Why do I even have this in my collection? Oh yeah, I forgot. It won Album Of The Year at the Grammys in 1980, that\u2019s why. As bookends for my favorite decade, this album and Nick Of Time<\/i> by Bonnie Raitt have taken some time to get used to. They may be darlings of the Academy and fans of James Taylor, but for me, they fall under the category of bland, one-note singers. Such laid-back adult contemporary fare holds zero appeal for me. I prefer my pop to pack a punch.<\/p>\n
But is there anything on Christopher Cross\u2019 self-titled debut that holds up? Sure. The first two singles were chosen wisely by the folks at Warner: the pristine \u201cSailing\u201d and the upbeat \u201cRide Like The Wind.\u201d The former brings back many fond memories of slow skates at the roller rink. I can still envision the lights glimmering on the shiny wooden floor. As for the latter, you are captured by the high production values of the intriguing slow build opening. Having Michael McDonald as a duet partner never hurt anyone either. It does get a tad repetitive once the \u201cda da da\u201d refrain kicks in, but hey, a hook\u2019s a hook.<\/p>\n
This album\u2019s other two singles \u201cSay You\u2019ll Be Mine\u201d and \u201cNever Be The Same\u201d are fine, but the first time you hear them, you don\u2019t really need to hear them again. Can you say \u201cMeh?\u201d The rest of Christopher Cross<\/i> treads pretty much the same terrain. In short, it\u2019s a snooze fest. Wake me when it\u2019s over. Yes, Cross\u2019 voice is a distinctive one. You know it\u2019s him immediately hearing one of his songs. It\u2019s just a shame he couldn\u2019t have found a little more variation in the type of material he recorded. And in the image department, poor thing is a big goose egg. Chubby and balding from the get-go, did he really think he\u2019d have the staying power in the age of MTV? You\u2019d have to drag me kicking and screaming to one of his shows. Sorry\u2026<\/p>\n
Good luck educating the young people of today about the artists of yesteryear. Toto anyone? Some Grammy artists simply have faded from the public consciousness. Now it\u2019s a rare occurrence indeed to see any of them perform or present at one of the annual awards telecasts. Christopher Cross had his time, as brief and fleeting as it may have been. He has released a dozen albums since this debut, but there\u2019s no media hype or fanfare to announce them. Methinks Christopher could care less. He knows he\u2019s already made a name for himself, which will always be enough to bring back his fan base to fill the seats. And he now wears one mean fedora.<\/p>\n
After this album, Cross would have a few more hits, including \u201cArthur\u2019s Theme (The Best That You Can Do)\u201d and \u201cThink Of Laura.\u201d I\u2019d rather not think of Laura, thank you very much, mainly because it\u2019s the name of my estranged, bitch-on-wheels sister (yes, Jason, you can print that). Arthur, on the other hand, I don\u2019t mind remembering, because it\u2019s from one of the laugh-out-loud funniest films I have ever seen. The song is also a great tribute to New York City, one of my favorite travel destinations. See? I\u2019m not such a hater after all, I did like at least a few of his songs! Still, nothing compares to \u201cSailing,\u201d the timeless ballad that has magic written all over it. So I will be generous with my grade, because it\u2019s spring and I\u2019m in a good mood. If you\u2019re going to buy one Christopher Cross album, this had better be the one, because I\u2019m not about to review another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":27586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6254],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-43702","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-christopher-cross","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43702"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}