Hair: An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical | |
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Cast recording | |
Released | 1967 [1] |
Recorded | October 30, 1967[ citation needed ] |
Genre | Pop, R&B |
Length | 46:57 |
Label | RCA Victor |
Producer | George R.Marck, Andy Wiswell[ citation needed ] |
Hair is the cast recording of the original, Off-Broadway cast of the musical Hair: An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical . It was released in 1967 by RCA Victor. [1] Hair premiered Off-Broadway at the Public Theater on October 17, 1967, and the cast album was recorded two weeks later.[ citation needed ] The lead roles were played by Walker Daniels as Claude, Gerome Ragni as Berger, Jill O'Hara as Sheila, Steve Dean as Woof, Arnold Wilkerson as Hud, Sally Eaton as Jeanie and Shelley Plimpton as Crissy. [2]
In the Off-Broadway version of Hair, the lead role of Claude had been written as a space alien who aspires to be a cinematic director. This was changed for the Broadway production. [3] This Off-Broadway recording includes the songs "Exanaplanetooch" and "Climax," which were cut from the Broadway production. The reviewer for Allmusic.com criticized Ragni's and Eaton's vocals but praised Plimpton. [3] When it was released on CD as a bonus disc of the Broadway album, it also included three songs that were in the show, but not on the original LP: "Opening", "Red Blue And White" (the future "Don't Put It Down") and the finale "Sentimental Ending", plus an interview with composer Galt MacDermot. [3]
Music by Galt MacDermot and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado:
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. The work reflects the creators' observations of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s, and several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The work broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In" finale.
The 11th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 12, 1969. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1968.
James Alexander Radomski, known professionally as James Rado, was an American actor, playwright, director, and composer, best known as the co-author, along with Gerome Ragni, of the 1967 musical Hair. He and Ragni won for Best Musical Theater Album at the 11th Annual Grammy Awards and were nominated for the 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical.
The Age of Aquarius is the fourth album by the American pop group the 5th Dimension, released in 1969. It was their biggest commercial success in the United States, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B Albums charts.
Gerome Ragni was an American actor, singer, and songwriter, best known as one of the stars and co-writers of the 1967 musical Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. On June 18, 2009, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Hair is a 1979 musical anti-war comedy-drama film directed by Miloš Forman and adapted for the screen by Michael Weller, based on the 1968 Broadway musical Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. Set against the backdrop of the hippie counterculture of the Vietnam era, the film focuses on a Vietnam War draftee who meets and befriends a "tribe" of hippies while en route to the army induction center. The hippies and their leader introduce him to marijuana, LSD, and their environment of unorthodox relationships and draft evasion.
Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971). MacDermot also composed music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums. He is best known for his work on Hair, which produced three number-one singles in 1969: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "Good Morning Starshine", and the title song "Hair".
Streetnoise is a 1969 album by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity, originally released as a double LP.
Dude (The Highway Life) is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures. Dude is an everyman who loses his innocence and fights to regain it.
Tom O'Horgan was an American theater and film director, composer, actor and musician. He is best known for his Broadway work as director of the hit musicals Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. During his career he sought to achieve a form of "total theater" described by The New York Times as "wittily physical", and which earned him a reputation as the "Busby Berkeley of the acid set".
"Three-Five-Zero-Zero" is an anti-war song, from the 1967 musical Hair, consisting of a montage of words and phrases similar to those of the 1966 Allen Ginsberg poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra". In the song, the phrases are combined to create images of the violence of military combat and suffering of the Vietnam War. In its first line, for instance, "Ripped open by metal explosion" is followed by "Caught in barbed wire/Fireball/Bullet shock".
Nat Shapiro was an American jazz writer and record producer.
Stages is an album by Elaine Paige, released in 1983 on the Warner Music and K-tel labels and has been re-issued on CD. The album charted in the UK album charts at #2 in 1983.
Essential Musicals is an album by Elaine Paige, released in 2006. The album was produced by Mike Moran, vocals were recorded at Air-Edel Studios in London, and the orchestra backing recorded at The Hungarian State Radio Studios, Budapest. The album peaked at #46 in the UK Albums Chart.
Walking in Space is a 1969 studio album by Quincy Jones. The album was recorded for A&M who released the album with a cover photo of Jones taken by Pete Turner. Vocalist Valerie Simpson is featured on the title track, an arrangement of a song from the hit rock musical Hair. "Dead End" is also from Hair and "Killer Joe" features Ray Brown on bass and Grady Tate on drums.
I Got Love is the 1970 debut album by American singer Melba Moore. Noted as her debut album, Moore was nominated for the New Artist award at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971. The album was arranged and conducted by Charlie Calello.
Hair is a 1968 cast recording of the musical Hair on the RCA Victor label. Sarah Erlewine, for AllMusic, wrote: "The music is heartening and invigorating, including the classics 'Aquarius,' 'Good Morning Starshine,' 'Let the Sunshine In,' 'Frank Mills' ... and 'Easy to Be Hard.' The joy that has been instilled in this original Broadway cast recording shines through, capturing in the performances of creators Gerome Ragni and James Rado exactly what they were aiming for — not to speak for their generation, but to speak for themselves."
Hair: Original Soundtrack Recording is the soundtrack album from the 1979 musical film Hair. It was released on the RCA Victor label.
Viet Rock is a rock musical by Megan Terry that served as inspiration to the musical Hair. A violent denunciation of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, the play was described by its author as a "folk war movie" comprising scenes of disillusionment and protest to the American military presence in Southeast Asia. Viet Rock is widely considered to be the first rock musical written and performed in the United States, as well as the first protest play about Vietnam. Its premiere also marks the first major theatre production in the United States in which actors left the stage to interact directly with the audience.
Hair is an album by bandleader Stan Kenton featuring big band versions of tunes from the rock musical Hair recorded in 1969 for Capitol Records.