Jesus Christ Superstar (album)

Last updated

Jesus Christ Superstar
Jcs uk cover.png
Original UK cover
Studio album by
various artists
Released16 October 1970 [1] (UK)
27 October 1970 (US) [2] [3]
Recorded10 October 1969 ("Superstar" single)
1970
Studio Olympic, London
Genre
Length86:56
Label Decca/MCA/Decca Broadway
Producer Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice chronology
Jesus Christ Superstar
(1970)		 Evita
(1976)
Singles from Jesus Christ Superstar
  1. "Superstar"
    Released: 21 November 1969
  2. "I Don't Know How to Love Him"
    Released: 13 May 1971
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Overture"4:00
2."Heaven on Their Minds"4:23
3."What's the Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying"4:13
4."Everything's Alright"4:36
5."This Jesus Must Die"5:11
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Hosanna"2:09
2."Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem"4:49
3."Pilate's Dream"1:28
4."The Temple"4:43
5."Everything's Alright (reprise)"0:34
6."I Don't Know How to Love Him"3:41
7."Damned for All Time/Blood Money"4:36
Side three
No.TitleLength
1."The Last Supper"7:10
2."Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)"5:33
3."The Arrest"3:24
4."Peter's Denial"1:27
5."Pilate and Christ"2:46
6."King Herod's Song"3:02
Side four
No.TitleLength
1."Judas' Death"4:17
2."Trial Before Pilate (Including the 39 Lashes)"5:13
3."Superstar"4:16
4."The Crucifixion"4:04
5."John Nineteen Forty-One"2:10

Credits

Main players [26]

Supporting players

Other players

Musicians

Other musicians

Production

Reissues

2012 remaster

In 2012, the MCA reissue was remastered personally by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who released the result on his own Really Useful Music imprint under the Decca banner. In his liner notes, Webber states that he was hoping to find some unreleased recording within the original masters, but he found out that only three out of twenty tapes had survived the 2008 Universal Studios fire, and those tapes did not contain any unreleased material. However, it later turned out that he did possess a copy of the complete masters in his own archive, and he worked from that. [27]

2021 expanded reissue

In 2021, for the 50th anniversary of the original staging, Universal Music Group released an expanded reissue (under its Decca Broadway imprint) consisting of 3 CDs and a hardback book. The first two discs contain a new remaster of the original album, made at Abbey Road Studios by staff engineers Miles Shovell and Nick Davis; the third disc includes demos, rarities, single edits and more, all sourced from Tim Rice's personal archive. [28] The book includes many photos from the era, an extensive chronicle of the making of the album (compiled by writer Lois Wilson from interviews with Webber, Rice, Yvonne Elliman, Murray Head, Ian Gillan and musicians involved in the album), appreciations by English comedian/musician Matt Berry and Chic founder Nile Rodgers, a facsimile of the lyric book included within the original 1970 album and the script for an "open-end interview" (i.e. a pre-recorded interview with music and gaps for radio DJs and presenters to insert their own voices) with Webber and Rice, whose audio part is on the third disc. The artwork for the box set includes both the brown American cover (on the slipcase for the set) and the more colourful British one, on the book itself.

Disc 3 tracklist

  1. "Ascending Chords" (orchestral intro, previously unreleased)
  2. "Blood Money" (Tim Rice's guide vocal, previously unreleased)
  3. "Herod's Song" (Tim Rice's guide vocal, previously unreleased)
  4. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (Tim Rice and Murray Head vocal, previously unreleased)
  5. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (Murray Head vocal, previously unreleased)
  6. "This Jesus Must Die" (Scat vocal, previously unreleased)
  7. "What a Party" (deleted song, previously unreleased; sung by Tony Ashton as a host introducing the cast; music later used for "This Jesus Must Die")
  8. "This Jesus Must Die" (Scat vocal 2, previously unreleased)
  9. "Heaven on Their Minds" (instrumental, previously unreleased)
  10. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (single edit)
  11. "(Too Much) Heaven on Their Minds" (German single, MCS 3468)
  12. "Strange Thing (Mystifying)" (German single, MCS 3468)
  13. "Open-End Interview with the Creators of Jesus Christ Superstar - Part One" (includes Superstar, Heaven on Their Minds, I Don't Know How to Love Him)
  14. "Open-End Interview with the Creators of Jesus Christ Superstar - Part Two" (includes Gethsemane, Herod's Song, Superstar)
  15. "John Nineteen: Forty One" (B-side of MKS 5019)

Note: the A-side of the original UK Superstar single (MKS 5019) is not included here as it is identical to the album version.

Charts

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [40] Gold350,000 [41]
France—60,000 [42]
Israel—2,500 [43]
Italy—100,000 [44]
Netherlands (NVPI) [45] Gold250,000 [46]
South Africa (SARI) [47] Gold12,500 [47]
Sweden—90,000 [48]
United Kingdom (BPI) [49]
1970 release 		Gold180,000 [50]
United States (RIAA) [51] Gold4,500,000 [50]
Summaries
North America
1970-1972 		—3,500,000 [52]
Worldwide—7,000,000 [8]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Bloom, Jerry (2015). The Road of Golden Dust, Deep Purple Story (1st ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 67. ISBN   978-1-908724-23-6.
  2. ↑ Walsh, Michael (1997). Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. p. 71. ISBN   0810912759. ...the complete Superstar hit the American market on October 27, 1970.
  3. ↑ Nassour, Ellis; Broderick, Richard (1973). Rock Opera; The Creation of Jesus Christ Superstar from Record Album to Broadway Show and Motion Picture. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc. p. 100. The Broadway opening was set for October 27, to coincide with the initial release of the album in the United States on that date a year before.
  4. ↑ Jesus Christ Superstar - Album Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved 28 September 2006.
  5. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: J". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor and Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved 27 February 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  6. ↑ "... the BBC banned it, they banned this record, because they thought it was sacrilegious."—Ted Neeley, in conversation with Norman Jewison "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ Autobiography of Norman Jewison
  8. 1 2 Ochs, Ed (29 January 1983). "Geffen Sizzles While Biz Drizzles: Broadway is Next Stage for Pop's Top Composers". Billboard . Vol. 95, no. 4. p. B-4. ISSN   0006-2510.
  9. ↑ "Celebrating 50 years of 'Jesus Christ Superstar': Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice tell Neil McCormick how 'the worst idea in history' became a musical phenomenon". The Daily Telegraph. 22 September 2021.
  10. ↑ Winston, Kimberly (30 March 2018). "The 'Splainer: The stormy, surprising history of Jesus Christ Superstar". Washington, D.C.: Religion News Service . Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Celebrating 50 years of 'Jesus Christ Superstar': Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice tell Neil McCormick how 'the worst idea in history' became a musical phenomenon". The Daily Telegraph. 2 September 2021.
  12. 1 2 Rock Opera: The creation of Jesus Christ Superstar from record album to Broadway show and motion picture. Ellis Nassour and Richard Broderick. New York: Hawthorn Books. 1973.
  13. 1 2 Superstar sells a million. Poughkeepsie Journal. 29 Nov 1970: 79.
  14. ↑ Walsh, Michael (1997). Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. p. 14. ISBN   0810912759. The hit love song from Superstar was a pop number Lloyd Webber and Rice had written earlier and sold to a publisher; its rights were bought back by David Land, then Lloyd Webber and Rice's manager, and it got a new set of lyrics. Thus the pedestrian 'Kansas Morning' became the soaring 'I Don't Know How to Love Him.'
  15. ↑ 'Superstar' Turns Gold. The Hartford Courant. 05 Dec 1970: 12.
  16. 1 2 "Allmusic: Jesus Christ Superstar: Charts & Awards: Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  17. 1 2 1971 Year-end Albums—The Billboard Pop Albums. 25 December 1971. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  18. ↑ "Jesus Christ Superstar 50 Years On" by Paul Beutel, The Austin Chronicle , 7 October 2019
  19. ↑ Pop Testament. Newsweek. 16 November 1970: 96-97
  20. ↑ Music: Story of Jesus Gets Rock Opera Treatment. Los Angeles Times. 15 Nov 1970: v50.
  21. ↑ Album Reviews. Billboard. 14 November 1970: 32.
  22. ↑ Records: It Could Be the 'Rock' of Ages. Chicago Tribune. 08 Nov 1970: f1.
  23. ↑ Cosmopolitan, Feb. 1971: 18
  24. ↑ Record Review: Jones, Sly, King, Guthrie, 'Superstar,' Hamilton Top LPs. Variety. 4 November 1970: 48.
  25. ↑ Sounds Of The Seventies: A Rock Opera Catastrophe. The Sun. 29 Nov 1970: C10.
  26. ↑ "Original Concept Recording (1970) – Jesus Christ Superstar, recording information, Jesus Christ Superstar Zone (reference for this and subsequent sections)
  27. ↑ Jesus Christ Superstar - Original Concept Recording 2012 remaster, liner notes by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  28. ↑ Liner notes by Tim Rice within the hardback book for the 2021 reissue.
  29. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 . St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
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  31. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 5207". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  32. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar - A Rock Opera" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  33. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  34. ↑ "Charts.nz – Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar - A Rock Opera". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  35. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar - A Rock Opera". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  36. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar - A Rock Opera". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  37. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  38. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1971" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  39. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1972. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  40. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Original Soundtrack – Jesus Christ Superstar - Ost". Music Canada.
  41. ↑ "Superstar Gets Gold". Billboard. 29 September 1973. p. 47. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  42. ↑ "From the Music Capitols of the World - London" (PDF). Billboard . 6 October 1973. p. 82. Retrieved 11 May 2022– via World Radio History.
  43. ↑ "From the Music Capitols of the World - Tel Aviv" (PDF). Billboard . 4 September 1971. p. 41. Retrieved 11 May 2022– via World Radio History.
  44. ↑ "CBS-Sugar Sees Sweet Picture in Economy Despite Economy Sag". Billboard. 6 July 1974. p. 38. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  45. ↑ ""Jesus" Goes Gold" (PDF). Cashbox. 7 December 1974. p. 48 – via American Radio History.
  46. ↑ "From The Music Capitols of the World - Amsterdam" (PDF). Billboard. 21 August 1976. p. 50. Retrieved 3 December 2019– via American Radio History.
  47. 1 2 "'Superstar' SA Gold" (PDF). Cash Box . 10 July 1971. p. 39. Retrieved 11 May 2022– via World Radio History.
  48. ↑ "From The Music Capitols of the World - Stockholm" (PDF). Billboard. 10 June 1972. p. 50. Retrieved 3 December 2019– via American Radio History.
  49. ↑ "British album certifications – Soundtrack – Jesus Christ Superstar (Original Cast)". British Phonographic Industry.
  50. 1 2 "'Christ' New Champ" (PDF). Billboard . 21 October 1978. p. 76. Retrieved 11 May 2022– via World Radio History.
  51. ↑ "American album certifications – Soundtrack – Jesus Christ Superstar (Original Cast)". Recording Industry Association of America.
  52. ↑ ""Superstar" Film Israeli Locale". Billboard. 6 May 1972. p. 84. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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