I have this one, and it is quite good. The lyrics have evolved a bit, and the psuedo-fascist feel of the sets/costumes/makeup is wonderful.
Not to mention the perfect actor for the role of King Herod…
Pete Townshend has acknowledged this. Still, Tommy is a rock opera, which has different expectations than that of a classical opera, so it’s a moot point.
How come there has been no mention of “Billy the kid and the green baize vampire”
Sorry about the HTML
Another vote for the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It’s astonishing that this was written when Tim was 24 and Andrew was 20!
Get the 2000 video version. Simon is played by Tony Vincent, and he is good. He steals the show with his solo. Later Tony went on to play Judas in the Superstar revival on Broadway, and earned a Tony nomination.
Then there can be no such thing as a Rock opera on album since you wouldn’t have scenery etc.
I can think of a number of albums that fit that haven’t been said.
Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. While it doesn’t have a full story, you can make out what is going on.
Savatage has 4, Streets, which I brought to work this week, Dead Winter Dead, Wake of Magellan, and Poets and Madmen.
Virgin Steele has House of Atreus parts I & II. They have also written a true opera called KLYTAIMNESTRA-DER FLUCH DER ATRIDEN.
I’m sure I have a few more that I just can’t think of right now as well. I also heard talk of Brian Johnson, I think, from AC/DC doing an opera as well.
In the early nineties Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. went on a serious “I want to be Pete Townsend” bender and came up with The Crimson Idol. Which remarkably shares a similar plotline to the aforementioned Savatage’s Streets except for the ending. (Idol ends with it’s protagonist hanging himself, while Streets ends with an upbeat one on one with God, which shamelessly plagerises their earlier classic “When the Crowds Are Gone”.)
There was a fantastic Thrash-opera by Sabbat entitled Dreamweaver: Reflections of Our Yesterdays, which has some of the best lyrics I’ve ever read.
Likewise, the rather silly *King Diamond * had “Them” and it’s sequel Conspiracy.
Recently bought that one used through Amazon after reading about it in another thread here. I like it a lot. It’s interesting that the country tempo makes the album much shorter than the original, though they didn’t cut any content. Also, though the story is actually a depressing one, like Steve Martin once said, you can’t play depressing music on a banjo.
Yes, that’s who it is! In his solo, Tony Vincent just captures the essence of his character. It flows out of him. Even watching a recording, it’s a goosebumps moment. And for pure spectacle, the driving of the moneylenders from the temple is pretty sweet. Judas’ reprise of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” in “Judas’ Death” is . . . (I can’t believe I’m using this word) poignant. It just aches. (I’ve just noticed that my Windows Media Player always plays blood red and noxious green during the visualization for this song. Weird.)
So, on everyone’s New Years resolutions list is a command to rent/borrow from the library this version of Jesus Christ Superstar. If anything, you should see/listen to this just to experience the sheer range that these people have – this ain’t no Music Man.
look at link Darth Nader posted Herod was . . . Drop Dead Fred?! Horrors!
I only want to say that a lot of young people have come to me asking about the show after seeing the video. It’s nice that Superstar has caught on with the next generation. The show is immortal (or has been resurrected).
What’s the difference between an opera and a cantata? I’m unfamiliar with the latter.
What do you call traditional opera CDs? It’s still an opera. It has to be written before it can be performed. Pete Townsend wrote it, and it was performed later. Sounds like opera to me!
Trans-Siberia Symphony Orchestra’s done one.
Beethoven’s Last Night. Been listening to it. Bit overblown, but so is Beethoven.
I was always told during middle school and high school that an opera is a staged production – it has scenery, costumes, lighting – that whole bag. A cantata, though, is basically an opera that is not staged, which makes it not an opera at all, but a collection of music composed to tell a story.
And on top of that, Tommy has in fact been performed with a full cast of singers, costumes, sets, etc. Prior to the Broadway/West End stage musical, there was a production by the Seattle Opera in 1971 (featuring Bette Midler) and a special benefit with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1972. Whether any of these performances can be considered “true” opera is a question I’m not qualified to answer, but once again I think Tommy is stronger on the “opera” side of “rock opera” than most other works in the genre.
How is **Tommy[/b[ in any way operatic? In Jesus Christ Superstar, the characters sing dialogue to each other, which in turn propels the story. Tommy, on the other hand, is a collection of songs sung by characters who do not interact, except for “Do You Think It’s Alright?”. In JCS, the story is completely told by the music and lyrics; Tommy has to be staged for the songs to make narrative sense. To me, Tommy, like Quadrophenia, is more of a concept album than a rock opera, although it definitely rocks.
As a sidenote, if JCS can be remade, will British television tackle Tommy next? Townshend ruined the movie by the hamhanded use of synthesizers in the score and having session musicians instead of the Who perform the music (excepting Elton John and Eric Clapton’s performances). And having Oliver Reed and Jack Nicholson sing must have Ken Russell’s demented idea. I cringe when Nicholson butchers “Go To The Mirror,” which is one of my favorite Who songs. Tommy deserves a better staging.
[QUOTE=Lamia]
Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably a rock opera, but damned if I could tell you what actually happens in it (“Uh…the world’s gonna end in five years, and then there’s this alien who joins a rock band, and…um…I dunno, man”) or who any of the characters are except for Ziggy and his nameless bandmates.QUOTE]
The bandmates would be Weird and Gilly. I don’t think of Ziggy as a rock opera, but a series of songs with somewhat of a narrative arc. I’m not sure what exactly that makes it.
It’s called The Naked Carmen" and it shows up in the “Soundtracks/Broadway Shows” section of record stores, not the “Rock” section.
Fenris
Thanks, Fenris. I’ll keep an eye out for that title if it ever comes back in print.
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Rent. Or Evita, for that matter, since other Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice collaborations were mentioned. Granted, when Evita made the transition from album to stage show, it was reorchestrated to sound more like a traditional musical than a rock opera, but it started life as a rock opera on records.
I’m not really sure how to classify Hair. I love it, but I’m not sure it really qualifies as a rock opera. I think there might be too much dialogue. But then, Carmen has dialogue, too, and I don’t think anyone’s contesting its status as a opera. And The Magic Flute is loaded with dialogue and it’s considered an opera, not an operetta or a musical (according to my college music instructor, anyway). So, I don’t know.
Blurring for a minute the distinction between cantata and opera, I would certainly include Snow by Spock’s Beard, as well as *Joe’s Garage * by Zappa.
Actually Thing-Fish(also by Zappa was conceived as a full broadway production, with costumes, scenery, etc. but never could get any financial backing. If it’s never been performed live does it count as an opera?
Chris W