The Jesus Christ Superstar posts that have been banging around in my head for a while.
My obsession with Jesus Christ Superstar, which I’ve mentioned somewhere here before, started years ago when my mom, an English teacher, started teaching a class called “The Bible as Literature,” and somehow managed to work Jesus Christ Superstar into the whole mix. (Hahahaha, mom, you minx.) Because of this, we had — and I think still have, somewhere — an original 1970 concept album of JCS. THE one. The brown one with the seraphim on the cover. The gold standard of JCS, in my opinion. The one that my brother and I, when home alone, would put on the turntable and play AT FULL BLAST, writhing and screaming to it like banshees and then scurry to put away and act completely innocent of its existence the moment we heard parents pulling up in the driveway. We. were NOT. allowed. to listen. to that type of music. But, man, that album! It raced like poison through our naughty blood but never showed on our perfectly posed faces.
Still makes me shiver. That original concept album.
And, you know, that’s how Jesus Christ Superstar started out — just a bunch of singers and musicians in the studio trying to work it out, trying to figure OUT just what the heck Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had created here. It was different for them. They’d collaborated before, on a shortened version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, if I remember correctly, but JCS was different. Not feel-good tunes, country tunes, Elvis-y tunes, as in Joseph. Nothing catchy in that friendly, non-threatening way Joseph has, but rather, galvanizing, blood-pumping, shocking in an “Oh, no, they di’int” kind of way. And the whole album has that feel. It’s raw; there are mistakes, the occasional wrong note. Things are sometimes … just askew. Nothing feels set or polished, really. I love that. It’s brilliant. Ian Gillan from Deep Purple is Jesus. Murray Head (before his “One Night in Bangkok” hit, remember that?) is Judas. And, I’m telling you, these guys are raw nerves, on the edge of an abyss or something, as if the whole time they’re thinking, “What the hell am I doing? I just gotta get through this song! I just gotta SURVIVE this song!” The whole thing feels like a runaway train to me and that’s what’s so great about it. Seriously. That’s a huge part of its genius, because there’s a sense that at any moment, the whole thing could entirely jump the tracks. You listen to it and you feel that you’re there, at the moment of creation, at the birth of something huge, you are IN on it. That kind of thing just gets me. I love being in on any painful creative birth. Mine. Others’. Anyone’s. That, I’m convinced, has been in my blood since birth. Please: Create! Spew! Cry! Fail! Rally! Wail! Triumph! Do it all again! My heart is pounding at the thought just writing this. To me, there is true beauty in the mess of creation. I love how this album feels you’re listening to the raging howl of those birth pangs.
Genius.
So, first up, a comparison of Judases: Murray Head (1970 concept album) and Carl Anderson (1973 movie).
In the next post ….
A thrilling post! I’m almost scared to read more!
“Heaven on their Minds” still has the capacity to make an ice cube drop down my spine. Unbelievably powerful and raw.
Hm. How did you know that’s where I was headed? 😉
It’s one of the best openings of any movie/soundtrack ever!
Goosebumps!!!
I love that musical, but I always had one problem with it. No offense to my Jewish friends, but it ends too soon (before the resurrection). I wasn’t offended by that and didn’t consider it sacrilegious. To me, it just ended before the best part of the book. But I’ll still go see productions of it from time to time because it’s so powerful anyway.
I did get a kick out of watching the movie, not because it was a particularly great performance compared to others I’ve seen, but because of watching Victor Garber as Jesus. After seeing him as Jack Bristow in Alias, the young Victor as Jesus is kind of strange.
Ok, so I confess that I’ve never seen or heard it.
Oh, and also “Damned For All Time/Blood Money” …He just WAILS that song. LOVE. IT.
Patrick — I think you might be thinking about Godspell. Victor Garber — whom I love — was in the Godspell movie, also the original Broadway version of Sweeney Todd.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen or heard this and I can’t say I ever heard the concept album. I’ll have to check itunes. My sisters had the movie soundtrack and would alternate between that and Keith Green. The song that always stuck with me is “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”.
When the grunge era was in full swing, I entertained this strange fantasy that took up a lot of my time – I actually wrote down lists – I thought it would be great if the big playahs in the grunge music scene came out with a Jesus Christ Superstar album. I tortured myself over who would play Mary Magdalene. Chris Cornell, from Soundgarden (one of the best voices out there) HAD to play Judas – I was ready to go to the mat for that choice (in my completely imaginary world), and maybe Kurt Cobain as Jesus? Mary Magdalene was a toughie, and I went back and forth every day over who should play her. I still think that would have been a brilliant idea, and if I had had any pull at all I would have tried to make it happen.
Brian — Yeah, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” was the biggest commercial hit from the show.
sheila — That’s a great idea! And of COURSE you wrote down lists, hahahaha.
/I was ready to go to the mat for that choice/ — like, what, Sheila? Against yourself? You are insane. Hahahahaha.
Cobain would be a good choice, though.
I know – who are you arguing with, Sheila? This project is completely in your head!!!
Sorry – you’re right – Garber was in Godspell, although the music is not as good as Weber’s in Jesus Christ, Superstar.
It’s not even in the same league as JCS!!
(I was in a production of Godspell once. Forgive me. I am still a bit scarred.)
We still have that JCS Brown Vinyl album. It belonged to my wife before we got married. It will be converted to digital sooner or later. It’s on my list right behind those 37982 other things. I haven’t listened to it in a long, long time. Alway been a big fan of Ian Gillan.
Ladybug and I saw a good production of this a couple of months ago at the Jersey Shore Arts Center – the one in the former Neptune High School building. Fairly well-done. Of course, the movie was terrific. Judas chased in the desert by tanks… (Actually, that sounds like one of Rachl Lukis’ fake swears, don’t it? “Judas chased by tanks, what were they thinking?!”)
I always bore a little grudge against Norman Jewison for the silent closing credits at the end. I wanted to do that for something I was planning, and then, at sixteen, I found that the idea was already used before my first birthday. GAAAAH!
Rob — It’s available from Amazon on CD. I purchased it recently. LOOOOVE IT.
But the wife bought me a USB turntable for Christmas last year, Tracey. If I don’t put it to more use soon, you will not be seeing much more of me here.
Rob — Oh, dear. Well, that changes everything.
I was trolling Hulu this weekend and saw JCS listed so I watched it. My son was at the table behind me and had only one thing to say… “Dad, that is dumb, there weren’t tanks around when Jesus was here.” Ha. Can’t fool a seven year old.
Brian — Hahahahahaha. I love that.