Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Explained

Hair: An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Type:Cast
Cover:Hair-original-cast-recording.jpg
Alt:Psychedelic green and yellow colorized photo-negative of a man's face with a bushy "afro", reflected below in red and yellow.
Released:1968
Recorded:May 6, 1968
Studio:RCA Victor, New York City
Genre:Pop rock, psychedelic rock, funk, R&B
Length:40:25
Label:RCA Victor
Producer:Brian Drutman, Denis McNamara, Norrie Paramor, Andy Wiswell

Hair is a 1968 cast recording of the musical Hair on the RCA Victor label. Sarah Erlewine, for AllMusic, wrote: "The music is heartening and invigorating, including the classics 'Aquarius,' 'Good Morning Starshine,' 'Let the Sunshine In,' 'Frank Mills' ... and 'Easy to Be Hard.' The joy that has been instilled in this original Broadway cast recording shines through, capturing in the performances of creators Gerome Ragni and James Rado exactly what they were aiming for — not to speak for their generation, but to speak for themselves."[1]

Notes and References

  1. Grein, Paul. "Chart Watch: The Hamilton Mixtape Makes History", Yahoo Music, December 12, 2016
  2. http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1969-243.html "Grammy Awards 1969"
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20081214143808/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840493,00.html "Television: "Hairzapoppin'""
  4. Isherwood, Charles (September 16, 2007). "The Aging of Aquarius". The New York Times, accessed May 25, 2008.
  5. Culwell-Block, Logan. "Hair Original Broadway Cast Album Inducted Into Library of Congress' National Recording Registry", Playbill, March 21, 2019
  6. Hair. 1968. Liner notes. RCA Victor Dynagroove . LOC-1150.
  7. Reich, Howard. "Hair (original Broadway cast recording)", Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1989, accessed May 22, 2016
  8. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 281.
  9. Web site: Nina Simone - Ain't Got No-I Got Life . Dutch Top 40 . December 1, 2013.
  10. Web site: http://www.billboard.com/biz/search/charts?page=55&f[0=ts_chart_artistname%3ANina%20Simone&f[1]=ss_bb_type%3Achart_item&type=2&artist=Nina%20Simone Nina Simone Chart History]. Billboard.biz. November 11, 2016.
  11. Book: Murrells, Joseph . 1978 . The Book of Golden Discs . 2nd . Barrie and Jenkins Ltd . London . 218–219 & 256 . 0-214-20512-6 . registration .
  12. [Richie Unterberger|Unterberger, Ritchie]
  13. Erlewine, Sarah. "Hair [Original Broadway Cast Recording<nowiki>]"], AllMusic.com, accessed October 1, 2015

    The album charted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the last Broadway cast album to do so. Hairs cast album stayed at No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1969.[1]

    The recording also received a Grammy Award in 1969 for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album[2] and sold nearly 3 million copies in the U.S. by December 1969.[3] The New York Times noted in 2007 that "The cast album of Hair was ... a must-have for the middle classes. Its exotic orange-and-green cover art imprinted itself instantly and indelibly on the psyche. ... [It] became a pop-rock classic that, like all good pop, has an appeal that transcends particular tastes for genre or period."[4] In 2018, the Original Broadway Cast Recording was added to the National Recording Registry.[5]

    Track listing

    Music by Galt MacDermot; lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado.

    1. "Aquarius" 2:55 — Ronnie Dyson
    2. "Donna" 2:08 — Gerome Ragni
    3. "Hashish" 1:03 — Cast
    4. "Sodomy" 0:50 Steve Curry
    5. "Colored Spade" 1:10 — Lamont Washington
    6. "Manchester England" 1:20 — James Rado
    7. "I'm Black" 0:36 — Lamont Washington, Steve Curry, Gerome Ragni, James Rado
    8. "Ain't Got No" 0:43 — Steve Curry, Lamont Washington, Melba Moore
    9. "I Believe In Love" 1:06 — Melba Moore*
    10. "Ain't Got No" (reprise) 1:16 — Steve Curry, Lamont Washington, Melba Moore
    11. "Air" 1:15 — Sally Eaton, Shelley Plimpton, Melba Moore
    12. "Initials (LBJ)" 0:55 — Cast
    13. "I Got Life" 3:05 — James Rado
    14. "Going Down" 2:18 — Gerome Ragni*
    15. "Hair" 2:55 — James Rado, Gerome Ragni
    16. "My Conviction" 1:36 — Jonathan Kramer
    17. "Easy to Be Hard" 2:35 — Lynn Kellogg
    18. "Don't Put It Down" 2:00 — Steve Curry, Gerome Ragni
    19. "Frank Mills" 2:05 — Shelley Plimpton
    20. "Be-In (Hare Krishna)" 3:00 — Cast
    21. "Where Do I Go?" 2:40 — James Rado
    22. "Electric Blues" 2:35 — Paul Jabara*
    23. "Manchester England" (Reprise) 0:30 — James Rado
    24. "Black Boys" 1:10 — Diane Keaton, Suzannah Norstrand, Natalie Mosco
    25. "White Boys" 2:28 — Melba Moore, Lorrie Davis & Emmaretta Marks
    26. "Walking In Space" 5:00 — Cast
    27. "Abie Baby" 2:45 — Lamont Washington, Ronnie Dyson, Donnie Burks & Lorrie Davis
    28. "Three-Five-Zero-Zero" 3:09 — Cast
    29. "What a Piece of Work is Man" 1:36 — Ronnie Dyson & Walter Michael Harris
    30. "Good Morning Starshine" 2:30 — Lynn Kellogg, Melba Moore, James Rado, Gerome Ragni
    31. "The Bed" 2:56 — Cast*
    32. "The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)" 3:35 — James Rado, Lynn Kellogg, Melba Moore

    * The original LP release (RCA Victor LSO-1150) omitted a few tracks due to space limitations: "I Believe In Love", "Going Down", "Electric Blues" and "The Bed", as well as short reprises, and placed "Easy to Be Hard" after "Black Boys/White Boys".[6] The full track list above was included on later CD issues.[7]

    Charts

    Chart (1968/70)Position
    United States (Billboard 200)1
    Australia (Kent Music Report)[8] 2

    Credits

    Cover versions

    See also

    References

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