(Review from allmusic, amazon)

Jesus Christ Superstar started life as a most improbable concept album from an equally unlikely label, Decca Records, which had not, until then, been widely known for groundbreaking musical efforts. It was all devised by then 21-year-old composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and 25-year-old lyricist Tim Rice. Jesus Christ Superstar had been conceived as a stage work, but lacking the funds to get it produced, the two collaborators instead decided to use an album as the vehicle for introducing the piece, a fairly radical rock/theater hybrid about the final days in the life of Jesus as seen from the point of view of Judas. If its content seemed daring (and perhaps downright sacrilegious), the work, a “sung-through” musical echoing operatic and oratorio traditions, was structurally perfect for an album; just as remarkable as its subject matter was the fact that its musical language was full-blown rock music. There was at the time an American-spawned hit theater piece called Hair that utilized elements of rock music, but it wasn’t as unified a work as Webber and Rice’s creation, and it was less built on rock music than on pop music that referred to rock; Webber and Rice’s work presented a far sharper, bolder musical edge and pushed it much further and harder than Hair ever did.

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. 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 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.

Line-up:
Main Vocals :
* Murray Head – Judas Iscariot
* Ian Gillan – Jesus Christ
* Yvonne Elliman – Mary Magdalene
* Victor Brox – Caiaphas, High Priest
* Brian Keith – Annas
* John Gustafson – Simon Zealotes
* Barry Dennen – Pontius Pilate
* Paul Davis – Peter
* Mike d’Abo – King Herod
Musicians
* Bruce Rowland – drums, Percussion
* Allan Spenner – bass guitar
* Henry McCulloch -electric guitar, acoustic guitar
* Neil Hubbard – electric guitar
* Peter Robinson – piano, electric piano, Organ, positive organ
* Chris Mercer – tenor sax

Track List:
CD1
01. Overture
02. Heaven On Their Minds
03. What’s The Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying
04. Everything’s Alright
05. This Jesus Must Die
06. Hosanna
07. Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem
08. Pilate’s Dream
09. The Temple
10. Everything’s Alright
11. I Don’t Know How To Love Him
12. Damned For All Time/Blood Money
CD2
01. The Last Supper
02. Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)
03. The Arrest
04. Peter’s Denial
05. Pilate And Christ
06. King Herod’s Song(Try It And See)
07. Judas’ Death
08. Trial Before Pilate (Including 39 Lashes)
09. Superstar
10. Crucifixion
11. John Nineteen Forty-One

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