Kingsway Youth Opera Company, 1971

Today--for the first time during this experiment--I caught myself thinking, "Gosh, I've listened to Jesus Christ Superstar a lot."
I guess it's taken three weeks for the novelty to wear off. Now it's taking on more of the flavor of a Lenten discipline.
"This one I think you are going to find very interesting," Greg said of today's installment, and if you know Greg, you will understand why I got nervous. "Interesting" can be taken any number of ways. But it was true--maybe he just knows my tastes. I like this one because it has a lot of rock'n'roll to it; in fact, something about the orchestration (horn-heavy) reminded me of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Or perhaps the Moody Blues, a band that's been on my mind because the weather has gotten lovely. The loveliness of the weather, by the by, is another reason I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of spending time sitting and listening to a recording instead of going to bask in the sunshine. Could I have done both at once? Basked and Superstarred? No, I don't own one of those newfangled electronic devices by which one can bring one's music along.
But back to the Moody Blues. (Does anyone else have bands they associate with particular times of the year?) The grandiose orchestral arrangements with rock swagger, coupled with the British accents of the cast--yeah, even the fact this was a vinyl recording with the wobbliness that comes to vinyl with age--all conjured the Moodies in my mind. And then I found out that this LP was released by Deram Records--the same label that released Days of Future Passed and the next five Moody Blues albums. The interconnectivity of all things.
I never was conscious of it before, but now that I think about it the albums playing in my house while I was growing up often had orchestration married to rock sensibilities--JCS, the Moodies' early work, ELO--not to mention the classical pieces I heard tended to have more raucous energy--pieces by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov.
It all makes sense now! (Or should I say, "My mind is clearer now"?)