Jesus Christ Superstar (Original London Concept Recording) [CAST RECORDING] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar (Related Recordings), Yvonne Elliman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Murray Head, Barry Dennen, Ian Gillan

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 24, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1970
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Cast Recording, Original recording remastered
• Label: Decca U.S.
• ASIN: B000002P4H
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,866 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Overture

2. Heaven On Their Minds

3. What's The Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying

4. Everything's Alright

5. This Jesus Must Die

6. Hosanna

7. Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem

8. Pilate's Dream

9. Temple, The

10. Everything's Alright [30 seconds long]

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Last Supper, The

2. Gethsemane(I Only Want To Say)

3. Arrest, The

4. Peter's Denial

5. Pilate And Christ

6. King Herod's Song(Try It And See)

7. Judas' Death

8. Trial Before Pilate(Including 39 Lashes)

9. Superstar

10. Crucifixion

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

It may not have been the first rock opera (the Who's Tommy was released in 1969), but Jesus Christ Superstar was a legendary album long before it hit the stage, thanks to Tim Rice's compelling book and lyrics combined with Andrew Lloyd Webber's irresistible music. Telling the story of the last days of Christ from the point of view of Judas (Murray Head), the still-unmatched original cast also stars Deep Purple's Ian Gillan as Jesus and Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene, the role she made into a career (with a cameo on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack). Decades later, such songs as "Superstar," "I Don't Know How to Love Him," "Heaven on Their Minds," and "Everything's Alright" still retain their extraordinary power. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

171 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, even after 30 years, May 12, 2000

By	Roger Williams (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews

Andrew Lloyd Webber's showtunesy, over-orchestrated bombast is nowhere to be found here. This is the original London Concept recording featuring Deep Purple's Ian Gillan as Jesus, and Murray Head's wonderfully anguished (and sometimes downright unsettling) performance as Judas Iscariot. This is not the hippy dippy passion of St. Matthew as told in "Godspell", but rather, much darker, much more intimate, and conveys the story of Christ as a man, who doesn't really want to die.

The incredibly loud orchestra of the stage performance is toned down a bit, showcasing the excellent rock songs that made this album a #1 hit in 1971. I first heard this album when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and still, even today, there's a chill that runs down my back when Judas sings "Heaven on Their Minds" or when Jesus screams "just watch me die!" in "Gethsemane". Not one of the endless movie soundtrack, or broadway versions can hold a candle to this interpretation. It's the only Jesus Christ Superstar one needs to own.

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The original concept album is still the best version of JCS, November 17, 2002

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Believe it or not, I first heard "Jesus Christ Superstar" when it was played for us in my freshman English class in high school (I think our student teacher was trying to show he was cool, because there was no assignment to go with spending two days listening to the album). I also remember trying to remember how the theme for the title song went so I could keep it in my mind and thinking that this really was an opera because the two main characters are both dead at the end, certainly a traditional ending in many operas. The controversy over this two-album studio production was like a firestorm and focused on two key issues:

First, there was the uproar that rock music was being used to tell a religious story; you have to remember that this was a time when having a folk mass or service was seen as being cutting-edge radicalism in Christianity. But Andrew Lloyd Webber's music involves much more than rock, although certainly the guitar that opens the "Overture" is a definitive statement. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a traditional pop ballad, as Helen Reddy proved with her cover that hit the charts, while "John Nineteen Forty-One" is a classical piece for strings. "King Herod's Song" stands out as one of those stylistic pastiches that Lloyd Webber loves (as we would later see in "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera"). More importantly, it seems to me that the rock music is used strategically. Certainly Judas has songs that are more rock oriented (e.g., "Heaven on Their Minds," "Damned for All Time") when compared to those for sung by Jesus (e.g., "Gethsemane"), which makes sense in terms of character dynamics. Rock music is also used selectively within songs, most particularly "Everything's Alright," where the pop chorus by Mary Magdalene and the other women finds a dramatic counterpoint in the rock style versus of Judas and Jesus. The whole controversy on this score is certainly moot now because within a few years many denominations offered new liturgies with "modern" music, which certainly did not go as far as rock music, but certainly shifted the music to the 20th century and away from classical music in the mode of Bach.

Second, there was a charge that "Jesus Christ Superstar" presented a secular version of Jesus as man, rather than as divine (a similar charge was leveled against Zefferelli's television mini-series "Jesus of Nazareth"). It is certainly true that Jesus does not perform any miracles during the story being told, but then neither do the Gospels for the last week of the life of Jesus, which is the time frame of this rock opera: It begins Friday night in Bethany and ends pretty much one week later as the body of Jesus is lain in the tomb. Miracles aside, the Tim Rice libretto is as faithful to the Gospels as any other dramatic account of these events I have ever seen, whatever the religious beliefs of Rice and Lloyd Webber. Some took the show to task for ending with the "Crucifixion" rather than the Resurrection, but I find it powerful to ask audiences to make a judgment on the divinity of Jesus on the basis of how he lived and died (Note: I was in production of the show in which we actually did the Ascension at the end as the music ended). I would also point the end music of "John Nineteen Forty-One" and have people go back and pay attention to what lyrics that same music is used for in "Gethsemane" as a way of assessing what is ultimately being emphasized in this rock opera.

Ironically, "Jesus Christ Superstar" created a resurgence of interest in both Jesus and Christianity among youth. The concept album, as it came to be known, was turned into a Broadway show that offered outlandishness that made "Hair" look like a Medieval mystery play. It might be insightful for you to compare the concept album of "Evita" with the Broadway version to ponder what would have happened if someone had enforced a similar revision on "Jesus Christ Superstar" (the production I was in had to find creative ways, such as having banners unfurl with quotations from Scripture, to deal with the problems of songs that fade out). Purely from a listening standpoint my preference remains for the original concept album with Murray Head and Ian Gillian as Judas and Jesus. I know part of this is the residue of the excitement that was generated when this came out, but I happen to thing everything is alright with that.

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the best album I ever heard!, March 15, 2000

By	Eric V. Moye (New York, by way of Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

After thirty years, this is still moving. The performances nothing less than spectacular.

Murray Head as Judas steals the performance, to my mind. The rest of Deep Purple never got from Ian Gillian what Rice and Webber were able to, but maybe portraying Jesus will do that for a Brother. Hearing Yvonne Elliman's positively angellic voice as Mary singing "Everything's Alright" would tempt even a Saint. I cannot recall who portrayed Ciaphas, but the depth of his voice is awsome.

Aside from the great music, the story is much more multi-layered than I recall from Sunday School. The characters, including Jesus himself, seemed to be much more reachable. I remember listening to "I Only Want To Say", and marvelling about whether there was ever any doubt that came with being the Son of God. I saw Judas for the first time as a man who just had to do the things he did, and the disciples not as saints, but men with uncertainties too.

Even if you don't like the fabulous music (I'd bet against it), it is nothing if not thought provoking. One of those attributes alone would suffice. Both make it a great a couple of discs as one could want.