Jesus Christ Superstar/Spenner bass demos

So Low Bass · #1 07-19-2011, 03:28 PM

I just finished a big but fun project. I recorded bass demos for original 1970 Jesus Christ Superstar album. Alan Spenner did most of the bass playing, along with his colleagues in the Grease Band sans Joe Cocker and Chris Stainton. The music that these guys produced here represents the peak of superior rock band musicianship in the late 60s.

I have some question that I hope will find answers on this board. First, how is it that the Grease Band got involved in the project? Outside looking in and looking back, it looks like they just abandoned Joe Cocker in America, who had contractual tour obligations. How is it that Stainton stayed behind with Cocker to be part of Mad Dogs and Englishmen? And, why wasn’t Cocker himself invited to sing on the production.

As for Spenner himself, the best video of him live is the Woodstock performance, with his black P, flats, and finger plucking. It sure sounds like a pick throughout the album.
Any thoughts or info???

I am using my ‘69P with the P pup only, oldish DR Highbeam flats, and a 2X15 GBX bass cab and driver with no effects. I skip over some material, like the Overture, because it repeats later on, or there is no “bass guitar meat”. So, here is my first upload…”Heaven on their Minds”.

http://www.youtube.com/user/solowbass

Use headphones.

I’ll upload more numbers every few days. Stay tuned here.

Paul

**twocargar** · #2 07-20-2011, 08:04 AM

Nice work! That album was 'instrumental' for getting me to start playing bass. Still one of my faves!

So Low Bass · #3 07-20-2011, 08:23 AM

It was one of my "first teachers" too.

I just uploaded cut #3 on the vinyl/CD:

"What's the Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying"

FretlessMainly · #4 07-20-2011, 11:42 AM

I had been playing guitar for about three and a half years when, in September 1980, I was asked to play bass for our High School production of JCS.

"I don't play bass, I play guitar."
"You will after you listen to the album."

Man was he right! We were given the broadway production scores, but fortunately my sister owned the original LP, so I woodshedded it for a couple of weeks and was able to get a good deal of Spenner's stuff in there top spruce up the otherwise somewhat "sterile" Broadway score.

Keep up the good work - I'll be checking in periodically to see what's new.

So Low Bass · #5 07-20-2011, 02:20 PM

Wow... that must have been one heck of a High school music department. Your music teacher sure took a giant leap from "Damn Yankees" to "Jesus Christ Superstar". What a great learning experience!

FretlessMainly · #6 07-20-2011, 10:47 PM

Dare I admit it, I was also a first clarinetist in the school orchestra at the time. I had been playing music steadily for five years (three+ on guitar) at the time, and up until then, I had spent countless hours with my bedroom door closed putting down and picking up the needle on my record player to learn Mood for a Day, Rush guitar parts, ELP, Yes, etc.

Spenner's work on the original JCS just hit me like a ton of bricks; I instantly knew that bass was the way to go.

And yes, we had a great music director at the time; he and I got into it a few times at JCS rehearsals, because he was insisting that I play the B'way score, and I was equally hard-headed that Spenner's lines were just so much better. He won a few of those arguments, but at that point, they didn't have any one else they could use on bass, so my stubborness gradually led to "aw, go ahead and do it your way." Honestly, my position on music hasn't changed much since then.

JCS was indeed a pretty big departure from our usual senior plays, such as Sweeney Todd, Oklahoma, etc. As I've come to find out, timing is 99% of most things. I think we really nailed the whole production, too. Not bad when you're 17.

So Low Bass · #7 07-21-2011, 06:15 AM

Can you imagine the heat your music Director took from his collegues, administration, parents??

Here is the next upload:

"Everything's Alright"

So Low Bass · #8 07-22-2011, 01:09 PM

The first LP/CD has now been uploaded. I plan on uploading the second half, including "Superstar" next week.

Follow the link below, with headphones

dtsamples · #9 07-22-2011, 01:24 PM

Just played this show. Man what a blast it is. Great tone! ...but is that a mudbucker on your '69 p? Say it aint so!

So Low Bass · #10 07-23-2011, 09:44 AM

What you see is not what you hear. I put the Humbucker in 1971, wanting the best of both worlds (at the time): The P punch and the EBO roar. I don't use it in any of my videos except for demonstrating its sound.

It sounds like you had a great experience... I'm a bit jealous.

Richland123 · #11 07-23-2011, 10:27 AM

Very cool! Great job! I know that took a lot of work. Just curious, do you know if Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote some of those basslines or did Spinner do most on his own lines using the Weber music score as a template?

So Low Bass · #12 07-24-2011, 07:41 PM

Thanks a lot. The way I see it:

Webber was the brains of the project. He had the tunes and general ideas down and then had top notch singers and an intact band- The Grease Band- bring the thing to life. If anything, they worked off of chord charts and did their own thing TOGETHER. They knew each other like the Funk Brothers, the Wrecking Crew, BT and the MGs… After the singers and band laid down the tracks, Webber added orchestrations, chorus, etc. They had a great hit on their hands but didn’t know what to do with it. They first called it an oratorio with the first “stage” production being little more that the singers and chorus standing in place. I saw such a production with the Grand Rapids Symphony on the road. Then came the “opera” and “Broadway” and movie.

Any other ideas???

I just uploaded “The Last Supper” and “Gethsemane”.

**twocargar** · #13 07-24-2011, 08:12 PM

Wasn't a young "Steve(ie)" (Ray) Vaughn on that as well?

jmlee · #14 07-24-2011, 09:42 PM

That show is just a bag of fun to play. Don't discount Tim Rice in all this. His lyrics make the show as they have so many others. Evita is also a hoot to play on bass. I did three runs of that one just cause it was so much fun.

As to the album-to-show model, there have been lots of other cases of that approach as a means to build financing etc. Tim Rice did it again much later with Benny and Bjorn from Abba when they made the Chess album long before the show made it to the West End in London. (Did a couple of runs of that show and it is a piece of some genius.) You could also argue that Townsend's Tommy went the same route. In each case the earlier album was better than any of the cast recordings.

I think the bass part for What's The Buzz from Superstar was transcribed in Bass Player a couple of months ago with some commentary from Spenner.

jmlee · #15 07-24-2011, 09:45 PM

Oh, one more thing...an absolutely amazing production of Superstar from the Stratford Festival up here in Canada is on it's way to San Diego en route to Broadway. If any of you get a chance to catch it there, go for it. The critics are saying that it may be the best stage production ever.

Mojo-Man · #16 07-24-2011, 10:06 PM

Nice, I grew up loving J C Superstar.
That might be the craziest way to hold a bass.
So wrong, but sounds so right.
Love the P-Bass with Mudbucker too.

So Low Bass · #17 07-25-2011, 10:44 AM

Thanks for the kind words M-M. As for my playing position… I cannot fully supinate my forearm. This is to the extent that I cannot bar chords on a guitar or play the violin/viola because I cannot rotate my forearm enough. It is prevalent enough that I flunked my draft physical in1972. Hence, my playing position.

I uploaded “The Trial/Peter’s Denial” and “Pilate and Christ”.

So Low Bass · #18 07-25-2011, 06:44 PM

I just finished uploading the last of it. As I explained on the vid, some of the numbers were not in tune "to the same A" throughout. "Superstar" itself, for example, was VERY sharp and I had my buddy run it through a program to lower it to a -22, whatever that means. I'd rather do that then retune my bass everytime I sat down and practiced it. I have found this trouble with many 1960-70s London rock recordings, including Abbey Road. In the end, the tech people simple didn't make standardizing a pitch throught an album a priority.