Christopher Cross (album)
Christopher Cross is the self-titled debut album by Christopher Cross, released in December 1979. Recorded in mid-1979, the album was one of the early digitally recorded albums, utilizing the 3M Digital Recording System. In 1981, it won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, beating Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and it has been noted for being one of the most influential soft rock albums of the late 1970s and early 1980s. That Album of the Year Grammy was bestowed upon its producer, Michael Omartian. Reception. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the album was  a huge hit and widely acclaimed, at least among industry professionals (critics didn't give it a second listen), leading to multi-platinum success and Grammys. In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Erlewine says that while its success as a soft rock album has little cachet with most listeners, it "remains one of the best mainstream albums of its time" because of consistent song quality and Cross's skillful musicianship: "Yes, he does favor sentimentality and can be very sweet on the ballads, but his melodicism is rich and construction tight, so there's a sturdy foundation for the classy  professional gloss provided by his studio pros and friends, including indelible backing vocals by Michael McDonald." In retrospective appraisals, "Christopher Cross" is regarded as a key release of yacht rock music. For "Spin" in 2009, Chuck Eddy lists it among the genre's eight essential albums. "Vinyl Me, Please" magazine's Timothy Malcolm includes it in his 2017 list of the 10 best yacht rock albums, explaining that, "It’s actually a sonic outlier for the yacht rock genre, heavy on acoustic guitar and strings. But its message fits the genre (a fool searching for inner peace), and yeah, it ’s still undeniably smooth." For The Vinyl District's online publication in 2018, Michael H. Little calls it the genre's best album as well as one of its smoothest, crediting it for making Cross "the face of soft rock". Track listing. All tracks composed by Christopher Cross. 'Mary Ann' was originally written for the YAMAHA World Music Festival in Japan and released in 1980 as a Japan only single. Accolades. Grammy Awards