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Episode #86 – Ian Gillan Band – Scarabus

Full video on Cocoscope this week: https://www.cocoscope.com/watch?v=74504

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Show Updates:

Lead up to the Album:

  • We last left off with the “Clear Air Turbulence” album.
  • Gillan found himself at Island Records (we talked about Gillan playing pool with Bob Marley).  Former Uriah Heep singer, John Byron, also found a home there.
  • There seemed to be a distinct effort to make a harder rock approach after “Clear Air Turbulence.”
  • Scarabus came only six months after Clear Air Turbulence.
  • The goal on Scarabus was to bring a harder-rocking offering.  Clear Air Turbulence focused a lot on the musicianship, Scarabus was to put more of a focus on Gillan’s vocals.
  • Ten 3-4 minute songs vs six 6-7 minute songs.

Personnel

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • The witch on the US sleeve comes from a movie poster for a 1976 horror movie called “The Witch Who Came From The Sea.”  That was based on a painting by Frank Frazetta.
    • Did covers for Molly Hatchet, Nazareth, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Technical:

Album Tracks:

All songs written by Gillan, Towns, Fenick, Gustafson, Nauseef.

Side One:

  1. Scarabus
  2. Twin Exhausted
  3. Poor Boy Hero
    • Gillan takes a look and processes the death of Elvis Presley, one of his childhood heroes.
  4. Mercury High
    • Single with Mad Elaine as the A-side.  Released in January of 1978.  Did not perform well.
  5. Pre-release

Side Two:

  1. Slags to Bitches
  2. Apathy
  3. Mad Elaine
    • Single with Mercury High as B-side.  Released in January of 1978.  Did not perform well.
  4. Country Lights
  5. Fool’s Mate

Reception and Review

  • Scarabus didn’t have a huge splash when it was released.  1977 saw punk and disco coming to a rise and hard rock had fallen a little out of favor.
  • Mad Elaine/Mercury High single did not perform well being released in January 1978 getting lost in the post-Christmas time period.
  • A five-track single-sided sampler was released to radio stations featuring Scarabus, Twin Exhausted, Slags to Bitches, Mad Elaine, and Fool’s Mate.
  • After the album release only Gillan and Towns would remain and they would reform as Gillan, focusing on the harder-rock direction they started with Scarabus.
  • In Child in Time Gillan says: “Although I was with fine musicians and great mates, the only thing they did not take seriously was rock ‘n’ roll, the whole group idea seemed to be about making music in a complicated and tricky way, instead of dealing with rock the way it should be — simple.”
  • Gillan admits that he had “no real control over the band.”
  • Nauseef would go on to work with Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, and Phil Lynott solo.
  • Gustafson left to work with Gordon Gilstrap, who interestingly enough did an instrumental album called “The Peacock Party” which was based on the sequel to “The Butterfly Ball.”  Gustafson also worked with The Pirates and many other groups.  Additionally he’d recorded a solo album called “Goose Grease” in 1976 which didn’t see an official release until 1997.
  • Gillan speaks fondly of Gustafson, referring to him as one of his heroes from the Mersey Beats and complimenting his writing of the bass line on “Love is the Drug” by Roxy Music.
  • Ray Fenwick continued to be a prolific session guitarist.
  • Gillan tells a great story about Ray Fenwick being asked in Japan to sign a baby.
  • Island records, which had the rights to the Ian Gillan Band material, took advantage of Deep Purple’s reunion in 1984 buy issuing a best of album in 1986 called “What I Did On My Vacation.”
  • When Scarabus was released on CD it featured a nine-minute live version of “My Baby Loves Me.” It featured Ian Gillan Band and Gillan material.
  • Gillan says that the critics seemed to like Mercury High, Twin Exhausted, and Slags to Bitches but that the band was having trouble shaking the “jazz fusion” description.
  • Island was not pleased with the sales for Ian Gillan Band.  Part of the deal in leaving Island was that Gillan got to recover his catalogue and put it into Clear Air Music Publishing.

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Episode #85 – Tommy Bolin – The Final Show

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Jai-Alai Fronton

Profile:

Sports complex located in Miami, Florida. The venue hosted concerts during the 1960s and 1970s.

Contact Info:

3500 NW 37th Avenue

Miami, FL 33142

Sites:

Wikipedia

Lead up to the Album:

  • THE ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
  • February 26, 1976
  • BY DAVID RENSIN
  • Along with Jeff Beck, Keith Moon, Salvador Dali and 12 roadies, Bolin was named a correspondent in Ritchie Blackmore’s divorce suit against his wife, Babs. As he tugged at a single large silver hoop earring and straightened his tinted hair, Bolin conceded nothing: ” I was in a drunken stupor for four days and I passed out at her place. She was always having these parties. I never fucked her or nothing.” Bolin’s name has since been dropped from the suit.
  • After recording Private Eyes Tommy headed out on the road to tour.  They played their first show on April 28, 1976 in Encinitas.  At this point it’s unclear that Bolin knew Deep Purple had broken up.
  • In May he played a show at Ebbets Field.  “I have the best of both worlds,” he said. “I can make money with Purple and be as artsy as I want on my own.”  As we’ve discussed previously, while Deep Purple had broken up it wasn’t until later than Bolin and Hughes were made aware of this.
  • After leaving Deep Purple his long time girlfriend had left him, starting a relationship with Glenn Hughes.
  • Tommy reportedly pulled back a little on the tour and some fans reported disappointment when he gave some of his solos to Norma Jean Bell.
  • His drug use was increasing and decreasing night-tonight.
  • He verbally insulted record label executives at one show who were in attendance.
  • Shortly after he was dropped by Nemperor records and found a new home with Columbia.
  • The Private Eyes Lineup began the tour, Jimmy Haslip took over on bass with Johnnie Bolin on Drums up until October of 1976.
  • Norma Jean Bell was critical of Johnnie Bolin’s drumming stating he didnt’ have the same jazz style of previous drummers being more of a straight ahead rock drummer and Johnnie left the band.
  • In October Mark Craney took over on drums with Max Gronenthal taking over on keyboards.
  • The band played a show in Sioux City, Tommy’s home town, on November 22 and had a rest there.
  • The next show was December 3, 1976 opening for Jeff Beck on the first date of a new tour.
  • Show at Miami Jai-Alai Fronton, a sports complex located in Miami, Florida. The venue hosted concerts during the 1960s and 1970s.

Personnel

  • Bass – Jimmy Haslip
    • Extremely prolific bassist who has played with everyone from Crosby, Stills, and Nash to Blackjack, and Diana Ross.
  • Drums – Mark Craney
    • Played with Jean Luc Ponty, Jethro Tull, Z (on the Shampoohorn album).
    • Claude Schnell’s Phil Collins story
    • Passed away in 2005.
  • Guitar, Vocals – Tommy Bolin
  • Keyboards, Vocals – Max Gronenthal
    • Played with Rod Stewart, Grand Funk Railroad, 
  • Saxophone, Vocals – Norma Jean Bell

Album Tracks:

  1. Teaser 
  2. People People
  3. You Told Me That You Loved Me
  4. Drum and Guitar Solos
  5. Wild Dogs
  6. Post Toastee

After the Show

  • Tommy returned to the Newport Hotel after the show.  He passed away in the early morning of December 4, 1976.  The coroner’s investigation found the death to be caused by an overdose of morphine, cocaine, lidocaine, and alcohol.
  • It’s reported that his drug and alcohol abuse intensified to battle the depression he was suffering from as a result of his breakup with his longtime girlfriend Karen and financial concerns.
  • His funeral was held on December 10, 1976 in Sioux City and he was buried in his family’s plot at Calvary Cemetery.
  • Karen Ulibarri returned from England and is said to have placed a ring on Tommy’s finger that Jimi Hendrix had been wearing the day he died.
  • It’s said that Deep Purple’s manager had given the ring to Tommy as a gift and Karen had kept it safe because Tommy kept losing it.

For Further Information:

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Episode #84 – Whitesnake – Trouble

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Show Updates:

  • Comments from social media.
  • New Apple Podcasts review: 5 Stars!
  • Well Disguised , 10/29/2020
  • Great guys, great show
    • I thought I was a big Deep Purple fan…then I discovered these guys. They do a wonderful job of truly digging deep into the entire world of Deep Purple, and if you know anything about the history of the band, that gives them a wide latitude of things to explore. The Twitter account is fun to follow, too. This is well worth your time if you have any interest in DP.
  • Tommy Bolin Memorial Statue Fundraiser

Lead up to the Album:

  • Martin Popoff talks in his book “Sail Away” about how David Coverdale’s solo career was a bit disjointed in 1978.  He talks about the confusing album titles and ban names (White Snake vs. Whitesnake) and the Snakebite EP.  He says that the public “did not want funky R&B or blues fusion or whatever it was he was selling.  He cites Ian Gillan Band and Paice Ashton Lord for more evidence to support this.
  • Coverdale had apparently tried to recruit Colin Towns from Ian Gillan Band and also Tony Ashton on keys.  Paice Ashton Lord had also attempted to get Coverdale to join them as we discussed on our PAL episode to form a band called CLAP!
  • Mick Ralphs from Bad Company had been attempting to get Lord to join but the idea was vetoed by Paul Rodgers.  Micky Moody and Paul Rodgers had been in a couple of bands together when they were younger.
  • Bernie Marsden: “Jon brought to the table what Jon Lord did.  I mean, when he overdubbed the stuff on Trouble, we had already recorded with the previous keyboard player, before Jon joined the band.  And literally, when Jon brought his Hammond organ and stuff into the studio I mean, the room literally shook.  And you know, Jon had a presence about him, as a person, and you know what he was like as a musician.”
  • Coverdale: “A lot of people don’t realize . . . they either look at Purple as a collective or particularly Ritchie.  But a huge part of Deep Purple’s sound was Jon Lord’s left hand on that customized Hammond organ.  My God, it would shake your haemorrhoids when he would hit the bottom end of that Hammond.”
  • Neil Murray says that even though Jon recorded over Solley’s tracks that Solley still had a great input on the album seeing that he was involved in the whole process.

Personnel

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • US Snake/Egg Cover
  • Art Direction, Design – Bill Burks (2)
    • Designed covers for Kenny Rogers, Dusty Springfield, Tina Turner
  • Illustration – Bill Imhoff
    • Did covers for Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys

Album Tracks:


Side One:

  1. Take Me With You (Coverdale, Moody)
    • Neil Murray calls this “a big and exciting work-out with lots of solos in it.”
  2. Love to Keep You Warm (Coverdale)
  3. Lie Down (A Modern Love Song) (Coverdale, Moody)
    • First UK single in late September of 1978 with “Don’t Mess with Me” as the B-side.
    • There are also a number of TV appearances available for Lie Down and Trouble, from the Uk and from Germany
  4. Day Tripper (Lennon, McCartney)
    • In Germany Day Tripper was released as a single, coupled with Love To Keep You Warm
    • Marsden said that he wanted to do a funky version of the song.  MArsden said that DAvid Dowle was a really good funk drummer which gave this song a great feeling.
    • This was the first Whitesnake hit.
  5. Nighthawk (Vampire Blues) (Coverdale, Marsden)
    • Marsden had the idea for the song and says Coverdale came out with a dark lyric.
    • The song gets its title from Coverdale’s mother’s name for him.  I’m assuming this means “Nighthawk.”

Side Two:

  1. The Time Is Right For Love (Coverdale, Marsden)
    • Second UK single in March 1979
    • A: The Time Is Right For Love B: Come On (Live Version)
    • Videos for Day Tripper and The Time Is Right For Love were recorded early November 1978 (4th and 5th, if I can trust a 1978 tour rider I recently found).
  2. Trouble (Coverdale, Marsden)
  3. Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick (Moody)
    • Allegedly Coverdale had done a solo on this song but it got scrapped.  Marsden disputes this saying Coverdale never did any guitar on their albums.  Marsden does say that Coverdale was “a pretty good soloist.”  He says in rehearsals Coverdale was always playing the guitar.
  4. Free Flight (Coverdale, Marsden)
    • Marsden sings this one.
    • Marsden says Coverdale wanted him to sing this one.  He says in those days Coverdale didn’t want his name on the band, wanted it to be a real band.
  5. Don’t Mess with Me (Coverdale, Moody, Marsden, Murray, Lord, Dowle)

Reception and Review

  • Micky Moody states that the band was a lot of fun and that there was a lot of camaraderie.  He says that they didn’t make a lot of money since they never really broke our toured in the States and that’s where the money was.
  • Coverdale would share the publishing rights on one song per album in hopes of keeping the guys happy with their low pay.
  • Stargazer: Issue 17  October/December 1978
    • For those of you who don’t like bad reviews, read the live report below. I saw the band before I heard this, and there ain’t no comparison. ‘Take Me With You’ has a nice opening, synthesised noises and chunky guitar before the track proper starts, but it kind of tails off after a while. I don’t think Dowle is right for the band, but not being a drummer I can’t really say why. ‘The Time Is Right For Love’ is a track which, had it had the time devoted to it that ‘Northwinds’ had might have been very good. In case you miss the news about Lord, they just turn him up as it ends, both on this and other tracks. Overall it’s very ordinary and two-dimensional.
  • On November 9 1978 both Whitesnake and Gillan played a show in Manchester
  • The UK tour was in October/November 1978 and the last show in London was released later as “Live At Hammersmith” in Japan March 1980 and as part of “Live In The Heart Of the City” late 1980 worldwide

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Episode #83 – Hughes/Thrall Videos

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Videos and Links:

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Episode #82 – Down to Earth (Part 2 with Martin Popoff)

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Show Updates:

Open Discussion:

Album Track Rundown:

Side One:

  1. All Night Long (Blackmore/Glover)
  2. Eyes of the World (Blackmore/Glover)
  3. No Time to Lose (Blackmore/Glover)
  4. Makin’ Love (Blackmore/Glover)
    • Steve Pilkington says that the “Don’t Believe that I’m a liar” sections sounds reminiscent of Kiss.

Side Two:

  1. Since You Been Gone (Russ Ballard)
  2. Love’s No Friend (Blackmore/Glover)
  3. Danger Zone (Blackmore/Glover)
  4. Lost in Hollywood (Blackmore, Glover, Powell)

For Further Information:

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Episode #81 – Down to Earth (Part 1)

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    • Michael Vader

Thanks to our Brothers at the Deep Dive Podcast Network:

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Show Updates:

Lead up to the Album:

  • We talked in a previous episode about how Roger Glover had bumped into Ritchie in Munich when they were recording “Stargazer” and Ritchie had played the tracks for Roger.  Glover said he was blown away and told Ritchie he thought it was a masterpiece.
  • The band sort of fell apart and Blackmore asked Glover to produce their next album.  Glover joined and worked on writing songs and playing bass as a session player.
  • Glover: “Why have a grudge against someone who’s such a great artist? I gave him a pass and decided to let him get away with it.”
  • In Martin Popoff’s book “Sensitive to Light” he says that Glover says he started his production duties on the album before Dio left the band and that it was very clear that Dio and Blackmore weren’t on the same page.  Glover acted as a go between the two.
  • Glover describes Dio sitting in the corner writing lyrics as the band played but not going to the mic to sing anything.
  • Just before Christmas of 1978 Ritchie Blackmore turned up at Ian Gillan’s house.  They ended up drinking a lot of vodka and Blackmore invited Gillan to join Rainbow.  Despite the vodka Gillan refused the offer.
  • They hired a bass player named Clive Chaman for a brief period.  As well as Jack Green who had been with The Pretty Things.  Pete Goalby, who’d been in Trapeze with Glenn Hughes, was also considered as a replacement for Dio.
  • They set up to record at Chateau Pelly de Cronfield in the south of France with the Maison Rouge mobile studio.
  • Bonnet’s vocals were recorded separately after the rest of the recoding was done at Kingdom Studios in Long Island.  Bonnet said he didn’t want to record unless it was in an actual studio.
  • They were still in need of a singer and they thought Graham Bonnet would be perfect. They’d heard him in the band The Marbles who had a hit called “Only One Woman.”
  • Don Airey claims Bonnet’s name came up when the band was playing “name that tune” and Cozy sang some of “Only One Woman.”
  • Bonnet says he got the interview to audition and had to go to the store to buy some Rainbow albums because he’d never heard of them.  Ritchie told him to learn Mistreated which he did and used that for his audition.
  • By all accounts Bonnet hated being at the castle and just wanted to go home.  Cozy wasn’t crazy about being there too.  Both stating there was nothing to do there in the middle of the countryside.
  • Again there were pranks of Ritchie making ghostly sounds and hazing Bonnet and Airey.

Personel

Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • Art Direction – Bill Levy
    •  
  • Illustration – Ron Walotsky
    •  
  • Album cover bares some resemblacnce to the cover of Fireball.
  • No gatefold, just an insert with band photos.
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos

Technical:

Credits:

  • Recorded at Château Pelly de Cornfeld, somewhere in France, 1979 with the Maison Rouge Mobile Studio and thanks to Bernie.
  • Comes with a full colour picture inner sleeve, an insert with pictures of the previous albums and a merchandise insert.

Album Tracks:

Side One:

  1. All Night Long (Blackmore/Glover)
    • Reached number 5 in the UK singles chart.
    • Glover penned all lyrics with Dio gone.
    • It was released as the follow up single to “Since You Been Gone.”
    • This is the only song Bonnet felt like he might have deserved writing credit on.  He says Ritchie had written it and Bonnet came up with the medley.
    • Ritchie reportedly contributed some lyrics to the song which was unusual for Blackmore.  Ritchie says his idea was about playing a gig, catching the eye of a girl in the crowd, and spending the night with her.
  2. Eyes of the World (Blackmore/Glover)
    • Classic ‘epic’ Rainbow style.
    • Keyboard intro a nod to Holst’s “Mars – The Bringer of War?”
  3. No Time to Lose (Blackmore/Glover)
  4. Makin’ Love (Blackmore/Glover)
    • Steve Pilkington says that the “Don’t Believe that I’m a liar” secions sounds reminiscent of Kiss.
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos

Side Two:

  1. Since You Been Gone (Russ Ballard)
    • Reached number 6 in the UK sing chart, and the peak of Rainbow’ commercial success
    • Very divisive song for the old school fans while gaining them lots of new ones
    • Cozy Powell reportedly strongly disliked this song and would only do one take
    • The band’s first cover since the debut album
    • Glover says Bruce Payne, Rainbow’s manager played the track for Glover and asked if it would be a hit.  Glover said he thought so.  Then he said he meant for Rainbow and Glover said Blackmore would never play the song.  Payne told Glover that Ritchie really wanted to do the song and Glover was in disbelief.
  2. Love’s No Friend (Blackmore/Glover)
  3. Danger Zone (Blackmore/Glover)
  4. Lost in Hollywood (Blackmore, Glover, Powell)
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos

Reception and Review

  • Ritchie and Roger both claim that Bonnet wasn’t “up to” being in Rainbow.  Glover says he couldn’t go the distance and Ritchie says that he wasn’t highly motivated.  Ritchie said Graham needed a lot of coaching and didn’t really come up with ideas on his own.

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Listener Mail/Comments

  • Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover?  We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
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Episode #80 – Jesus Christ Superstar (Part 4: The Album, Part 2)

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Show Updates:

On ”I Don’t LKnow How To Love Him:

  • Webber said he’d seen Judy Garland in a movie called “I Could Go on Singing” which was also the title song.  He said there was a line about “When the cows come home.”  The director was Ronnie Neame, a friend of Webber’s Auntie Vi.  He decided to play a song to the director that he thought was better.  The music ended up becoming “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”
  • This melody had been used before from a 1968 song by Webber/Rice called “Kansas Morning.”  The song was never recorded.

Album Tracks:

LP 2

Side One:

  1. The Last Supper
    • Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)
      • First done as an orchestral B-side to the “Superstar Single.”
      • “Gethsemane” was among the last songs to be recorded.  Lloyd-Webber says Gillan was wiped out after singing the song.  This was also a highlight for Webber.
      • YouTube video promo?
    • The Arrest
      • Peter’s Denial
        • Pilate And Christ
          • King Herod’s Song (Try It And See)
            • This song was written prior to JCSS as the song “Try It and See” by Webber/Rice.  It was going to be an entry into the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest to be sung by the artist Lulu.  The plan was also to release it as a single sung by Rita Pavone.  They had also used this song called “Those Saladin Days” in a show called “Come Back Richard Your country Needs You,” a musical project that never was completed.
            • Since it had been rejected for the Eurovision song Contest in these days it was published by Norrie Paramour. IN Lloyd Webber’s biography: “This led to a confusing credit in the booklet of the US album version . . . which in turn led a few people to mistakenly think Tim and I had not written one of its biggest moments.”
            • One of the last bits recorded was “King Herrod’s Song.”  The decision to make it so upbeat was that it was in between Gethsemane and Judas’s death and they wanted to have something a little more upbeat to break things up.
            • Rita Pavone – Try It And See (1969)

          Side Two:

          1. Judas’ Death
          2. Trial Before Pilate (Including The 39 Lashes)
            • “The Trial” was the first scene to be completed.  Webber says it really inspired everyone to hear such a performance.
          3. Superstar
            • Choir – The Trinidad Singers
            • In Lloyd-Webber’s biography he talks about the recording: “Alan and Bruce took things into their own hands and played syncopations that defied gravity.  Afterwards I wrote them all out, but although I’ve got rock sections to replicate what they did, it never sounded quite the same.”
            • Webber says they finally did a perfect take with the orchestra when Alan O’Duffy said he hadn’t put tape into the machine.  Webber lost it and they did another take that ended up being perfect as well.
            • When all the orchestra had left they listened back and found that it had accidentally been recorded twice.
            • Upon hearing the final single the folks at the record company were thrilled.
          4. Crucifixion
          5. John Ninteteen: Forty One

          Reception and Review

          • The last items to be recorded were the orchestra and choirs were overdubbed.
          • The mixing was extremely challenging with Alan O’Duffy having to commit a huge amount of complicated mixing moves to memory.  There were imperfections but they left a lot of them in.  Andrew Lloyd-Webber says if you listen right before the two big “Superstar” chords in the overture you can hear Alan Dogget counting “one, two, three four.”
          • Brian Brolly arranged a listening session for the British MCA/Universal executives at Advision Studios located in London.  Lloyd-Webber says some of them were grumpy and asked how long it was and if there was a pee break.  After the playback there was a long silence and someone said, “There’s not a lot here for Ruby Murray.”  Ruby Murray was an Irish ballad singer who was popular in the fifties but whose last hit had been in 1959.
          • Brian Brolly loved it and suggested they add “Superstar” to the title as it was originally supposed to be called simply “Jesus Christ.”
          • They then had a meeting to discuss a contract problem due to some legal wording.  The meeting luckily went off well and Lloyd-Webber got back the entire theater and film rights to the musical.

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          Posted on

          Episode #79 – Jesus Christ Superstar (Part 3: The Album, Part 1)

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          Show Updates:

          • Comments from social media.
          • Problems with Part 1 being banned from YouTube due to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  We played a 20 second clip from an album that is 53 years old.
          • Part 2 also banned from YouTube for “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” by Madeleine Belle.
          • Technical difficulties update.
          • The Jesus Christ Superstar DNA Playlist – Over 600 songs by the singers and musicians who contributed to Jesus Christ Superstar.
          • Tommy Bolin Memorial Statue Fundraiser

          Lead up to the Album:

          • The story for Jesus Christ Superstar is based on The Synoptic Gospels (The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and “The Life of Christ” by Fulton J. Sheen.  The idea was to calibrate the gospels but to put more of a focus on the interpersonal relationships between Jesus, Judas, and Mary.
          • Tim Rice also said that the song “With God On Our Side” by Bob Dylan was an inspiration.
            • Bob Dylan – With God on Our Side (Audio)
            • The line: “Did Judas Iscariot have God on his side?
            • This was a fascinating subject for Rice to consider.
            • The premise of the musical is “Was Judas the rational disciple trying to preven tthe popular reaction to Jesus’s teaching from getting so out of hadn that the Romans would crush it?
            • Was Jesus beginning to believe what the people were saying, that he truly was the Messiah?
          • What if we dramatized the last days of Jesus’s life from Judas’s perspective?
          • By early 1969 there was an official 30 minute recording of the Joseph show giving them a sample of their work to try to get potential backers for their idea to turn JCSS into a broadway show.
          • Andrew had written to Sefton Myers with an idea of creating a museum of rock and roll memorabilia and slipped a copy of the Joseph 30 minute album.
          • Sefton got back to them and arranged a meeting where they presented a deal to Webber and Rice.  Webber was eager to jump at it but Rice was more hesitant as he wasn’t sure if it was safe to leave his job.  This lead to management being more aggressive and generous with their offers.
          • By summer of 1969 they were able to write and create and focus on their new project.
          • Their first attempt to create something was a musical based on King Richard the Lionheart.  It only had one performance.
          • One release “Come Back Richard, Your Country Needs You” by Tim Rice and The Webber Group.
          • They decided to try something “heavier, more serious.”
          • Tim went to visit Mike Leander who was head of A&R at MCA records. Leander was the person who had arranged the song “She’s Leaving Home” for The Beatles.  Mike asked Tim what became of his idea of making a musical about Jesus and Judas Iscariot.  This is something Tim had been thinking about for a while but had never mentioned to Webber.
          • The idea was to put themselves into the minds of Judas and Pilate and how they would have acted under the circumstances, not knowing what would become of Jesus.
          • Rice went back and told Webber and told him it would be the store of Christ’s last week on Earth from the perspective of Judas.
          • The idea was that they could put a lot of words into Judas’s mouth without betraying what was in the Gospels.
          • This was shortly after the backlash about John Lennon’s comments about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus.  So their backers were a little hesitant.
          • They wanted to write a stage production and thought that any recording would be a spinoff of that production.  It ended up being the opposite.

          Production:

          Additional Info:

          • This is The 1st UK release of Jesus Christ Superstar Recorded At Olympic Sound Studios, Barnes, Advision Studios, Island Studios And Spot Productions Studios On 16-Track Tape.
          • This is the rare, earliest first pressing, of which only a few hundred copies were made. It has the unique fold-out star cover and the late-sixties style MCA labels with the orange/yellow swirl design.
          • The album’s official release date was 16th October 1970 by which time MCA had introduced the new ‘bow-tie’ label design.
          • Later pressings followed with different label.
          • The booklet is slightly different from later copies – it is printed on shiny paper and has rounded corners.
          • Sleeve printed and made in England by E. J. Day.
          • Inner sleeve: Blue Decca poly-lined inners. The date codes on these sleeves are 6/70 and 7/70 which precedes the official release date by several months.
          • Booklet: This is the original first press booklet which has much shinier paper than later issues and rounded corners.

          Canada release:

          On Front Cover Label:

          RECORDED IN ENGLAND

          Performing in “SUPERSTAR” are members (past and present) of DEEP PURPLE, JOE COCKER’S GREASE BAND, LORD SUTCH, AYNSLEY DUNBAR RETALIATION, THE BIG THREE, JUICY LUCY, QUATERMASS, MERSEYBEATS, GRACIOUS, PLASTIC PENNY, SPOOKY TOOTH, MANFRED MANN and NUCLEUS.

          Also performing is an 85 piece orchestra and the strings of the City of London

          Released in a Box Cover including a 28 page Libretto and a 4 page statement in french, by Rèv. Jéan Malo M.A.

          Lp’s housed in white paper sleeves

          Records are set up for record changers

          • Ian Gillan of Deep Purple appears by courtesy of EMI Records and Warner Bros. Seven Arts Records Inc. (USA)
          • Victor Brox appears by courtesy of Bam Bam Records (UK) and “with love” from Blue Thumb Records (USA)
          • John Gustafson appears by courtesy of EMI Records and by permission of “Quatermass” AIR (London) Ltd
          • Paul Davies appears by kind permission of Philips Records Ltd
          • Pat Arnold appears by kind permission of Polydor Records Ltd
          • Tony Ashton appears through the courtesy of Capitol Records Inc
          • Peter Barnfeather appears by courtesy of Sunny Records Ltd
          • Madeline Bell appears by courtesy of Philips Records (Holland)
          • Brian Bennett appears by courtesy of B&C Records Ltd
          • Lesley Duncan appears by courtesy of CBS Records Ltd
          • Neil Hubbard and Chris Mercer appear by courtesy of Vertigo Records (UK) and the Atlantic Record Corporation (USA)
          • Peter Robinson appears by permission of AIR (London) Ltd
          • Carl Jenkins, John Marshall and Jeff Clyne appear by courtesy of Philips Records Ltd
          • Chris Spedding appears by courtesy of EMI Records Ltd

          Album Art:

          UK Release:

          US Release:

          • Seems to be the same

          Album Tracks:

          LP 1

          Side One:

          1. Overture
            • Leader [Choir] – Alan Doggett
            • The Theme Lloyd-Webber says he wrote on the back of a napkin at a restaurant called Carlo’s Place on Fulham Road
          2. Heaven On Their Minds
            • What’s The Buzz / Strange Thing Mystifying
              • Everything’s Alright
                • This Jesus Must Die

                  Side Two:

                  1. Hosanna
                    • Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem
                      • Pilate’s Dream
                        • The Temple
                          • Everything’s Alright
                            • I Don’t Know How To Love Him
                              • Webber said he’d seen Judy Garland in a movie called “I Could Go on Singing” which was also the title song.  He said there was a line about “When the cows come home.”  The director was Ronnie Neame, a friend of Webber’s Auntie Vi.  He decided to play a song to the director that he thought was better.  The music ended up becoming “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”
                              • This melody had been used before from a 1968 song by Webber/Rice called “Kansas Morning.”  The song was never recorded.
                            • Damned For All Time / Blood Money

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                            Posted on

                            Episode #78 – Jesus Christ Superstar (Part 2: The Singers)

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                            Show Updates:

                            • Amazon music just launched a podcast feature.  You can follow us here.
                            • Apple Podcasts Review:
                              • ElectricEye87, 09/10/2020 – FIVE STARS
                              • Let’s Go Space Talkin’
                              • I rate this podcast 5 Ritchie Blackmore floppy hats. Never thought I’d enjoy listening to a podcast where guys talk over songs I love, but here I am. Extremely informative, a solid blend of humor and content, and the guys are very easy to listen to. When listening to Whoosh! for the first time, I even found myself thinking about what they might have to say about it when their review dropped. It’s perfect aside from the occasional swear word. I would expect that kind of language at Denny’s, but NOT HERE! Other than that, all I hear is burn.
                            • Comments from social media.
                            • Tommy Bolin Memorial Statue Fundraiser

                            Lead up to the Album:

                            • They decided a good move would be to get a leading clergyman to endorse the single.  They found Martin Sullivan at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  He wrote, “There are some people who may be shocked by this record. I ask them to listen to it and think again.  It is a desperate cry.  Who are you, Jesus Christ? Is the urgent enquiry and a very proper one at that.”
                            • Sullivan also offered up St. Paul’s Cathedral for the premiere if and when Jesus Christ Superstar was finished.
                            • The single was released and they did a late night show, David Frost’s Saturday ITV.
                            • The Daily Express had gotten quotes that they were looking to cast John Lennon as Jesus.  This was untrue as they hadn’t even gotten a complete script to cast anyone yet.
                            • The budget to record the album was £20,000/$25,580 (£318,000/$406,726 in today’s money).
                            • Most of the melodies and themes were completed in January.  Side 1 is dated February 21 with side four dated March 4.
                            • In December of ‘69 there was a note that Mary Magdelne’s first song should be in 5/4.
                            • They began to seek out vocalists.  They wanted a well known name as Jesus.
                            • Their first pick for Jesus was Colin Blunstone, the lead singer of the Zombies.  Rod Argent, a member of the Zombies would be involved in the recording.
                            • Andrew Lloyd-Webber had been invited to Royal Albert Hall to see Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra.  Malcolm Arnold had been a friend of Lloyd-Webber’s father.
                            • Lloyd-Webber says in his biography, after meeting Tony Edwards: “I found the music bland, so I droned on about how daring it was to fuse a rock group with an orchestra.”  He found out that Deep Purple was taking a heavier direction moving forward and he mentioned something about Jesus Christ Superstar to Tony Edwards.
                            • Lloyd-Webber says a few months later that he got a call saying Deep Purple had a new singer and asked if he and Tim would like to go listen to him.  We know this is inaccurate as Gillan would have been the singer at the Concerto.
                            • They played Gillan’s rough tapes and he heard Gilaln’s scream and thought that he had found his Jesus.  He said after hearing Gillan he went back and rewrote the moment Jesus confronts the moneylenders.
                            • When Murray and Gillan were cast Webber began working on solidifying the band.  Since Joe Cocker was on a break he was able to get Alan Spenner an dBruce Rowland for bass and drums.  He spoke to Clapton’s manager to get try to get Eric Clapton on lead guitar but was unable to secure him.  Therefore he reverted to Henry McCulloguh from the Grease Band.  Chris Mercer of Juicy Lucy as the sax and another guitarist, Neil Hubbard, also from Juicy Lucy.
                            • Someone played Quatermass for Webber and he was keen to get Peter Robinson into the band as well.  They also took John Gustafson from Quatermass in the role of Simon.
                            • Most of the songs came about the first time around except “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”  Originally they’d had Annabel Leventon to play Mary.  She had been in Hair with Murray Head.  They recorded with her and said it was good but wasn’t quite what they were looking for.
                            • There was a jazz singer performing at the Pheasantry in Chelsea who Don Norman, who was working as their manager, wanted to pitch as Pilate.  While they weren’t sold on the singer there was another performer that night that caught their eye: Yvonne Elliman.
                            • They wanted someone very theatrical to be Pilate and pitched it to Barry Dennen.  Barry’s agent arranged a meeting and he agreed to record the album.
                            • Tim was friends with Mike d’Abo who had recently become singer of Manred Mann.  And with that, filling in with some MCA employed artists their casting was complete.

                            Personnel

                            For Further Information:

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                            Posted on

                            Episode #77 – Jesus Christ Superstar (Part 1: The Musicians)

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                              • Michael Vader

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                            Show Updates:

                            Lead up to the Album:

                            • Andrew Lloyd Webber met Tim Rice in 1965.  Webber was 17 and trying to write for musical theater.  Rice was 20 and trying to make it as a writer of pop songs.
                            • On April 21, 1965 wrote a letter to Lloyd-Webber.  He said that he’d heard through a Mr. Desmond Elliott of Arlington Books, that Webber had been looking for a “with it” writer of lyrics for his songs.  Lloyd-Webber contacted him and they arranged a meeting.
                            • In Lloyd-Webber’s autobiography he describes Tim Rice as a “six foot something, thin as a rake, blond bombshell of an adonis.”  He also states that he learned Rice’s real ambition was to be a heartthrob rock star.
                            • He also states that Rice was working on a lot of stuff and that he imagined that one day it “would be nice to say I had met him before he was world famous . . . “
                            • The first collaborated on “The Likes of Us”  a musical which was never able to get a backer and  didn’t end up getting live production until 2005.
                            • Alan Doggett, a family friend of the Lloyd Webbers who had worked with them on “The Likes of Us” commissioned them to write a “pop cantata” based on the Old Testament. Two previous “pop cantatas” existed.  The first was “The Daniel Jazz” written by Herbert Chapell in 1963.  The second was Jonah-Man Jazz written by Michael Hurd in 1966.  Both had been published by Novello, a music publisher who would be producing this.
                            • The result was NOT Jesus Christ Superstar, but Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  It got some recognition as a humorous retelling of the story of Joseph.
                            • In 1969 they paired up again and wrote the song “Try it And See” for the Eurovision Song Contest for the artist Lulu.  It did not make it as the UK entry for 1969 though Lulu did sing the song “Boom Bang-a-Bang.”
                            • Superstar was the first song they recorded and released as a single written by Judas, questioning Jesus and his legacy from a 20th century perspective, the eventual follow up to “Heaven on Their Minds” which is the opening song by Judas questioning Jesus in his own time.
                            • They wanted to get a successful single on the charts so they’d be given the green light to record the entire album that hadn’t yet been written.  This would get them the ability to finally perform the sive show.  They intentionally made this single radio friendly.  It got a ton of release internationally and sold well.
                            • They were given the budget for a full symphony orchestra by MCA and were allowed to produce it themselves.  The catch was that MCA wanted to own the worldwide rights to future recordings.
                            • They got a terrible deal for the royalties behind the “Superstar” single but they were in no position to turn it down.
                            • Murray head recommended the Grease band and other musicians and they got to work recording.
                            • The recordings took place at Olympic Studios in the Southwest suburb of Barnes. It was considered to be a top rock studio.  It also had a large room that could fit an entire orchestra so that’s what they used to record the Superstar single.
                            • The engineers suggested the band record with a metronome in their headphones.  Lloyd-Webber and the band did not want to do this as they were afraid it would come across too mechanically.  Keith Grant who was engineering was very worried about how they’d be able to overdub a symphony orchestra with no click track.  Webber wanted to take the gamble so that they could have a great rhythm track.
                            • The band and the soul singers were recorded first then the orchestra after under the direction of Alan O’Duffy.
                            • Apparently the timekeeping issue did become extremely difficult for the orchestra.
                            • The first day with the band on the studio was coming and Webber got the band together and had them jam for a half an hour then they’d record a short segment with the band.  That’s how “What’s the Buzz” came together along with the moneylenders sequence.

                            Personnel

                            • The musicians for Jesus Christ Superstar, the principle rock band at least,  were largely recruited from UK rock bands at the time including The Grease Band, Juicy Lucy, and Wynder K Frog.

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