Jesus Christ Superstar: The Album - 1992 Australian Cast Recording Highlights [Import, Cast Recording]

John Waters, John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus Christ Superstar (Related Recordings), Tim Rice | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 4, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Cast Recording
• Label: Universal Int'l
• ASIN: B000007174
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,739 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. Heaven on Their Minds

3. What's the Buzz / Strange Thing Mystifying

4. Everything's Alright

5. Hosanna

6. Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem

7. Pilate's Dream

8. The Temple

9. Everything's Alright (Reprise)

10. I Don't Know How to Love Him

11. The Last Supper

12. Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)

13. King Herod's Song

14. Trial Before Pilate (Including the 39 Lashes)

15. Superstar

Editorial Reviews

Featuring highlights from the original 1992 Australian cast, John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens, John Waters & Angry Anderson. Remastered with a 16-page booklet with photos & lyrics. Polygram.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JCS for a new generation of fans, December 25, 1999

By 

Monica (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus Christ Superstar: The Album - 1992 Australian Cast Recording Highlights (Audio CD)

With a collection of many English-language Jesus Christ Superstar recordings and one Spanish-language version, I'd have to say that this disc is, hands down, the freshest, most powerful, best-sung, and best-orchestrated JCS out there. My only quibble is that it's a highlights album and not a full recording.

In past versions, the antihero Judas has frequently been sung by far more powerful voices than Jesus, who seems often to be performed by inferior singers who have trouble summoning any kind of passion (pun intended) for the role, not to mention the trouble many of them have with hitting the high notes. The show's impact is greatly diminished by a Jesus who can't stand up to Judas vocally and dramatically. (I've always thought Ted Neely's movie Jesus sounded like he had just woken up and badly needed a cup of coffee.)

John Farnham's Jesus seems finally to be able to stand up to his foil Judas, sung here by the equally phenomental Jon Stevens. The best example of Farnham's talents is 'Gethsemane,' where some unexpected and delicious key changes give the song a new and amazing energy.

King Herod is played by a tattooed and shaved motorcycle-gang type named Angry Anderson, who finally retires the campy-drag-queen Herod that ceased to be funny sometime in the mid 70s.

The new orchestrations on this record are long overdue, the songs' arrangements not having been changed much since the concept album. All the songs have been made over to some extent, but the best of the new arrangements are for 'Everything's Alright' (with a lovely ending far better than the traditional fade-out), 'Pilate's Dream,' and 'King Herod's Song.' All of these new arrangements are sure to appall and dismay stodgy theatre traditionalists.

This Australian cast disc and Michael Lorant and the Indigo Girls' 'Jesus Christ Super-Star: A Resurrection' (which I also highly recommend) are my favorite recordings of my favorite show, and I'm glad amazon.com is making this gem more easily available to American JCS fans (mine was ordered from England).

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I ONLY WANT TO SAY...., November 3, 2001

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jesus Christ Superstar: The Album - 1992 Australian Cast Recording Highlights (Audio CD)

I remember when "Jesus Christ Superstar" debuted back in the early seventies what a furor it created, everyone thinking it was blasphemous and sacrilegious. My Mom, God rest her soul, forbade me to play the soundtrack in the house. Being a devout Catholic (yet of the old school), she couldn't comprehend what Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice were trying to do. Three decades later, one can fully appreciate the mastery of this breathtaking musical accomplishment. This Australian studio version, recorded WAY back in 1992, showcases the tremendously powerful lyrics, imagery and musical diversity of Webber and Rice. It also has the added advantage of John Farnham, whose vocalization of Jesus, is utterly fantastic. His performance of "The Last Supper" and "I Only Want to Say" alone are worth the price of this CD. Blessed with one of the finest voices in modern music, John evokes the anger, the confusion, the passion, the kindness, and the sheer power of Jesus in ways a lot of singers have only begun to feel. The "modernized" arrangements work well, and the musicianship is incredible. Kate Ceberano's Mary Magdalene is impassioned and vocally perfect. Her reading of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" expresses the confusion Mary feels in her love for Christ. It's nothing like she's ever experienced before, and although this song became commercialized by Helen Reddy, it's true meaning is solely represented in the show's context. Unfortunately, Jon Stevens' Judas is a little too overwrought for my tastes, and his vocals seem one dimensional, without the peaks and valleys Judas should have in his own mixed emotions. His "destiny" to fulfill God's plan for Jesus is lost in Waters' one-tone delivery.
But, oh my, does the CD cook once we hit "The Temple." With the chanting sellers offering their wares, and with Farnham's expression of Jesus' anger, it is truly mesmerizing. "The Last Supper" in which the Apostles drink themselves into a sleep, leaving Jesus alone to face his inevitable fate, is a showcase of the CD. It leads into Farnham's heart-wrenching delivery of "I Only Want to Say," in my opinion the show's most powerful song. John gives me goosebumps in eliciting Christ's "Agony in the Garden." Angry Anderson's interpretation of Herod is appropriately nasty, sardonic, accompanied by what would appear to be a heavy metal band counterplaying the song's inherent ragtime feel. "The Trial Before Pilate", with its seemingly eternal 39 lashes, is likewise brutal and overpowering. As Judas sums up the show with "Superstar," we can see how the questions Judas asks could be considered blasphemic or sacrilegious. But they are merely the questions of a man who had the opportunity to follow in Christ's footsteps, but was lost in his own insecurity and jealousy. Whether he was predestined or not, Judas had a choice, and even though Jesus knew what that choice would be, it was still Judas' own kiss that betrayed Christ.
This is a great CD for any one who has never been exposed to the majesty of this work; for those of us who have grown up with several different interpretations, John Farnham has set a standard for Jesus that will take some doing to overpower!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Superstar recording, by far!, May 16, 2000

By 

"linzwarlow" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus Christ Superstar: The Album - 1992 Australian Cast Recording Highlights (Audio CD)

I have hundreds of cast recordings, and most of the Superstar ones, and I'd definitely have to say that this is *the* best Superstar recording I have ever heard, and is one of my top three favorite cast recordings. The cast is incredible, and this might seem strange considering many of the singers are popular Australian rock/pop stars, i.e. John Farnham (Jesus), Kate Ceberano (Mary Magdalene), Angry Anderson (King Herod), etc. All of them are incredible, especially Farnham (who is by *far* the best-voiced Jesus I have ever heard), Jon Stevens (who plays Judas, and though he is not quite as good as Carl Anderson, is still amazing), and especially Russell Morris (who's "Simon Zealots" is undoubtledly my favorite track, and in my opinion, is alone worth the price of the CD). Other favorites include "Heaven On Their Mind", "Everything's Alright," "Hosanna", "Gethsemane", "Herod's Song" , "Gethsemane", and "Superstar". The orchestrations are not like typical theater cast recordings...they are very fresh and "rock-ish". This is the epitome of a rock musical, but even those who are used to the beautiful ballads of Les Miserables and Phantom fame, will still love this Jesus Christ Superstar recording. My only complaint is that Anthony Warlow, Australia's musical theater king who possesses the most beautful voice on earth, had to withdrawal from the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, due to an illness (for which he has fully recovered). If Warlow had been Pontius Pilate as planned, I'm sure this would be my absolute favorite cast recording. But other than that, this CD is amazing, and a must have for any "Superstar" or musical theater fan, and is worth every penny!