Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969)

From the back cover:

This is a joyous, bouncing and entirely successful piece of pop music, bursting with good tunes and clever words, yet having a musical continuity and wholeness which is quite new in the world where the differing sounds of Beatles, Cream and Doors explode and dominate. "Joseph" is, if you like, pop music moving towards its coming of age.

There you have it, this is heavy stuff, apparently. Personally I think the cover is worth a Nobel prize, if it would be awarded for album covers (which I think it should). That alone is worth the $10 I paid for this LP and makes me return to my ideas that we need to have a mural at home.

This is a musical on the theme of Joseph, you know, the one with the evil brothers who was going to kill him but instead sold him as a slave. After some adventures including a dream interpretation regarding seven good years and seven poor years in Egypt, he became Pharaoh's second man. There, he was finally reunited with his brothers during the famine years, when the brothers were seeking help from Egypt's Pharaoh (who did well thanks to good preparations before the famine). The brothers' initial ill will against Joseph was partially based on a nice colorful coat he got from his father. And they probably thought he was somewhat self-important, and also his father's favorite. Of course they had to kill him. If you want to read the original story, just check out the Book of Genesis.

This musical is written by no less than Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), or Sir Tim Rice as he is addressed nowdays. Both were in their 20s when they wrote it and they did it on commission of Alan Doggett, music master of the school Colet Court. And it is as musicals tend to be, conceptual and theatrical music that sometimes is really great, but sometimes the music needs the visuals to really work. I'm no great connoisseur of Lloyd Webber but still recognize Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Phantom of the Opera in the music. Although both Webber's and Rice's careers at this point hadn't really got going, it feels like they already had found their way to make music (plagiarism and copying many claim in the case of Webber).


Webber and Rice

The first version of the music was a 15-minute concert by the choir at Colet Court, there was also an orchestra and the pop band The Mixed Bag which played along. It was the school's Easter concert 1968. Lloyd Webber's father felt this could become something really big and organized a concert in his own church, and now the show had become a bit longer. A third concert was made later that year and by this time it was a 35-minute show, thanks to some new songs. The Mixed Bag and the choir from Colet Court participated in these concerts and they also play on the LP that was recorded the following year. After Lloyd Webber's big success with Jesus Christ Superstar 1970, Jospeh ... attracted new attention and was launched in the United States as the follow-up to Jesus Christ. Since then it has been set up in countless productions at various places in the world throughout the decades. A film has also been made based on the musical.

Personally I think it's an OK album, but the music doesn't stand up to the fantastic cover. One thing I like about musicals is that it's often quite bombastic music, big choires, cool harmonies and sweeping, catchy choruses which often are really powerful. In its best moments. In its worst moments, the music without its visual complement is rather dull and a bit strange, more theater than music. On Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat you get both. There's a lot of humor in the music, and the first time I listened to it I followed the lyrics through out the whole LP even though I really hadn't thought I would do so. But the story was so exciting and fun so I got stuck in it.



Recording in the Decca studio

Many other musical albums are double-LPs, but not this one which is good. A double-LP often contains more fillers and boring songs you want to skip, especially when it comes to musicals. On a single LP you get more quality than quantity.
Conclusion: No real need to have this record in the shelf, but it's fun to have music from Webber's and Rice's early careers and at the same time a piece of art to hang on the wall (if you have a wife that doesn't allow murals at home).

Just as Joseph had a vision of the future, the text on the back of the cover holds a prediction by the Sunday Times' Derek Jewell, apparently a mystic:

The names on this disc aren't yet well-known. But with Lloyd Webber (currently at the Royal College of Music), Rice and Doggett all now involved in the record production game, that situation will change swiftly. "Joseph" is splendid enough in itself. It could be the start of something even bigger.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Side B
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

That's the official tracklist, a clear concept, wouldn't you say? But you can find tracklists that list the individual songs:

Side A
1. Way Way Back
2. Jacob Chorus
3. Favourite Son
4. Joseph's Coat
5. I Dreamed
6. The Dreams Were More Than
7. Next Day
8. Poor Poor Jacob
9. Joseph Was Taken
10. Potiphar
11. Suddenly They Heard
12. Poor Poor Joseph
13. Close Every Door

Side B
1. Joseph's Luck
2. Meanwhile in Bed
3. Poor Poor Pharap
4. Chained and Bound
5. I Was Wandering
6. Seven Years
7. Pharao Thought Well Stone
8. Back In Canaan
9. Stop
10. Who's the Thief
11. Is It
12. Benjamin
13. Show Him Some
14. And Joseph Knew
15. Joseph Joseph
16. So Jacob
17. I Closed My Eyes
18. Give Me

You'll find tons of clips from the musical on Youtube, but I couldn't find any songs from this original album.