Getting Back In The Saddle

As I mentioned in my "other blog," I finally fell off the wagon and missed an entire week of posts. I was out of town almost all of last week and was also out for half the previous week. As a result, I've been struggling to catch up and the blog posting fell off my list of priorities. So, I'm going to try hard to get back in line, straighten the wagon, hop back on the saddle, and try and relearn how not to mix metaphors.

On to business.

This weekend, the touring Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar was in town. Of course, I couldn't miss it. It featured Ted Neeley as Jesus (yes, he's been playing the role for 35 years now) and Corey Glover (of Living Color) as Judas. While Ted's voice was surprisingly strong for his age (he nailed the screaming tones of Gethsemane!). The rest of the production was okay. It wasn't bad, but nothing spectacular. I have always wanted to play Pilate in a stage production of this musical and I thought the Pilate in this production resorted to screaming too much instead of singing.

To celebrate my return to the blog and my weekend of Jesus Christ Superstar, here are two selections from "international" versions of the production from my collection. The first one is from the Japanese production. The Japanese production has a terrible Judas. He screams dischordantly through many of the numbers. Still, I selected Everything's Alright from the Japanese cast recording because it provides a reasonable sampling of the voices of Jesus (Takeshi Kaga), Judas (Minoru Terada), and Mary Magdalene (Hideko Kuno). The sound seems a little more synthesizer-tinged than the original. It appears that this CD is available via an Amazon seller at a very high price here.

The second selection is from the Spanish cast recording from Madrid. What I love about these different versions is how the local musical flavor influences the arrangement. The Spanish version has a stronger chorus of acoustic guitars than the original. Here's an extra energetic and rock version of Simon Zealotes. Note the great use of synthesizers on this song. I also include I Don't Know How To Love Him sung by Angela Carrasco as Mary Magdalene. The Spanish version is also available for a ridiculous price on Amazon here.

1. Everything's Alright - Jesus Christ Superstar Japanese Cast (3.7 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Simon Zealotes - Jesus Christ Superstar Spanish Cast (3.35 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
3. Es Mas Que Amor (I Don't Know How To Love Him) - Jesus Christ Superstar Spanish Cast (3.78 MB; 128 kbps MP3)

Soulful Jesus Christ Superstar

One of my all time favorite albums is Jesus Christ Superstar. In general, I also love cover versions of songs I love (especially if they're quite distinct from the original). So, how could I resist when eBay promised me that ultimate salvation - a cover version of Jesus Christ Superstar?

The vinyl album on eBay promised a "soul version" of Jesus Christ Superstar that sounded intriguing. I have numerous versions of the album already (if you're interested, I'll post songs from the Japanese version on this blog sometime). So, during one of my spurts of vinyl-to-digital conversion, I transferred the album to my computer.

This appears to be one of those rare albums that I could not find on Amazon.com. It obviously is so obscure that it was never released on CD. The versions are certainly very different than the ones we're all familiar with and consists of songs sung by Sammy Turner (Jesus), Jaye Kennedy (Mary Magdalene), and Sam Taylor, Jr. (Judas). While I would love to post the entire album here, I thought I'd at least give you a taste for the style of the album with these two selections here.

Amazingly (maybe I should say "Amazoningly"), I found that Sammy Turner was apparently famous enough to have a Best of ... collection on Amazon.com. You can find that album here. I have no idea if the Sam Taylor, Jr. on this album is the same Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor listed on wikipedia. No information can easily be unearthed about Jaye Kennedy.

1. Jaye Kennedy - Everything's Allright (2.29 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. J.D. Bryant - The Last Supper (2.49 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Unheard Fiddler?

My wife is a huge fan of Fiddler on the Roof and at one point, I had purchased several versions of the record to pique her interest in record collecting. Recently, I hooked up my record player to my computer and attempted to digitize some of these records.

One particularly interesting version of the album was sung entirely by Herschel Bernardi. I found his voice to be particularly interesting and different. He's got a slightly whimsical tone to his voice that seems to suit my impression of Tevye. You can find it on Amazon here.

On this album, were two songs that were written by lyricist Sheldon Harnick and composer Jerry Bock for the original production but were eventually cut from the stage play. I actually found these two songs instantly catchy and likable. When Messiah Comes actually was released in the 30th Anniversary edition of the album of the Broadway Cast Recording. The other, Fiddler on the Roof may also be on the re-released album as a bonus track, but I'm not sure.

So, for my first post, here's a link to MP3s of these two songs from Herschel Bernardi's presentation of songs from Fiddler on the Roof. Note that these were transferred from the original vinyl record so contain all the crackling and hiss of vinyl recordings.

1. When Messiah Comes - Herschel Bernardi (3.63 MB; 192 kbps MP3)
2. Fiddler on the Roof - Herschel Bernardi (4.39 MB; 192 kbps MP3)