Released 1968 Length 40:25 Label RCA Victor | Recorded May 6, 1968 Release date 1968 | |
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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.
- "Aquarius" 2:55 - Ronnie Dyson
- "Donna" 2:08 - Gerome Ragni
- "Hashish" 1:03 - Cast
- "Sodomy" 0:50 Steve Curry
- "Colored Spade" 1:10 - Lamont Washington
- "Manchester England" 1:20 - James Rado
- "I'm Black" 0:36 - Lamont Washington, Steve Curry, Gerome Ragni, James Rado
- "Ain't Got No" 0:43 - Steve Curry, Lamont Washington, Melba Moore
- "I Believe In Love" 1:06 - Melba Moore
- "Ain't Got No" (reprise) 1:16 - Steve Curry, Lamont Washington, Melba Moore
- "Air" 1:15 - Sally Eaton, Shelley Plimpton, Melba Moore
- "Initials (LBJ)" 0:55 - Cast
- "I Got Life" 3:05 - James Rado
- "Going Down" 2:18 - Gerome Ragni
- "Hair" 2:55 - James Rado, Gerome Ragni
- "My Conviction" 1:36 - Jonathan Kramer
- "Easy to Be Hard" 2:35 - Lynn Kellogg
- "Don't Put It Down" 2:00 - Steve Curry, Gerome Ragni
- "Frank Mills" 2:05 - Shelley Plimpton
- "Be-In (Hare Krishna)" 3:00 - Cast
- "Where Do I Go?" 2:40 - James Rado
- "Electric Blues" 2:35 - Paul Jabara
- "Manchester England" (Reprise) 0:30 - James Rado
- "Black Boys" 1:10 - Diane Keaton, Suzannah Norstrand, Natalie Mosco
- "White Boys" 2:28 - Melba Moore, Lorrie Davis & Emmaretta Marks
- "Walking In Space" 5:00 - Cast
- "Abie Baby" 2:45 - Lamont Washington, Ronnie Dyson, Donnie Burks & Lorrie Davis
- "Three-Five-Zero-Zero" 3:09 - Cast
- "What a Piece of Work is Man" 1:36 - Ronnie Dyson & Walter Michael Harris
- "Good Morning Starshine" 2:30 - Lynn Kellogg, Melba Moore, James Rado, Gerome Ragni
- "The Bed" 2:56 - Cast
- "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
Cover versions
Songs
1AquariusRonnie Dyson2:51
2Donna / HashishGerome Ragni - Original Broadway Cast of Hair2:45
3SodomyCompany - Steve Curry0:50