Jesus Christ Superstar · Highlights from the Rock Opera (1972)

Music For Pleasure

Music For Pleasure studio LP with twelve excerpts from the rock opera, produced by Walter J. Ridley. The original MFP 5280 is catalogued as a 1972 release. The collection holds both British pressings: the original MFP 5280 from 1972 and the reissue MFP 50362, with no confirmed date. The reissue's labels carry ℗ 1972 EMI Records Ltd., a phonographic copyright year that does not date this pressing. The collection also holds MP3 files at 320 kb/s. [2] [3]‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Production credits

• Production: Walter J. Ridley.
• Cover design (Music For Pleasure edition): Jack Wood.
• Back cover notes: Roger St. Pierre.
• Printing and manufacture: Garrod & Lofthouse International Ltd.
• Companies: EMI and Music For Pleasure Limited; publishing by Leeds Music (and Norrie Paramor Music on the original edition). [1] [2] [3]

The labels of MFP 5280 and MFP 50362 carry SMFP 5280 A/B, but the full groove numbers are not the same. Discogs records A-1/B-1 and A2/B2 for MFP 5280, and A-4/B-4 for MFP 50362. This links the editions, but it does not say which one the collection's MP3s came from or how the master was copied. [2] [3]‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Repertoire

Side one:

1. Overture.
2. Heaven on Their Minds.
3. What's the Buzz.
4. Everything's Alright.
5. Hosanna.
6. Simon Zealotes.

Side two:

1. Pilate's Dream.
2. I Don't Know How to Love Him.
3. Damned for All Time.
4. I Only Want to Say.
5. King Herod's Song.
6. Superstar. [1] [2] [4]

It is a selection of twelve numbers conceived as "the highlights" of the score. It includes scenes that other budget recordings of the time omitted, such as "Hosanna", "Simon Zealotes" and "I Only Want to Say" (Gethsemane), and closes on "Superstar": there is no trial, crucifixion or epilogue. [1] [2] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Who sings

CastAlbums and Ovrtur name Mike Redway and Danny Street, without saying which characters each sings. The label and back cover of MFP 50362 that have been examined name only the producer. The list circulating among collectors is not taken as a confirmed cast: it even attributes Jesus and Judas to the same singer. Having two names is not enough to recognise all the voices. [1] [4] [5] JCS Zone specifies that the assignment of Jesus and Judas to Redway comes from trading lists among collectors, not from an official cast that has been located. [14]‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Mike Redway appears in the recollections of his colleague Ray Pilgrim. They sang together with the Oscar Rabin Orchestra and on Go Man Go, on the BBC, in 1962-1963; afterwards they made more than a dozen Embassy recordings. Pilgrim says Redway contacted him again in 2009 to talk about a project with Sony and that his website was born from that reunion. He also recalls his arrival in London in 1962, joining Embassy and his work with the Mike Sammes Singers. He talks about a colleague's career, not about who sang each part in Superstar. [6] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Danny Street was the stage name of Joseph Wilson Drysdale, born on 22 April 1941 in Stirling, Scotland, who died on 21 April 2010. His Discogs discography includes labels such as CBS, Philips and Boulevard, and the group Holy Smoke. [7] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

It is not Alan Caddy's recording

This is Walter J. Ridley's record, not Alan Caddy's Avenue AVE 0103. The repertoire lets us tell them apart: here there are twelve cuts, among them Hosanna, Simon Zealotes and I Only Want to Say. Avenue has thirteen and includes The Last Supper, The Arrest and the crucifixion; it also credits Caddy as arranger, conductor and producer. The generic names that appear on some reissues do not turn the two records into one. [1] [2] [9] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

The label and the notes on the two sleeves

Music For Pleasure sold budget records, but not all of them came from the same place. Tribune explained on November 5, 1965 that the label of Paul Hamlyn and EMI used recordings from EMI's archive and also sold them in bookshops and at station stalls. On the other hand, the Victoria and Albert Museum holds the sleeve of Hits '68 and describes it as twelve versions made by session musicians. The label released both archive recordings and new versions. [10] [11] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

The back covers change from one edition to another. On MFP 5280, Roger St. Pierre presents the success of the work, Broadway and the film to introduce the selection. On MFP 50362 he signs a letter to Andrew: he recalls that he was looking for someone to write the lyrics of a song and that he found Tim Rice. It is an anecdote about Rice and Lloyd Webber, not a testimony from the singers or about Ridley's recording. [1] [12] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Walter J. Ridley had produced for HMV for years. His obituaries, written by Michael Freedland and Spencer Leigh, recall records with Alma Cogan, Ronnie Hilton, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and the Swinging Blue Jeans, as well as comedy and variety. Leigh recovered a 1984 interview in which Ridley said that producing was understanding the artist, balancing the sound and then convincing marketing. That experience helps us get to know the LP's producer. It does not allow us to take as confirmed an orchestra or a studio that the edition does not name. [8] [13] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

The other editions

Besides the two British pressings in the collection, the original MFP 5280 and the reissue MFP 50362, Discogs and CastAlbums document the Australian edition on Axis (AXIS 6020, 1972), the Mexican one on Capitol Pops (POP-268, 1974), titled "Lo Mas Sobresaliente De La Rock-Opera", a British reissue on Fanfare (SIT 60006) and another Music For Pleasure reference (MFP-5535). [2] [3] [4] ‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

MFP 50362 in advertising from 1978

Music Week announced on March 25, 1978 Jesus Christ Superstar as MFP 50362, with its orange cover. It was among the "10 Great Musicals" of the campaign: there was a competition to see Evita in London, press advertisements planned for April and cassettes with new packaging. The number and that cover were already on sale in March 1978. The announcement does not date the manufacture of the collection's copy. [15]‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​

Musik-Sammler dates MFP 50362 to 1972 and adds "Orig. Release 1970". The entry gives no proof of the date of that pressing; Discogs leaves it without a year. "No confirmed date" is therefore kept here for the reissue, separate from 1972 as the catalogued year of the recording. [16] [2]‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​