I Want You, I Need You (with backing vocals by Cheryl Ladd) (Chris Christian,

J.C. Crowley, Shanon Smith) -3:41

3. Love's Not One to Forget (Chris Christian, Shanon Smith, Kerry Chater) -4:01

4. The Last Goodbye -4:02

5. Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing/You're All I Need to Get By (vocal duet with

Amy Holland) (Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson) -3:30

6. Make It Last (with backing vocals by Frankie Valli, Tommy Funderburk, Tom

Kelly and Bill Chaplin) (new mix) -4:10

7. Houston -3:39

8. I Don't Believe You -3:19

9. What Can There Be (guest ad-libs by Robbie Patton) (Chris Christian, Brad

Smith) -4:19

10. Whatever It Is -3:11

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Déjà Vu (David Martin) -4:56

12. Walnut Hill (guitar solo by Dann Huff) (Chris Christian) -4:04

13. Only Wanna Be With You (Chris Christian, David Martin) -4:07

14. Day Like Today (featuring Gerry Buckley of America) (Chris Christian, Jeremy

Dalton) -4:21

15. Santa Barbara (from Christian's 1990 instrumental album Sketches) -5:18

Production credits

Bob Gaudio -producer (tracks 1 -10)

Chris Christian -producer (tracks 11 -15)

Jeremy Dalton -co-producer (track 14)

Radio singles

1981 "I Want You, I Need You" -#37 Billboard Hot 100, -#8 Billboard AC

1982 "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing/You're All I Need to Get By" with Amy

Holland -#88 Billboard Hot 100, -#22 Billboard AC

Previous release: Just Sit Back (1981) 

Next release: Love Them While We Can (1983)