• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Jesus Christ Superstar/Spenner bass demos

S

So Low Bass

Oct 11, 2005
770
42
Buffalo, NY. USA
#1
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
 
#4
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.
 
#6
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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WG Plum
#11
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?
 
#12
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”.
 
#14
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.
 
#17
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”.
 
#18
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.
 
#19
I apologize for bringing this old JCS thread "back to life," but considering the time of year I thought it was appropriate! Just kidding.

Anyway, recently I was at the Ted Nealy final tour and got to spend a considerable amount of time with Ted, Kurt (Annas), and Larry (Simon Zealotes). They were amazingly friendly and willing to share their experiences. I have been a fan of the show for 50 years and over the last 10 years have been transcribing Alan's bass parts. I'm just about finished.

His playing is extraordinary of course. This time, note selection, and athleticism over the fretboard is top notch. There is even one song where I noticed a measure of 64th notes. Can't remember which song right now. I'm also constantly amazed at his ability to improve over odd time signatures, often playing across the measure to, resting on "1," things I find very tricky with odd times. He was a master and a total "feel monster" with the chops to pull off whatever he was feeling.

As far as I can tell most of the movie soundtrack music was pulled from the studio recordings with bits cut here and there. But some of it seems to have been re-recorded. It's difficult to figure out exactly. "Everything's Alright" for example seems to be the same music for both (instrumentally of course) with the movie soundtrack having parts cut out.

One track I find interesting is "Then We Are Decided." From what Kurt told me when the movie was being planned Norman thought there needed to be more back story regarding motivation for the priests so he and Andrew wrote/recorded this track. It's generally skipped in most productions and I personally think that is a mistake as it's a great little number.

Anyway, here is my tribute to the late great Alan Spenner and Bob Bingham (recently passed) and his family was at the event I recently attended.

This is as close to the exact notes that Alan played that my ear will bring me!

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com

Also I should mention that Alan played on "ABC's" "The Look of Love" and "Poison Arrow." Two iconic tracks from the '80s. "Poison Arrow" is played with sequencer like precision. He was a rare bird indeed. Both Alan and Graham Maby have been my "go-to" guys when it comes to "how to play bass" since I started playing as a teenager. I can't get enough of them.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jerry

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back