A new remaster is out for Jesus Christ Superstar - the only good version (!) the original sound track with Ian Gillian as The Man. 50th Anniversary… cripes I remember when it came out… my teachers played it in school. Did you know Ian Gillian did the whole recording in 1 afternoon (came back for a 1/2 hour touchup) and had never heard or seen the music until he entered the studio that day. Then when done, they told him they did not have any money to pay him. They offered him a royalty, 1 cent per album which he took. I don’t know how much that actually earned him, but I suspect it was more than union scale eh?
Anywho… I downloaded from Pro Studio Masters for $21.59 96K Flac… but no liner notes. There is supposed to be quite extensive notes released. Darn! I have a support ticket into them but I don’t expect anything.
Anyone like to share a PDF if you have one? This is not piracy, we are talking liner notes not music.
If you are wondering about how it sounds, I can’t listen to it yet! There is a very large compressor running outside my window right now.
I still have the original album from way back then and it still sounds quite good. It was definitely a huge hit at that time. My vinyl copy is really thick and substantial feeling in the hand; not the flimsy garbage that wound up be the standard issue of that time.
I later caught the revival on Broadway a number a of years ago. I enjoyed it very much, not realizing until the end of the show that I knew the lyrics to every single number.
Good luck with your search!
This came out when I was in boarding school in Swaziland (now Eswatini), the Waterford Kamhlaba school. We were all playing it when we could in our “dorm” rooms. Our headmaster, Michael Stern (later Sir Michael Stern, OBE) was also my Latin “professor” and he let us know that he was not infallible because Andrew Lloyd Weber had been a Latin student of his when he was teaching in England and he was an awful Latin student. Stern told Weber “You’ll never amount to anything if you don’t do better in Latin.” Well, Stern said he never got better, but Stern himself was wrong because look at what he had done (and had even more to do in the coming years as it turns out).
My entire stereo is torn down and in boxes as I am moving… so my listening rig is my PC with files served from my NAS, Foobar, a Benchmark USB DAC1, and Focal Clear headphones. Boy do I miss my big rig with the PS Audio Directstream…
In short, I have a hard time discerning between the the new 50th aniversy 96K files and the 2012 44.1 remasters. The 2012 files are really good as they were taken from newly discovered copy tapes from Weber’s personal storage facility.
So it is a mixed bag (pun!). Since audio is a hobby as well as a musical passion, I am happy I purchased these files. But should you buy them? If you have the 2012 CD, you may want to pass on them. If you are looking to re-discover this fabulous gem of music, get the new 96K release… you may be able to hear an improvement on good equipment.
Ian Gillian and Murray Head do some of the best rock singing on record. A real treat.
BTW ProStudioMasters got right back to me and noted they only provide what the record companies provide to them… no luck.
Thanks for posting! This is one of my favorite recordings of all time. I listen every Easter season. I’ll give this new master a listen then. I own every digital version that exists (until now). This is a recording that would deserve a remix but I think too many of the original tapes have been lost or destroyed. A shame.