Could We Start Again Please? – Jesus Christ Superstar





The Original concept recording. I got this recording after having already bought a couple of others and having seen the show live, which all influenced my opinion of this particular CD. The cast here is not my favourite, but the orchestrations are really interesting…very basic, but in a good way. If that makes any sense. 🙂 It really brings out the rock nature of the music.

The Movie soundtrack. This is the one I listen to most often, probably because it’s the first version I ever heard, plus it has Ted Neeley, who I saw as Jesus on stage. I really like this recording. The cast is really good, and, unlike later movies (*cough* Evita *cough*), they stayed really close to the original score. Songs on here I really adore would have to include “Gethsemane” (always a favourite!) and “Could We Start Again Please?” Again, I adore the orchestrations here, particularly all the guitars!

The 1992 Australian Cast. Anthony Warlow was supposed to be in this production, which would have made it much better. 😉 But even without him, it’s a pretty good recording. John Farnham makes an interesting Jesus, with a lot of vocal choices that are quite different from other recordings – some of which work, others not so successful. I don’t particularly like Jon Stevens as Judas, though there are good moments. Probably my biggest problem is the synthesizers in the orchestration – it’s lost a lot of the original rock sound.
Still, if you’re a fan, it’s worth a listen!

The 20th Anniversary Cast. I’ve only got the highlights of this one, but it’s really pretty good as well. I like Paul Nicholas, and the rest of the cast is pretty good as well, though not my favourite. I would have been happier though if they’d left out that awful pop re-mix of “Could We Start Again Please?” though!



The Video Soundtrack. I acutally bought this thinking that it was a Broadway cast recording – I couldn’t figure out why else Glenn Carter and Tony Vincent were on the cover. 🙂 Though I was a little disappointed to discover that I was mistaken, I was not disappointed with the CD. Glenn Carter is very good on CD, and Jerome Pradon as Judas just makes sense. 🙂 If you enjoyed the video, this is definitely worth getting!