[It’s National Delurking Week. Click here for info. Have you de-lurked yet?]
On the drive home, as I was listening to the concept album of “The Civil War” by Frank Wildhorn, I got to thinking of how the music business has changed.
In the “old days” (read: pre 1970), musicals were promoted, and backers obtained, through popular music. Even before the show opened, popular performers of the day were covering the tunes on the radio, on records, and on variety shows. Your most popular music was from folks like Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, and others of that era.
In 1969, this all changed, with Tommy, which was “The Who”‘s concept album for a show that took almost 25 years to gestate. After this, you began to see “concept albums” appearing for shows. The first that I remember was “Jesus Christ Superstar” (London Concept Cast) in 1971. This was long before the stage show, and many argue is the stronger recording. Many other concept recordings followed: Evita (1976 Studio Cast), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1991 Concept Album), Songs from Ragtime (1996 Concept Album), Jekyll and Hyde – The Gothic Music Thriller (1994 Concept Cast) or the 1990 Concept Highlights, Music from The Life (1995 Concept Cast), Miss Spectacular (2002 Concept Cast), The Capeman (1997 Concept Album), Les Miserables (1989 French Concept Album), Chess (1986 London Concept Cast), Faust (1993 Concept Cast), or Aida (1999 Concept Album). I should also note that the Cy Coleman Trio recorded what was in effect a concept album with their version of “Barnum” (which alas is out of print, luckily I have a copy).
What is fascinating about these albums is that you often hear songs the way the composer intended, before the cuts of Broadway. You also hear what was eventually lost on the road. But they are specialties, known (except for “Tommy” and JCS) to theatre buffs and backers, not the popular music community.
If you get a chance, I encourage you to listen to a concept album.
