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Jesus Christ!
🕑 Added 2025-04-19 14:36:23 +0000 UTCWe didn't get to our recs on Wednesday, so today, considering it's Easter weekend I'm going to insist you pick up your headphones, go for a walk and give the greatest rock opera ever recorded Jesus Christ Superstar: Original Cast Recording from 1970 (the brown cover) a spin!
It's important to choose that version as it has Murray Head as Judas, who gives a singularly remarkable performance... no offense to the movie Judas but I just prefer Murray. (The film does include a nice new song "Could We Start Again Please" which is worth seeking out.)
My friends and I got really into JCS in high school. We went to Catholic School and had been well versed in the lore of Jesus and in particular, the last few days leading up to Crucifixion and Resurrection was, quite literally Gospel! But here, on "JCS" Weber and Rice provide a new perspective about the whole story - The focus now is on Judas who is presented as pragmatic, close friend to Jesus who loves Jesus's message of helping the poor and all the altruistic messaging but worries all the son of God talk is just too much... Jesus is turning into a rock star and he's gonna fuck it all up if he keeps pushing The State - It's a great parable of the times - Revolution vs. Incremental change and all that - Judas also realizes that the fulfillment of the prophecy requires him to turn on his friend - Jesus also realizes he's trapped to fulfill the prophecy - there's no free will - it's all pre-ordained and there's no way out. The Rabbis and Romans too feel like they're trapped into their own fate... In this story EVERYONE is doomed.
Damn, the whole thing is so layered - it's really funny in places, beautiful, seamlessly transitioning between traditional orchestra and rock band... the fucking thing ROCKS too - the band COOKS - just listen to that bass player GO! I read somehere the band was Joe Cocker's band, The Grease Band. I also read that Yvonne Elliman was an unknown singer who came in and banged out her tunes in one take. Meanwhile, Murray Head permanently damaged his vocal chords during the recording and you won't be surprised by the time you get to "Judas' Death."
Before it was a Broadway show or film, it was just this record, a double LP with that brown cover - a huge hit somehow but how strange! A complicated orchestral rock record about the last days of Jesus Christ (with no real resurrection part of the story! It ends with an instrumental called "John: 19:41" which only refers to the burial. shit, is the final premise that Jesus was just a man?)
In High School, a friend and I went to a dinner theater production in New Hope, PA and... it was VASTLY different from the record - The band consisted of a drummer and guitar player and a keyboard player... and the main cast were NOT rock singers, so any of the high rock scream stuff went falsetto real quick - Boy did it suck. A few years ago, NBC aired a live production of it with John Legend... it was pretty good! The movie is fun and strange... But there's just nothing like this record. I hope you enjoy the journey.
Let me know what you think! Happy Easter. hope you find many eggggggs.
Peace and Love, T
Comments
pamdemonia
Oh wow. I love this double album more than most things. Plus the actual record version, which my parents bought when it came out, had this marvelous booklet of all the songs, written like a script so you know who sang what. Me and my sister sing "always hoped that I'd be an apostle. Knew that I could make it if I tried...." Also, as a Unitarian kid, literally every one I knew from church also had this at home. And you are so very right about Murray Head!
Sara & Josh
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