Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

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Released
  
1968

Length
  
40:25

Label
  
RCA Victor

Recorded
  
May 6, 1968

Release date
  
1968

Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb7

Producer
  
Brian Drutman, Denis McNamara, Norrie Paramor, Andy Wiswell

Artists
  
Stage Door Musical Ensemble, Original London Casts: Hair/ Fresh Hair

Genres
  
Rock music, Funk, Psychedelic rock, Pop rock

Awards
  
Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, Grammy Hall of Fame

Similar
  
Hair: Original Soundtra, Walking in Space, American Idiot: The Original B, My Fair Lady, Shapes of Rhythm

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."

Contents

The album charted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the last Broadway cast album to do so (as of 2016, which finally saw The Hamilton Mixtape chart at No. 1, although that is not a cast album). Hair's cast album stayed at No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1969. The recording also received a Grammy Award in 1969 for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album and sold nearly 3 million copies in the U.S. by December 1969. 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."

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". The full track list above was included on later CD issues.

Credits

  • Alan Fontaine, Steve Gillette – guitar
  • Jimmy Lewis – bass
  • Galt McDermot – piano, electric piano
  • Idris Muhammad – drums
  • Warren Chiasson – vibraphone, percussion
  • Donald Leight, Eddy Williams – trumpet
  • Zane Paul – flute, woodwinds
  • Donnie Burks, Steve Curry, Lorrie Davis, Ronald Dyson, Sally Eaton, Leata Galloway, Steve Gamet, Walter Harris, Paul Jabara, Diane Keaton, Hiram Keller, Lynn Kellogg, Jonathan Kramer, Marjorie LiPari, Emmaretta Marks, Melba Moore, Mike Moran, Natalie Mosco, Suzannah Norstrand, Shelley Plimpton, James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Robert Rubinsky, Lamont Washington – vocals

    • Cover versions

  • The 5th Dimension covered "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" in 1969, creating a #1 hit single.
  • The Cowsills covered "Hair" in 1969, hitting #2.
  • Oliver covered "Good Morning Starshine" in 1969, hitting #3.
  • Three Dog Night covered "Easy to Be Hard" in 1969, hitting #4.
  • The Lemonheads covered "Frank Mills" on their 1992 album It's a Shame About Ray.
  • Run–D.M.C. sampled "Where Do I Go?" in their 1993 song "Down with the King".

    • Songs

    1AquariusRonnie Dyson2:51
    2Donna / HashishGerome Ragni - Original Broadway Cast of Hair2:45
    3SodomyCompany - Steve Curry0:50

    References

    Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA