Chris Christian rose to prominence as one-third of the pop trio Cotton, Lloyd and Christian alongside producer Michael Lloyd (The Osmonds, Barry Manilow) and Daryl Cotton (Zoot, Olivia Newton-John).  Before long, Christian’s songs were being recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley (“Love Song of the Year”), Dionne Warwick (“When the World Runs Out of Love”), and Carpenters (“(Want You) Back in My Life Again”).  Christian also produced and wrote songs for artists including B.J. Thomas, Marilyn McCoo, America’s Dan Peek, and the artist whom he discovered and signed when she was just 16 years old, Amy Grant.  With those latter artists and many others, Christian helped dominate the field of contemporary Christian music in the 1970s and 1980s, bringing his pop crossover acumen to that genre.  As Thomas told this author in 2014 of his collaborations with Christian, “We knew there was a message to the material, but we took on each song as a musical project and tried to make the best-sounding music that we could.”  Recently, Retroactive Records in association with Chris Christian’s Home Sweet Home Records has remastered, reissued and expanded three of his albums in deluxe CD editions: one pure pop (1981’s star-studded self-titled album for Boardwalk Records), one contemporary Christian (his first self-titled LP, from 1976), and one for Christmas (1988’s Thinking of You This Christmas).

The most deluxe of these sets is dedicated to 1981’s Chris Christian in its U.S. CD debut.  Christian was the first solo artist and singer-songwriter signed to Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart’s new Boardwalk Records label, and Bogart shepherded the album’s single “I Want You, I Need You” to the top ten of the U.S. AC chart.  In every respect, Chris Christian is a lost “yacht rock” classic with guest spots by Christopher Cross, Bill Champlin, Tom Scott, David Hungate, Frankie Valli, Amy Holland, Cheryl Ladd, English singer-songwriter Robbie Patton, Nigel Olsson of The Elton John Band, and on its bonus tracks, David Foster and America’s Gerry Beckley.  Valli’s Four Seasons co-founder Bob Gaudio produced the album as well as playing keyboards.

Chris Christian‘s melodic, easygoing, radio-friendly California soft rock sound yielded not only the top 40 Pop/top ten AC “I Want You, I Need You” but a No. 21 AC medley of the Motown classics “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need to Get By” with vocalist Amy Holland, a.k.a. Mrs. Michael McDonald and an accomplished performer in her own right.  Gaudio’s lush production was ably supported by the string charts of Bergen White and Jimmie Haskell, and the crack band including Carlos Vega on drums, Dennis Bellfield on bass, Paul Jackson Jr. on guitar, Greg Mathieson on keyboards, and Paulinho da Costa on percussion.  The new reissue adds seven rare and previously unreleased bonus tracks including “Walnut Hill” with Dann Huff, an alternate version of “Last Goodbye” with David Foster, and “Day Like Today” with Gerry Beckley.  The latter was a Contemporary Christian hit in a version with Beckley on background vocals, but on this “pop” take, he additionally takes the second verse solo.  Retroactive’s reissue of Chris Christian includes a 16-page booklet with photos, lyrics, memorabilia, the artist’s track-by-track liner notes, and a trading card.  Rob Colwell has remastered.

The series rewinds to 1976 for the first Chris Christian album.  His solo debut for the Myrrh label has songs from Christian as well as his friend/engineer-producer Brown Bannister and Christian music pioneer Larry Norman (who recorded for labels including Capitol, MGM, and Verve).  Chris Christian contains his rendition of Bannister’s “Mountain Top” which Chris would produce on Amy Grant’s first album, Norman’s “Why Does the Devil (Have All the Good Music),” and Christian’s own “Odessa Beggarman” which he would helm for B.J. Thomas.  Musicians on the Nashville-recorded LP include The Wrecking Crew’s Joe Osborn on bass; The Memphis Boys’ Reggie Young and session veteran Steve Gibson on guitar; Shane Keister of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band on keyboards; and drummer Larrie Londin (whose credits range from Elvis to Journey).  Multi-instrumentalist Christian played guitar, percussion, accordion, and keyboards throughout.  The sound here isn’t so much the smoother contemporary Christian sound but rather a country-flecked soul/R&B-based style.  The 16-page booklet has the original liner notes, photos, memorabilia, lyrics, and track-by-track notes from Christian.  Rob Colwell has again remastered this expanded edition which adds one bonus cut, the outtake “I Don’t Have a Prayer Without You.”

The third and final release to date in the Chris Christian series is his 1988 album Thinking of You This Christmas.  He arranged and produced this collection of vocal and instrumental Christmas classics both secular and spiritual (“O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” “White Christmas”) and original songs including the title track – originally penned for a Dallas Cowboys (!) Christmas album, also recently reissued by Retroactive – and “Christmas All Year Round,” a duet with Motown’s Charlene of “I’ve Never Been to Me” fame.  “God Bless the Children” is Christian’s own version of the song he wrote for B.J. Thomas to record at MCA.  This expanded release adds four bonus tracks, among them “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” featuring Kirk Whalum on saxophone and “Gift of Love” with The Boone Girls (Debby, Cherry, Laury, and Lindy) singing a cappella four-part harmony.  The 16-page booklet offers home photos, lyrics, and the artist’s memories of each song.  As with the other titles in the series, Rob Colwell has handled the remastering.

All three titles from the prolific and versatile Chris Christian are available now from Boone’s Overstock, the exclusive online retailer for Retroactive Records.

Chris Christian, Chris Christian (Boardwalk Records LP NB1 33240, 1981 – reissued Retroactive RRCD1555, 2020)

1. Don’t Give Up on Us – with Christopher Cross
2. I Want You, I Need You – with Cheryl Ladd
3. Love’s Not One to Forget
4. The Last Goodbye
5. Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing/You’re All I Need to Get By – with Amy Holland
6. Make It Last – with Frankie Valli, Bill Champlin, and Tommy Funderburk
7. Houston – with Nigel Olsson
8. I Don’t Believe You
9. What Can There Be – with Robbie Patton
10. Whatever It Is

Bonus Tracks

11. Walnut Hill
12. Only Wanna Be with You
13. Day Like Today – with Gerry Beckley
14. Déjà vu
15. Justice in Love
16. Last Goodbye (New Unreleased Version) – with David Foster
17. Chemistry

Chris Christian, Chris Christian (Myrrh LP MSA 6569, 1976 – reissued Retroactive RRCD1556, 2020)

1. Why Does the Devil (Have All the Good Music)
2. Mountain Top
3. Starving Sinner, Sleeping Saint
4. Odessa Beggarman ’74
5. Hallelujah
6. Get Back to the Bible
7. Great, Great Joy
8. Grave Cave
9. You Are Love
10. I Don’t Deserve
11. I Don’t Have a Prayer Without You (Bonus Track)

Chris Christian, Thinking of You This Christmas (Home Sweet Home LP, 1988 – reissued Retroactive RRCD1554, 2020)

1. Come All Ye Faithful
2. Thinking of You This Christmas – with Bob Breunig
3. Jingle Bells
4. Jingle Bells (Reprise) – with Casey Christian
5. Christmas with Children
6. Greensleeves (What Child Is This) (Bonus Track)
7. Deck the Halls (Bonus Track)
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. Christmas All Year Round – with Charlene
10. God Bless the Children
11. White Christmas – with Ron Jones
12. On This Very Special Day
13. Silent Night – with Janice Archer Cruse and The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
14. Away in a Manger
15. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – with Kirk Whalum (Bonus Track)
16. Gift of Love – with The Boone Girls (Bonus Track)