40in40:

Jesus Christ Superstar - The Last Supper & Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)

Go big or go home?

I originally planned on doing only The Last Supper, but it felt completely empty without Gethsemane, so I did them both. Doing both those songs would’ve been tough enough with my original plans - in which I thought I’d be able to spend a full 7 days working on them. Then my family came to visit for 5 days and so I actually only had 2 days to complete all of this. So much for seeing how much better I could do at a leisurely pace!

Skipping all the piano and orchestra parts meant both songs ended up a bit more “rock and roll” than their various original versions, as I replaced that stuff with some crunchy guitars. I would never pretend to have even 10% as much vocal talent as the great Ian Gillian, or Ted Neeley, or Murray Head, or Carl Anderson. Their performances are legendary and I tried not to imitate them wherever possible, though some of the crazy-high melodies are essential to the production, so I did the best I could do. Go big or go home. With these two, more than any of the previous 40, I surely can’t be accused of not putting myself out there.

So, after two solid days of recording and mixing, I thought I was done. I exported a version and while listening I heard a few things that I wanted to tweak, so I reopened the session and as I got to the end of Gethsemane I noticed that the drums, bass, and guitar tracks had vanished. I have no idea what happened. It may well have been my mistake, though it feels like a technical error. Regardless, the session is mostly lost and we’re left with this original export. It has everything in there and it’s good enough to get my point across - though it’s mixed a little rougher than I’m happy with, but as it’s nearly 3:30am, I’m going to chalk it up as a loss. Jesus might have resurrected, but these lost tracks certainly won’t.

This is the end. Thanks to all of you for joining me on this insane journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Happy Easter.

Originally recorded: April 21-23, 2011

1 year later and I’m still happy with how this turned out, warts and all.

(The rest of 40 in 40 can be found here.)

Jesus Christ Superstar - The Last Supper & Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) (steelopus cover)

Go big or go home?

I originally planned on doing only The Last Supper, but it felt completely empty without Gethsemane, so I did them both. Doing both those songs would’ve been tough enough with my original plans - in which I thought I’d be able to spend a full 7 days working on them. Then my family came to visit for 5 days and so I actually only had 2 days to complete all of this. So much for seeing how much better I could do at a leisurely pace!

Skipping all the piano and orchestra parts meant both songs ended up a bit more “rock and roll” than their various original versions, as I replaced that stuff with some crunchy guitars. I would never pretend to have even 10% as much vocal talent as the great Ian Gillian, or Ted Neeley, or Murray Head, or Carl Anderson. Their performances are legendary and I tried not to imitate them wherever possible, though some of the crazy-high melodies are essential to the production, so I did the best I could do. Go big or go home. With these two, more than any of the previous 40, I surely can’t be accused of not putting myself out there.

So, after two solid days of recording and mixing, I thought I was done. I exported a version and while listening I heard a few things that I wanted to tweak, so I reopened the session and as I got to the end of Gethsemane I noticed that the drums, bass, and guitar tracks had vanished. I have no idea what happened. It may well have been my mistake, though it feels like a technical error. Regardless, the session is mostly lost and we’re left with this original export. It has everything in there and it’s good enough to get my point across - though it’s mixed a little rougher than I’m happy with, but as it’s nearly 3:30am, I’m going to chalk it up as a loss. Jesus might have resurrected, but these lost tracks certainly won’t.

This is the end. Thanks to all of you for joining me on this insane journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Happy Easter.

(41 done. 0 to go.)

The Rentals - Sweetness and Tenderness

You know it’s just like Judas said:
“I been your right hand man all along. 
“My admiration for you hasn’t died.
“I haven’t forgotten how put down we are.”

This song makes me feel ways about Moogs.

Editing to add: I fell asleep listening to Jesus Christ Superstar and woke up with this song in my head. You win this round, Matt Sharp. Well played.

steelopus:

Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) : Jesus Christ Superstar (Original Cast Recording) - Jesus, sung by Ian Gillian (of Deep Purple).

My love for Jesus Christ Superstar originated when my friends and I discovered the movie in high school.  There was the time in 1995 when my friends mom drove us to see it performed live on stage with Ted Neeley reprising his role as Jesus.  That night my friends and I chased down the tour bus and snagged some autographs.  Check it out, Jesus gave me “Best Wishes!”

It wasn’t until college that I discovered, and aurally devoured, the original cast recording of JCS.  As good as the film versions of these songs are, the versions on this original album are, for me, superior in almost every way, not the least of which is Ian Gillian singing as Jesus.  Now, don’t get me wrong here: movie and stage Jesus - Ted Neeley - is a god; he can do things with his voice that makes mere mortals fall to their knees and bow before his greatness, but Ian’s performance is so heartfelt and intense that I feel like weeping every time he belts out a moan or a scream.  I get chills every time I hear him belt out “Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy should I diiiiiiiiiiie?” at 2:27 of this recording (just short of halfway through).  From my experience listening to Deep Purple, I’d say that I’ve heard no point in his career that Ian sounded better than he does on this album.  He thoroughly owned this recording.

Picking a favorite song from JCS is an impossible task for me.  I had 5 songs queued in my playlist trying to decide which I would use for this post (This one + Pilate’s Dream, What’s The Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying, Dammed For All Time/Blood Money, The Last Supper), each with different characteristics that make this album so meaningful to me.  I settled on Gethsemane because of Ian’s performance, the impressive orchestration and arrangement of the song, and because it’s often the song that I find myself singing hours after listening to the whole album.

Aside from the brilliance of Ian Gillian, this rest of the players on this album are superb, especially the instrumentalists.  In particular, Alan Spenner’s bass playing is downright awe inspiring in it’s loose structure and unwavering groove.  As far as I can tell, he improvised his way through the entire album, following along with the written chord changes.  Any aspiring bass player should study these recordings inside and out.  Put the albums under your pillow and hope that you’ll pick up some technique through osmosis.