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".[3][4] By 1983, the album had sold over 7 million copies worldwide.[5]

For the film soundtrack album, see Jesus Christ Superstar (film) § Soundtrack.

Jesus Christ Superstar
Original UK cover
Studio album by
various artists
ReleasedSeptember 1970
Recorded10 October 1969 ("Superstar" single)
1970 in Olympic Studios, London
GenreArt rock, progressive rock
Length86:56
LabelDecca/MCA/Decca Broadway
ProducerTim 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
Alternative cover
US edition cover, May 1971
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideC–[2]

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".[6]

"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 (as "Those Saladin Days") 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 (Murray Head had just left the West End production of Hair) and the British rock scene (Ian Gillan had only recently become the singer of Deep Purple). 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" (see John 19:41). The full album followed almost a year later.

The album topped the U.S. Billboard Top LPs chart in both February and May 1971[7] and ranked number one in the year-end chart ahead of Carole King's massive hit Tapestry.[8] 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 ("The Brown Album")[9] which contained the 2 vinyl records and a 28-page libretto.

Track listing

All compositions written by Tim Rice (lyrics and book) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (music).

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[10]

Supporting players

Other players

Musicians

Other musicians

  • Harold Beckett, Les Condon, Ian Hamer, Kenny Wheeler – trumpet
  • Anthony Brooke, Joseph Castaldini – bassoon
  • Andrew McGavin, Douglas Moore, James Brown, Jim Buck Sr., Jim Buck Jr., John Burdon – horns
  • Norman Cave, Karl Jenkins – piano
  • Jeff Clyne, Peter Morgan, Alan Weighall – bass guitar
  • Keith Christie, Frank Jones, Anthony Moore – trombone
  • Alan Doggett – principal Conductor, Moog synthesizer
  • Ian Herbert – clarinet
  • Clive Hicks, Chris Spedding, Louis Stewart, Steve Vaughan – guitar
  • Bill LeSage, John Marshall – drums
  • Chris Taylor, Brian Warren – flute
  • Mike Vickers – Moog synthesizer
  • Mick Weaver – piano, organ
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber – piano, organ, Moog synthesizer
  • Strings of the City of London Ensemble

Production

  • Alan O'Duffy – chief engineer

Reissue

Original Concept Recording. Jesus Christ Superstar – A Rock Opera. Universal City, California: MCA Records Inc. [USA], ©1993 (released 24 SEP 1996). Cat. No. MCAD2-11542 [2 CDs], UPC 008811154226
(N.B.: Black title on front and back cover; gold 'angels' logo; gold lettering on the spine. Depending on the retailer, an outer sticker may state that the album was 'Digitally Remastered [Complete on 2 CDs]' and/or 'Original Artwork and Libretto'. This information is not found on the inner packaging.)

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1970–71) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report[11] 6
Austrian Albums Chart[12] 4
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[13] 1
Dutch Albums Chart[14] 10
Italian Albums Chart[15] 16
Norwegian Albums Chart[16] 3
UK Albums Chart[17] 23
US Billboard 200[7] 1
West German Media Control Albums Chart[18] 11

Year-end charts
Chart (1971) Position
Australian Albums Chart[11] 4
Italian Albums Chart[15] 41
US Billboard Pop Albums[8] 1

Certifications and sales

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Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[19]
Australian Cast 		4× Platinum 280,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Gold 350,000[21]
Italy — 100,000[22]
Netherlands (NVPI)[23] Gold 250,000[24]
Sweden — 90,000[25]
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[27] Gold 500,000^
Summaries
North America — 3,500,000[28]
Worldwide — 7,000,000[5]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

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See also

References
  1. Jesus Christ Superstar > Album Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved 28 September 2006.
  2. 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.
  3. "... 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.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Autobiography of Norman Jewison
  5. Ochs, Ed (29 January 1983). "Geffen Sizzles While Biz Drizzles: Broadway is Next Stage for Pop's Top Composers". Billboard. 95 (4): B-4. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. 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.
  7. "Allmusic: Jesus Christ Superstar : Charts & Awards : Billboard Albums". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  8. 1971 Year-end Albums – The Billboard Pop Albums. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  9. "Jesus Christ Superstar 50 Years On" by Paul Beutel, The Austin Chronicle, 7 October 2019
  10. "Original Concept Recording (1970) – Jesus Christ Superstar, recording information, Jesus Christ Superstar Zone (reference for this and subsequent sections)
  11. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. "Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera – austriancharts.at". Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  13. "Top Albums/CDs – Volume 15, No. 3". RPM. 6 March 1971. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  14. "dutchcharts.nl Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  15. "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1971" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  16. "norwegiancharts.com Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera" (ASP). Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  17. "Album Search Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Archived from the original on 21 March 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  18. "Album Search: Musical / Andrew Lloyd Webber – Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera" (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  19. "Aria Charts - Albums 1992". Aria Charts. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  20. "Canadian album certifications – Original Soundtrack – Jesus Christ Superstar - Ost". Music Canada.
  21. "Superstar Gets Gold". Billboard. 29 September 1973. p. 47. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  22. "CBS-Sugar Sees Sweet Picture In Economy Despite Economy Sag". Billboard. 6 July 1974. p. 38. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  23. ""Jesus" Goes Gold" (PDF). Cash Box. 7 December 1974. p. 48 – via American Radio History.
  24. "From The Music Capitols Of The World - Amsterdam" (PDF). Billboard. 21 August 1976. p. 50. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via American Radio History.
  25. "From The Music Capitols Of The World - Stockholm" (PDF). Billboard. 10 June 1972. p. 50. Retrieved 3 December 2019 – via American Radio History.
  26. "British album certifications – Original Soundtrack – Jesus Christ Superstar - Ost". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 3 December 2019. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Jesus Christ Superstar - Ost in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  27. "American album certifications – Soundtrack – Jesus Christ Superstar (Original Cast)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 3 December 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  28. ""Superstar" Film Israeli Locale". Billboard. 6 May 1972. p. 84. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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