20,000 vinyl LPs 287: Hair ~ Original 1968 Broadway Cast

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Hair ~ Original 1968 Broadway Cast 

vinyl LP front cover

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Fifty-three years ago today, April 29, 1968, the rock musical drama, Hair, opened on Broadway and the world of theater musicals would never be quite the same. Hair reflects the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the 1960s,            

 

 

Hair ~ Original Broadway Cast - 1968
 photo: Friedman-Abeles

 

 

The Off-Broadway production of Hair had opened the year before in October of 1967 and I had purchased the vinyl LP of that production by the time the show hit Broadway, so, I was familiar with the music. To me Hair was the culmination of The Summer of Love as I perceived it, because it captured the innocence and the rage against injustice of that VERY short period, plus the show had a raw edge that appealed to me.   

              

Hair ~ Original Broadway Cast poster - 1968

I was heavy into musicals at the time and had been since the forties (link below). One musical, West Side Story (link below), had broken new ground ten years earlier in 1958. 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!       

  

The show generated tons of controversy because of a scene in which the cast appears nude. I remember sitting in the audience anticipating that scene and then it finally happened. In the production I saw the cast formed a large circle and had a huge translucent fabric that they held over their heads and waved it up and down so that it billowed, the stage lighting went dim and while some held the fabric overhead, others got undressed underneath it. Between the dim lighting and the fabric casting a shadow over them you couldn't really see anything. I thought to myself, "Big Deal!"     

 

The music was written by Galt MacDermot with lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado.  would go on to write the music for Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1971. The cast for Verona included Raul Julia, as one of the leads, with Stockard Channing and Jeff Goldblum (in his first Broadway performance) in the chorus.      

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1    Dyson* & Co.* - Aquarius - 2:55
A2a    Ragni* & Co.* - Donna
A2b    The Co.* – Hashish - 2:45
A3    Curry* & Co.* - Sodomy - 0:50
A4    Washington* & Co.* - Colored Spade - 1:10
A5    Rado* & Co.* - Manchester England - 1:20
A6a    Rado* - Ragni* - Curry* - Washington*–    I'm Black
A6b    Curry* - Washington* - Moore* & Co.*–    Ain't Got No - 1:10
A7    Eaton* - Plimpton* - Moore* & Co.*–    Air - 1:15
A8    Co.* - Initials - 0:55
A9    Rado* & Co.* - I Got Life - 3:05
A10    Rado* - Ragni* & Co.* - Hair - 2:55
A11    Kramer* - My Conviction - 1:36
A12    Ragni* - Curry* - Don't Put It Down - 2:00
A13    Plimpton* - Frank Mills - 2:05
A14    Co.* - Be-In - 3:00

Side 2:

B1    Rado* & Co.* - Where Do I Go? - 2:40
B2a    Keaton* - Norstrand* - Mosco*–    Black Boys
B2b    Moore* - Davis* - Marks* - White Boys - 3:35
B3    Kellogg* - Easy To Be Hard - 2:35
B4    Co.* - Walking In Space - 5:00
B5    Washington* - Dyson* - Burks* - Davis* - Abie Baby - 2:45
B6a    Co.* - Three-Five-Zero-Zero
B6b    Dyson* - Harris* - What A Piece Of Work Is Man - 4:45
B7    Kellogg* - Moore* - Ragni* - Rado* - Good Morning Starshine - 2:30
B8    Rado* - Kellogg* - Moore* & Co.* - The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In) - 3:35

Companies, etc.

    Recorded At – RCA's Studio B
    Mastered At – RCA Recording Studios
    Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Hollywood
    Copyright © – RCA

Credits:

    Artwork – Rúspoli-Rodríguez
    Artwork [Colour] – Bishop (26)
    Conductor – Galt MacDermot
    Engineer – Mike Moran (7)
    Liner Notes – Nat Shapiro
    Lyrics By – Gerome Ragni, James Rado
    Music By, Directed By [Music] – Galt MacDermot
    Presenter – Michael Butler (5)
    Producer – Andy Wiswell
    Technician [Sound] – Robert Kiernan
    Written-By – Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, James Rado

Notes:

 © 1968, RCA

The Original Broadway Cast Recording

Hollywood Pressing, with Jacket Mfg. Plant code (2), bottom, center, rear sleeve

1st cat#: sleeve; 2nd: labels

 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (A Side Stamped): WPRS-3962-10S H
    Matrix / Runout (B Side Stamped): WPRS-3963-13S H
    Pressing Plant ID (Runout Stamps ^): ʜ
    Rights Society: ASCAP
    Other (Jacket Mfg. Plant #): 2

 

Various – Hair (The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical)
Label: RCA Victor – LSO-1150, RCA Victor – LSO 1150
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, Hollywood Press
Country: US
Released: 1968
Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen
Style: Musical, Psychedelic Rock   

         

Viewfinder links:        

        

Jeff Goldblum        

Raúl Juliá        

Galt MacDermot                  

The Student Prince, Mario Lanza & drama           

        

Net links:        

        

         

        

        

         

        

        

YouTube links:        

        

Hair ~ (Original 1968 Broadway Cast)

       Let the Sun Shine In (The Nude Scene)         

       Abie Baby             

       Ain't Got No (Reprise)             

       Aquarius             

       The Bed             

       Be-In             

       Black Boys / White Boys              

       Colored Spade             

       Easy To Be Hard            

       The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)           

       Frank Mills          

       Hair                     

       I Believe in Love                    

       I Got Life                      

       Initials                      

       Manchester, England                      

       My Conviction                      

       Three-Five-Zero-Zero                      

       Walking in Space                      

       Where Do I Go?                      

Let the Sun Shine In (The Nude Scene)         

        

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Thursday, April 29, 2021       
       

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