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Hair ~ Original 1967 Broadway Cast album
vinyl LP front cover
cover photo photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Over fifty years ago, the Off-Broadway production of Hair opened on October 17th of 1967. The work reflects the creators' observations of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s, and several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement.
I was heavy into musicals at
the time and had been since the forties (Mario Lanza link below). To me the Off-Broadway production celebrated the joy of The Summer of Love,
as I perceived it, because it captured the innocence of the period
along with the rage plus it had a "raw edge" only seen in a musical once before. That was in 1958 with West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. Hair was like no musical I
had ever seen. It is no big deal by today's standards but at the time it blew
me away!
Hair ~ Original 1967 Broadway Cast album
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover photo photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Hair is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In" finale.
Hair opened on Broadway the following year on April 29, 1968, and a new
recording of the musical was issued that year (link below). In 1979 Hair was made into a
film by Miloš Forman who, the previous year, directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (link below) and five years later would direct the blockbuster film, Amadeus. Hair
has been performed all over the world with recordings of them issued; I
will write about some of them and there is a website that reviews some
of them (link below).
One of my favorite songs is I Got Life sung by the character George Berger, portrayed very nicely by Treat Williams, to help his friend Claude Hooper Bukowski, portrayed by John Savage, in the film version. But my very favorite song is the finale of the film version of the musical, The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In). It is a joyous song of hope but the tragedy of war is brilliantly evoked during the song in the film. (links below).
Hair ~ Original 1967 Broadway Cast album
vinyl LP back cover
back cover photo photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag,
and its nude scene caused a lot of controversy and, as a result, made it difficult to find a home in a Broadway theatre.
photographer unknonwn
In
the production I saw the nudity wasn't so blatant; the cast was under s
sheet or something and the lighting was so dim you couldn't make
anything out, , "No big deal!" I thought.
About the same time as the Summer of Love, Charles Perry discovered LSD through his roommate at the University of California.
"One of the peculiar things about LSD was that for a very long time, it was legal," Perry says in the film, Something's Happenig Here.
The drug was finally outlawed in October 1966, prompting thousands to flock to Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, to protest. Some of the participants in the "Love Pageant Rally" included the Diggers, an anarchist group distributing free food.
"One of the peculiar things about LSD was that for a very long time, it was legal," Perry says in the film, Something's Happenig Here.
The drug was finally outlawed in October 1966, prompting thousands to flock to Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, to protest. Some of the participants in the "Love Pageant Rally" included the Diggers, an anarchist group distributing free food.
Hair ~ Original 1967 Broadway Cast album
vinyl LP back cover details
cover photo photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®
After people left San Francisco at the end of the summer of 1967 to resume their college
studies, those remaining in the Haight wanted to commemorate the
conclusion of the event. A mock funeral entitled "The Death of the
Hippie" (link below) was staged on October 6, 1967, and organizer Mary Kasper explained the intended message:
"We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, to stay where you are, bring the revolution to where you live and don't come here because it's over and done with."
Organized to convince the media to stop covering the Haight, attendees burned underground newspapers and hippie clothing. Leaders carried a coffin down Haight Street and the crowd stopped for a “kneel-in” at the corner of Haight and Ashbury.
Through this performance, the Diggers sought to end the
commercialization of the hippie lifestyle and the main stream
appropriation of their social experiment.
Ironically, Hair,
which told the story of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution
of the 1960s, opened eleven days later; so much for the end of
commercialization.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1a Walker Daniels, Gerome Ragni, Steve Dean (4), Arnold Wilkerson And The Company* – Aint't Got No
A1b Walker Daniels, Marijane Maricle – I Got Life – 4:00
A2 Sally Eaton, Shelley Plimpton, Jonelle Allen – Air – 1:25
A3 Gerome Ragni And The Company* – Going Down – 2:33
A4 Walker Daniels, Gerome Ragni And The Company* – Hair – 3:00
A5 Jill O'Hara And The Company* – Dead End – 2:33
A6 Shelley Plimpton – Frank Mills – 1:47
A7 The Company* – Hare Krishna – 3:10
A8 Walker Daniels And The Company* – Where Do I Go? – 2:54
A1b Walker Daniels, Marijane Maricle – I Got Life – 4:00
A2 Sally Eaton, Shelley Plimpton, Jonelle Allen – Air – 1:25
A3 Gerome Ragni And The Company* – Going Down – 2:33
A4 Walker Daniels, Gerome Ragni And The Company* – Hair – 3:00
A5 Jill O'Hara And The Company* – Dead End – 2:33
A6 Shelley Plimpton – Frank Mills – 1:47
A7 The Company* – Hare Krishna – 3:10
A8 Walker Daniels And The Company* – Where Do I Go? – 2:54
Side 2:
B1 Suzannah Evans, Linda Compton, Paul Jabara– – Electric Blues – 2:35
B2 Suzannah Evans, Linda Compton, Paul Jabara And The Company* – Easy To Be Hard – 3:03
B3 Walker Daniels – Manchester – 1:00
B4a Jonelle Allen, Susan Batson, Alma Robinson – White Boys
B4b Linda Compton, Shelley Plimpton, Suzannah Evans – Black Boys – 3:30
B5 The Company* – Walking In Space – 4:20
B6 The Company* – Aquarius – 2:15
B7 Jill O'Hara And The Company* – Good Morning Starshine – 3:47
B8 Walker Daniels – Exanaplanetooch – 2:35
B9 Jill O'Hara – The Climax – 1:45
Companies, etc.
Recorded At – RCA Studio A
Mastered At – RCA Studios
Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
Record Company – Radio Corporation Of America
Copyright © – RCA
Copyright © – Channel H Productions
Credits:
Band – Galt MacDermot, Greg Ferrara, Jimmy Lewis (2), Leonard Seeds, Steve Gillette (2)
Directed By [Orch.] – Galt MacDermot
Engineer – Ernie Oelrich*
Liner Notes – Elenore Lester
Lyrics By – Gerome Ragni, James Rado
Music By – Galt MacDermot
Performer [Cast] – Alma Robinson, Arnold Wilkerson, Ed Crowley, Edward Murphy, Jr., Gerome Ragni, Jane Levin, Jill O'Hara, Jonelle Allen, Linda Compton, Marijane Maricle, Paul Jabara, Sally Eaton, Shelley Plimpton, Steve Dean (4), Susan Batson, Suzannah Evans, Thommie Bush, Walker Daniels, Warren Burton, William Herter
Producer [Album] – Andy Wiswell, George R. Marek
Notes:
© 1967 RCA, New ork, N. Y.
Liner notes © 1967 Channel H Productions. Reprinted by permission.
The Original Cast Recording
Indianapolis Pressing with at least a variant Jacket Mfg. Plant # (6) on liner, variant of this undisclosed press which shows 8, by same catalog #.
Recorded in RCA Victor's Studio A, New York City
Stereo Dynagroove
1st catalog #: sleeve; 2nd: labels
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (A Side Label): UPRS-9538
Matrix / Runout (B Side Label): UPRS-9539
Matrix / Runout (A Side Stamped): UPRS -9538--2S ɪ A1
Matrix / Runout (B Side Stamped): UPRS - 9539--2S ɪ A1
Rights Society: ASCAP
Other (Jacket Mfg. Plant #): 6
Various – New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater Presents Hair - An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Label: RCA Victor – LSO-1143, RCA Victor – LSO 1143
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1967
Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen
Style: Musical, Jazz-Rock, Folk Rock
Label: RCA Victor – LSO-1143, RCA Victor – LSO 1143
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1967
Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen
Style: Musical, Jazz-Rock, Folk Rock
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
The Atlantic ~ The Death of the Hippies
Broadway.com ~ How Hair's nude hippies changed Broadway forever
Broadway World ~ Hair is Still Relevant After 50 Years
Cast Album Reviews ~ Hair
Iconic Images ~ Death of Hippie
NY Times ~ Why Hair Has Endured
Charles Perry ~ Something's Happenig Here
Saturday Evening Post ~ Love & Haight: the Summer of Love
YouTube links:
I Got Life (film)
Walking In Space (film)
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