Jesus Christ Superstar (album)


Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 album musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, on which the 1971 rock opera musical of the same name was based. The album musical is a musical dramatisation of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem and ending with the Crucifixion. It was originally banned by the BBC on grounds of being "sacrilegious". By 1983, the album had sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

Composition

The album's story is based in large part on the Synoptic Gospels and Fulton J. Sheen's Life of Christ, which compares and calibrates all four Gospels. However, greater emphasis is placed on the interpersonal relationships of the major characters, in particular, Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene, relationships that are not described in depth in the Gospels.
Lyricist Rice said he took inspiration from the Bob Dylan song "With God on Our Side".
"Herod's Song" is a lyrical rewrite of "Try It and See", previously written by Lloyd Webber and Rice as a proposed British entry into the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest to be sung by Lulu, then recorded and released as a single by Rita Pavone. The writers had also included it in an aborted show called Come Back Richard Your Country Needs You.
The melody of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" also predates Jesus Christ Superstar; it was rewritten from a 1968 Lloyd Webber/Rice collaboration titled "Kansas Morning".

Recording

For the recording, Lloyd Webber and Rice drew personnel from both musical theatre and the British rock scene. Many of the primary musicians — guitarists Neil Hubbard and Henry McCullough, bassist Alan Spenner, and drummer Bruce Rowland — came from Joe Cocker's backing group The Grease Band. Saxophonist Chris Mercer had also played with Hubbard in Juicy Lucy.

Release

The first piece of Superstar released was the title song, as a single in November 1969 backed with the instrumental "John Nineteen Forty-One". The full album followed almost a year later.
The album topped the U.S. Billboard Top LPs chart in both February and May 1971 and ranked number one in the year-end chart ahead of Carole King's massive hit Tapestry. It also served as a launching pad for numerous stage productions on Broadway and in the West End. The original 1970 boxed-set issue of this 2-record set was packaged in the U.S. with a special thin brown cardboard outer box which contained the 2 vinyl records and a 28-page libretto.

Track listing

All compositions written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Credits

Main players
Supporting players
Other players
Musicians
Other musicians
Production
Original Concept Recording. Jesus Christ Superstar – A Rock Opera. Universal City, California: MCA Records Inc. , ©1993. Cat. No. MCAD2-11542 , UPC 008811154226

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Certification Table Bottom