Dubbed a “rock opera”, the double album chronicles the last week of Jesus’ life, starting with his arrival into Jerusalem and ending with the Crucifixion (and you thought you had a rough week).
This was not your grandfather’s Opera and certainly not your grandmother’s Jesus. This Jesus didn’t sit at the right hand of the father judging young teenage boys. No. This Jesus was at ease strolling the streets of London’s gritty west-end asking “What’s the Buzz, tell me what’s happening”. This was not “Gregorian Chant” Jesus but rather “Smoke on the Water” Jesus.
From the eerie fuzzed up riff in the opening Overture to the ghostly, satanic chant of “well done Judas” this album put the Passion to beautifully crafted rock and pop music and made Jesus accessible to the youthful generation.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote the music and lyrics and called upon well know theater and popular recording artists to deliver the Good News. Many of the album’s musicians played with Joe Cocker’s band except for the incredible Ian Gillian, who at the time, just started singing lead for Deep Purple.
The lush and beautiful “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” (sung by Yvonne Elliman) and “Superstar” (sung by Murray Head) were spun frequently on FM radio and did reasonably well as outright singles on the “Adult Contemporary” Charts.
The show stopper though is Ian Gillian’s Gethsemane. Here, Gillian’s heavy metal vocal range is on display to a point where Jesus’ father would be proud of his handiwork.
Nail me to your cross and break me. Amen