The Wavelength
Monday April 5th, 2021 with Joe Reilly
Tonight we feature Jesus Christ Superstar - the original 1970 recording - in its entirety!

Back in 1970-71 Jesus Christ Superstar was seen as a scandalous representation of Jesus Christ. It caused an uproar and the BBC banned songs from it because it was seen as blasphemous. 50 years later it seems quite tame. Tonight we listen to the entire rock opera - the version that was released in late 1970 and went on to dominate the album charts in 1971 - in fact it was the top selling album of 1971 and narrowly edged out Carole King's Tapestry that year. It's pretty funky at times, a bit psychedelic and certainly corny in some parts - but it was groundbreaking in its day. It's interesting to note that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice orchestrated the recording of this album because nobody wanted to mount it as a musical production. After the album roared up the charts, plenty of producers came knocking and the musical was eventually presented all over the planet. In 1973, Canadian Norman Jewison created a movie with the music. The movie has its moments, but overall has some major flaws - not the least being the flat characterization of Jesus from the actor Ted Neeley. Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame had passed on the movie role after doing a great job on the album, because he wanted to be out touring with his band. The cast featured on this recording is as follows (in order of appearance): Judas Iscariot - Murray Head Jesus Christ - Ian Gillan Mary Magdalene - Yvonne Elliman Priest - Paul Raven Caiaphas, High Priest - Victor Brox Annas - Brian Keith Simon Zealotes - John Gustafson Pontius Pilate - Barry Dennen Maid by the Fire - Annette Brox Peter - Paul Davis King Herod - Mike d'Abo Enjoy!