This studio rendition of JCS was the first and is still the best of the many versions out there. Perhaps because, as with movie sequels, subsequent editions try to hard to capture what the original does naturally. Murray Head (of One Night in Bangkok fame from Chess) is an impassioned Judas, and the production is crisp and polished. The only "flaw" to speak of is the absence of material subsequently written for the movie, such as the full tracks "Can We Start Again Please" and "Then We are Decided", and extended lyrics on Hosanna. If you're a big enough fan, as I am, you'll just have to get the movie soundtrack to supplement--but not replace--the original.

I had this on 8-track in 1972, 8-tracks would play repeatedly over and over all night until the cartridge was white hot. I could sing the thing from start to finish, even today. It is excedingly tuneful. I am befuddled by the crap Webber created afterwards, I guess that is the cost of success, it screws up creative energy. JCS has 'honest-to-God' rock basslines, it has full-throated melodies, it even has clever lyrics.

"Heaven on Their Minds" is a good rock song with thoughtful lyrics (for rock, anyway) and an excellent singing performance.

"What's the Buzz" and its sister "The Arrest" got hooks and counterpoint, what's not to like? This is true of much of this album. Songs start out doing one thing and then characters chime in with something else. That's a big plus I loved about this album. It is melodically complex. Different character sing in diff voices with diff melodic themes.

"This Jesus Must Die" is a great ensemble singing performance by the Sanhedrin choir or whatever you'd call it, leading into "Hosanna" with its catchy plays on the word 'hosanna', more good contributions from the Sanhedrin choir.

Yeah some tunes on this album are not really rock, I'm speaking of "Pilate's Dream" and "Pilate And Christ" (Pilate just doesn't rock; I would have thought Romans were rocking but Webber disagreed), but this was a stage play and actually the vocals save these less compelling songs, the singing crew apparently was pumped up for the orginal recording, in the context of the whole vision of JCS the non-rock tunes are not out of line, they make sense, but I suppose these non-rock tunes were unfortunate harbingers of the lame route Webber would follow in his pandering Broadway efforts in the years to come.

"The Temple" is a great tune, musically and lyrically, it gets its point acrossed effectively,

The songs Webber entrusted to Yvonne Elliman, "Everything's Alright" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him", are just great. They are just fabulous. And what I especially love is that they are not just star-turns, they are part of the dramatic developement of the story, (this is a well-known story...) and other singers answer Ms. Magdalene in ending verses and there is counterpoint. Jesus Christ, how come all songs don't have counterpoint? Bach did it 300+ years ago and he'll live forever. I suppose most musicians are simpletons, there are few geniuses. I thought Webber was a genius in 1972 but subsequent events cast doubt on this presumptuous adolescent worship. "Peter's Denial" Yvonne shines too.

"The Last Supper" is a good tune. Even in 1972 I thought it was kind of dismissive towards the 12 disciples, like they were building their resumes like MBAs or software engineers with a personal agenda, but nevertheless it is a good tune. The ultimate test of a tune is if you sing it yourself and it is still compelling.

"Gethsemane(I Only Want To Say)" is also a good tune, with hooks, maybe the original recording with its passionate vocals bring out the good in all these non-singleworthy show tunes, Webber should thank his lucky stars for the original cast, the Deep Purple guy was stunning, as good or better than "Magic Carpet Ride".

Musically, "King Herod's Song" was always kind the odd-man-out, but I always liked the clever lyrics. In the movie they made later I did not approve of the campy production, the movie did not improve on anything in the musical, this show is due for a remake movie some day. I saw the show in a revival in London in
1978 and it shined then, but the movie was disappointing, except some of the Judas stuff was done well.

"Trial Before Pilate(Including 39 Lashes)" could have been boring or gruesome like "The Passion" but it plays out okay, it fits in. It's definitely a show tune of some sort, but 'Pilate' and 'Jesus' sing in a fast cadence and it all fits in. Counterpoint, the superior weapon of good tunemasters.

"Crucifixion" was actually a compelling piece of musical exploration, IMHO.

But I don't favor the outgoing music "John Nineteen Forty-One", it is kind of a so-what tune.

"Superstar" is a great song, the signature of this show, with yet more clever lyics (What is Tim Rice up to these days?), the verse and the chorus shine, in the stage production this one gets the heart pumping.

Obviously I love this show, and in general I don't love shows, but I know this one by heart. It will live forever for me, maybe it was the moment, the late 60's-early 70's, when I was young and impressionable, but I believe that period was a 'moment' when heartfelt music was written and I dare anyone to say that nowadays in 2005 heartfelt music is being written, because I don't hear it.

The key word is is HEARTFELT. Hello? Does anybody hear me? Does anybody understand that 'concept' anymore? What are you people doing? What is this culture doing?

THE recoding of this rock opera. The orginal cast in true form! This is the version to buy!

While Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST may have been the better film, this Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber musical makes for the better soundtrack. Memorable songs not only include the hits "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (by a 19-year-old Yvonne Elliman) and "Superstar" (by Murray Head), but there are other standout tracks like "Heaven on Their Minds," "Hosanna," "The Last Supper" and "Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)." One of my favorite tracks, however, is "King Herod's Song (Try It and See)" with its ragtime-esque chorus including the line "Prove to me that you're no fool/Walk across my swimming pool."

In addition to Elliman(Mary Magdalene) and Head (Judas), the cast included other notables such as Deep Purple's Ian Gillan (Jesus) and Manfred Mann's Mike d'Abo (King Herod). [It should be noted that Paul Davis (Peter) is NOT the Paul Davis of "I Go Crazy" fame.]

Musicians included then members of Spooky Tooth (Alan Spenner, bass; Henry McCulloch, guitars--who would later play with Wings), the Grease Band (Bruce Rowland, Drums; Neil Hubbard, Guitar), Quatermass (Peter Robinson, keyboards), and the Keef Hartley Band (Chris Mercer, tenor sax).

I was in college when this was first released, and it would be blaring almost non-stop from stereos throughout the dorm. While listening to this two-disc set almost thirty-five years later, some of the music may sound a little dated, but it still retains much of its original power. RECOMMENDED

This album introduced many of us oldsters to Weber-Rice in general and the masterpiece of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in particular. The album was many things to us in 1971: dark, brooding, profoundly moving and religiously subversive all at once. Just the thing to challenge a generation emerging -- in the wake of the Vatican II reforms -- from centuries of rigid, unimaginative and uninspiring religious teaching. During the early 1970s, works like JCS became the unofficial replacements for the thought of Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine.

JCS represents a somewhat blind groping for something relevant and vital in the Jesus story. At the time, some in Christian circles were certain that there was something to Jesus that had eluded us. We instinctively rejected the notion that our loving Savior was a distant, cold and heartless judge. Listening to JCS helped us to rehabilitate a Jesus who was more human, who got tired and brooded and lashed out. This is hardly a new image. The Gospel of Mark also portrays Christ as emotional and vulnerable.

For all our belief in its subversiveness, JCS follows the gospels rather closely. We get the same cast of gospel characters: clueless disciples, reactionary Jewish leaders, elitist Romans and devoted women. Jesus is a pious, miracle-working popular "superstar" who runs afoul of Temple and secular authorities after causing a disturbance in the Temple. He is captured, tried and executed by crucifixion. The main departure from the gospels is the sympathetic portrayal of Judas, a man who admires Jesus but can't understand (and fears) others' feeling that Jesus is divine. In many ways, Judas is a stand-in for contemporary listeners who can't grasp Jesus's otherness. The album ends with the death of Jesus. For its time, this was a daring departure from the gospels, continuing the work's agnostic stance toward the divinity of Christ.

Artistically, this album is a masterpiece. The orchestral arrangements and performance are complex without being inaccessible. The singing has depth, range and broad emotion without being sappy -- mostly due Deep Purple's Ian Gillan's brilliant performance as Jesus. Murray Head as Judas is as good as it gets, alternately raging, self-pitying and cockily assured. Yvonne Elliman's Mary Magdalene is notable, though her whiny delivery (though not nearly as bad as in the movie!) can be grating.

Theologically, of course, believers will have a bone to pick with the creators. On the other hand, the album lets us decide about Christ on our own. It presents the facts (mostly) and lets us make our own conclusions. Just like the first disciples.