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''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a 1970
album musical
An album musical is a type of recording that sounds like an original cast album but is created specifically for the recording medium and is complete entertainment product in itself, rather than just promoting or reflecting an existing or planned m ...
by
Andrew Lloyd Webber and
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...
, on which the 1971
rock opera
A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...
of the same name was based. Initially unable to get backing for a stage production, the composers released it as an album, the success of which led to stage productions. The album musical is a musical dramatisation of
the last week of the life of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, beginning with his
entry into Jerusalem
In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem took place in the days before the Last Supper, marking the beginning of his Passion, his time of suffering, death, and resurrection celebrated during ...
and ending with the
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...
. It was originally banned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
on grounds of being "sacrilegious". By 1983, the album had sold over seven million copies worldwide.
Composition
The album's story is based in large part on the
Synoptic Gospels and
Fulton J. Sheen
Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in ...
's ''Life of Christ'', which compares and calibrates all four Gospels. However, greater emphasis is placed on the interpersonal relationships of the major characters, in particular, Jesus,
Judas
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...
and
Mary Magdalene, relationships that are not described in depth in the Gospels.
Lyricist Rice said he took inspiration from the
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
song "
With God on Our Side".
"Herod's Song" is a lyrical rewrite of "Try It and See", previously written by Lloyd Webber and Rice as a proposed British entry into the 1969
Eurovision Song Contest to be sung by
Lulu
Lulu may refer to:
Companies
* LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer
* Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer
* Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia
* Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, ...
, then recorded and released as a single by
Rita Pavone. The writers had also included it (as "Those Saladin Days") in an aborted show called ''Come Back Richard Your Country Needs You''.
The melody of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" also predates ''Jesus Christ Superstar''; it was rewritten from a 1968 Lloyd Webber/Rice collaboration titled "Kansas Morning".
Recording
For the recording, Lloyd Webber and Rice drew personnel from both musical theatre (
Murray Head
Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Oscar-nominated 1971 film ''Sunday Bloody Sunday''. As a mus ...
had just left the West End production of ''
Hair'') and the British rock scene (
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice.
Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...
had only recently become the singer of
Deep Purple). Many of the primary musicians—guitarists
Neil Hubbard
Neil Terrence Hubbard (born 24 February 1948) is a British guitarist who has performed with Juicy Lucy, The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, Alvin Lee, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland and Tony O'Malley, and played on the ...
and
Henry McCullough
Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perf ...
, bassist
Alan Spenner
Alan Henry Spenner (7 May 1948 – 11 August 1991) was an English bass player who performed with Wynder K. Frog, the Grease Band, Spooky Tooth, ABC, David Coverdale, David Soul, Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Lynda Carter, Peter Frampton, Ted Nug ...
, and drummer
Bruce Rowland—came from
Joe Cocker's backing group
The Grease Band
The Grease Band was a British rock band that originally formed as Joe Cocker's backing group. They appeared with Cocker during the 1960s, including his performance at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. The band's name derived from an inte ...
. Saxophonist Chris Mercer had also played with Hubbard in
Juicy Lucy.
Release
The first piece of ''Superstar'' released was
the title song, as a single in November 1969 backed with the instrumental "John Nineteen Forty-One" (see ). The full album followed almost a year later.
The album topped the U.S.
''Billboard'' Top LP's chart in both February and May 1971
and ranked number one in the year-end chart ahead of
Carole King's massive hit ''
Tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...
''.
It also served as a launching pad for numerous
stage productions
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and in the
West End. The original 1970 boxed-set issue of this two-record set was packaged in the U.S. with a special thin brown cardboard outer box ("The Brown Album") which contained the two vinyl records and a 28-page
libretto.
Track listing
All compositions written by
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...
(lyrics and book) and
Andrew Lloyd Webber (music).
Credits
Main players
"Original Concept Recording (1970) – ''Jesus Christ Superstar''
recording information, Jesus Christ Superstar Zone (reference for this and subsequent sections)
* Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice.
Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...
– Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
* Murray Head
Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Oscar-nominated 1971 film ''Sunday Bloody Sunday''. As a mus ...
– Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...
* Yvonne Elliman – Mary Magdalene
* Victor Brox
Victor Brox (5 May 1941 – 20 February 2023) was an English blues musician.
Early life and career
Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, he attended St Mary’s, Droylsden and William Hulme's Grammar School where he played trombone in the sch ...
– Caiaphas, High Priest
* Barry Dennen
Barry Dennen (February 22, 1938 – September 26, 2017) was an American actor, singer, and writer. He played Pontius Pilate on the original recording and later in the film of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''.
Life and career
Dennen was born in Chicag ...
– Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...
Supporting players
* Brian Keith
Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...
– Annas
Annas (also Ananus or Ananias;Goodman, Martin, "Rome & Jerusalem", Penguin Books, p.12 (2007) , ; grc-x-koine, Ἅννας, ; 23/22 BC – death date unknown, probably around AD 40) was appointed by the Roman legate Quirinius as the first High ...
* John Gustafson – Simon Zealotes
* Paul Davis – Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
* Mike d'Abo
Michael David d'Abo (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of Manfred Mann from 1966 to their dissolution in 1969, and as the composer of the songs "Handbags and Gladrags" and "Build Me Up Butt ...
– King Herod
Other players
* Annette Brox – Maid by the Fire
* Paul Raven – Priest
* P. P. Arnold
Patricia Ann Cole (born October 3, 1946), known professionally as P. P. Arnold, is an American soul singer. Arnold began her career as an Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1965. The following year she relocated to London to pursue a solo ...
, Tony Ashton
Edward Anthony Ashton (1 March 1946 – 28 May 2001) was an English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer, producer and artist.
Biography
Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Ashton spent his formative years in the seaside town of Blackpool whe ...
, Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...
, Peter Barnfeather, Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell (born July 23, 1942) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s with pop group Blue Mink, having arrived from America in the gospel show ''Black Nativity'' in 1962, with the ...
, Brian Bennett, Lesley Duncan
Lesley Cox (née Duncan; 12 August 1943 – 12 March 2010) was an English singer-songwriter, best known for her work during the 1970s. She received much airplay on British radio stations such as BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, but never achieved ...
, Kay Garner, Barbara Kay, Neil Lancaster, Alan M. O'Duffy, Terry Saunders – Background vocals
* Choir conducted by Geoffrey Mitchell
* Children's choir conducted by Alan Doggett on "Overture"
* The Trinidad Singers, under the leadership of Horace James, on "Superstar"
Musicians
* Neil Hubbard
Neil Terrence Hubbard (born 24 February 1948) is a British guitarist who has performed with Juicy Lucy, The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, Alvin Lee, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland and Tony O'Malley, and played on the ...
– electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
* Henry McCullough
Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perf ...
– electric guitar, acoustic guitar
* Alan Spenner
Alan Henry Spenner (7 May 1948 – 11 August 1991) was an English bass player who performed with Wynder K. Frog, the Grease Band, Spooky Tooth, ABC, David Coverdale, David Soul, Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Lynda Carter, Peter Frampton, Ted Nug ...
– bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
* Chris Mercer – tenor sax
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the Alto saxophone, alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key ...
* J. Peter Robinson
John Peter Robinson (born 16 September 1945) is an English composer, musician, and arranger known for his film and television scores.
Early years and pop music career
He studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoy ...
– piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, electric piano, organ, positive organ
A positive organ (also positiv organ, positif organ, portable organ, chair organ, or simply positive, positiv, positif, or chair) (from the Latin verb ''ponere'', "to place") is a small, usually one-manual, pipe organ that is built to be more o ...
* Bruce Rowland – drums, percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
Other musicians
* Norman Cave, Karl Jenkins
Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song " Adiemus" and the ''Adiemus'' album series; '' Palladio''; ''The Armed Man''; and his ''Requiem''.
J ...
– piano
* Mick Weaver – piano, organ
* Andrew Lloyd Webber – piano, organ, Moog synthesizer
* Mike Vickers
Michael Graham Vickers (born 18 April 1940) is an English musician who came to prominence as the guitarist, flautist, and saxophonist with the 1960s band Manfred Mann. He was born in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. At the age of seven, his famil ...
– Moog synthesizer
* Alan Doggett – principal Conductor, Moog synthesizer
* Strings of the City of London Ensemble
* Clive Hicks, Chris Spedding
Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...
, Louis Stewart, Steve Vaughan – guitar
* Jeff Clyne
Jeffrey Ovid Clyne (29 January 1937 – 16 November 2009) was a British jazz bassist (playing both bass guitar and double bass).
He worked with Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott in their group the Jazz Couriers for a year from 1958, and was part ...
, Peter Morgan, Alan Weighall – bass guitar
* Harold Beckett, Les Condon, Ian Hamer, Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active i ...
– trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
* Anthony Brooke, Joseph Castaldini – bassoon
* Andrew McGavin, Douglas Moore, James Brown, Jim Buck Sr., Jim Buck Jr., John Burdon – horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
* Keith Christie, Frank Jones, Anthony Moore – trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
* Ian Herbert – clarinet
* Chris Taylor, Brian Warren – flute
* Bill LeSage, John Marshall – drums
Production
* Alan O'Duffy – chief engineer
Reissue
Original Concept Recording. ''Jesus Christ Superstar – A Rock Opera''. Universal City, California: MCA Records Inc. SA ©1993 (released 24 SEP 1996). Cat. No. MCAD2-11542 CDs UPC 008811154226
''(N.B.: Black title on front and back cover; gold 'angels' logo; gold lettering on the spine. Depending on the retailer, an outer sticker may state that the album was 'Digitally Remastered omplete on 2 CDs and/or 'Original Artwork and Libretto'. This information is not found on the inner packaging.)''
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
See also
* '' Jesus Christ Superstar''
* ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' (film)
References
External links
jesuschristsuperstar.com: The Album
*
{{Authority control
1970 albums
Albums produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Albums produced by Tim Rice
Andrew Lloyd Webber albums
Caiaphas
Concept albums
Cultural depictions of Pontius Pilate
Decca Records albums
Jesus Christ Superstar
MCA Records albums
Rock operas
Tim Rice albums