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Another great track opens the second act, with a 70s prog keyboard and organ backing up the ensemble vocal on “The Last Supper”, but Jesus, in sudden anger, accuses the Apostles of not caring about him, saying ”For all you care/ This bread could be my body” against a single piano line until abruptly he launches into a tirade, declaring that they'll all forget him once he's gone: ”Look at your blank faces!/ My name will mean nothing/ Ten minutes after I'm dead!” Here again, Lloyd-Webber reuses a melody that we first heard in “Everything's alright”, but kicking up the intensity and drama as the mood at the table sours and gets more angry. Then an argument breaks out between Jesus and Judas, as they discuss his betrayal, and Judas accuses Jesus of using him to get what he wants. With some truly excellent vocal interplay between Neeley and Anderson, the latter runs off and the “Last Supper” theme returns as Judas despairs that Jesus's behaviour has brought them to this pass.

As Jesus goes after him and their argument reaches fever pitch, a heavy guitar chord melody brings in a lyric which will later surface in the triumphant “Superstar”, near the end, and “The Last Supper” ends on a slow acapella vocal harmony. This then leads into the total, complete and undeniable standout of the entire album, the amazing “Gethsemane (I only want to say)”, retracing portions of the melody from both “Pilate's dream” and “Poor Jerusalem” and featuring a stellar solo performance from Neeley against acoustic guitar backing as he faces his darkest hour, waiting in the garden for the betrayal he knows is to come, and asking his Heavenly Father to relieve him of this burden, knowing it can never be.

A great orchestral section also creates the atmosphere for this centrepiece, and masterpiece, of the opera, Neeley's voice becoming angrier as he asks ”Why should I die?”, brass and cellos powering up behind him as he faces the long night of the soul. As the music reaches a frenzied crescendo, he realises he has no choice and must accept his Father's will, and as the fight goes out of him with this realisation, he reflects on his life against a slower, more sedate guitar and piano melody: ”Then, I was inspired/ Now, I'm sad and tired/ After all, I've tried for three years/ Seems like ninety/ Why then am I scared to finish/ What I started?” the percussion kicking in as he accepts his lot, and the orchestra rising like a living thing as the piece reaches its conclusion with the final notes of the “Overture”.

“Arrest” sees a return to the melody and indeed lyric for “What's the buzz”, virtually a continuation of that song, as the Apostles leap to Christ's defence. He however tells them to put down their swords and as he's marched away the song takes on a press-conference tone as people ask him ”Tell me Christ/ How you feel tonight/ Do you plan to put up a fight?” Taken to Caiaphas, he is accused and the high priest reveals his plans to send the Saviour to Pilate for trial. Another reuse of melody comes in “Peter's denial”, with the exact same melody of “Strange thing mystifying”, ending with a short solo piano piece as Mary remarks in horror that Peter has denied Christ, even as was foretold at the Last Supper.

Brought before Pilate, Christ is unknown to the governor, who asks in a disdainful tone against heavy brass, percussion and strings ”Who is this broken man/ Cluttering up my hallway?” Utilising the basic melody sung by Caiaphas earlier, when Jesus is entering the city in “Hosanna”, Pilate questions the Saviour, but on Jesus's refusal to confirm or deny that he is king of the Jews, he angrily sends him on to King Herod, under whose jurisdiction Jesus, as a Galilean, falls, and the “Hosanna” theme recurs again, this time using that lyric I mentioned at the beginning. The court of Herod is brought to life brilliantly by Josh Mostel, who pulls off a star turn as the loopy king, with a twenties-style piano song as he tries to force Jesus to perform a miracle for him. Unmoved, Jesus is returned to Pilate.

As Jesus makes the trip back, Mary Magdalene and Peter duet on “Could we start again please”, the final ballad as they wonder how things have come to this pass, and if it's possible just to turn back the clock? It's a lovely little piece, with a nice piano melody with strings backing, the vocal taken alternately by Elliman and Philip Toubus as Peter, then by both in unison and finally by the whole chorus as all the Apostles join in. A reprise of “Damned for all time/ Blood money” and indeed “I don't know how to love him” as Judas realises what he's done, but the priests of the temple are unsympathetic, pointing out that he was paid for his service in getting a dangerous rebel off the streets. Thrown out of the temple with contempt, Judas sings to the melody of “I don't know how to love him”, before a high organ introduces the return of the guitars from “Heaven on their minds”, which in a perfect job of bringing things full circle, ring out and get more frenzied as the penny drops and he realises theat Jesus has used him to achieve his ends. Prior to hanging himself he yells to Jesus “You have murdered me! Murdered me! Murdered me!” and the angel chorus returns as the guitars fade. Wow.

“Trial before Pilate” retraces the melody from “Then we are decided” as the governor looks at the man who has been sent back to him. Elements from “Hosanna” also find their way here, the hard guitar chords punctuating Pilate's impassioned plea to Jesus to justify himself, and the “Overture” comes back in until Pilate has no choice but to sentence him to be flogged. This then brings in the “Thirty-nine lashes”, which is a bit off-putting, featuring another return for the guitar riff plus trumpets from “Heaven on their minds”, against the sound of whips. At the end of the thirty-nine lashes (it was said to have been meant to be forty but that Pilate could not make himself suffer through seeing it to the end, or so the Bible would have us believe. Seems unlikely, but there you go.)

But this is, as we know, not enough for the crowd, and they demand crucifixion, reminding Pilate that his boss, the Emperor may not look favourably on his attempts to spare this messiah. Giving in, Pilate orders the crucifixion against a heavy guitar melody. Rather oddly, “Superstar”, the triumphant resurrection piece, comes before the crucifixion, perhaps meant to be played out in Jesus's mind, as if it never happened? I don't know, but anyway “Superstar” is a soul/disco/funk piece that bops along at a good pace and has a lot of, not surprisingly, gospel flavour about it, and is voiced by Carl Anderson as the returned Judas, coming down out of Heaven. Take that, Catholic Church! Great brass section in this too, and it would have been a great closer, but then we're into “Crucifixion”, which is generally an ambient texture piece, containing the sound of hammering, creaking, laughing, agonised screams, and perhaps the most important words uttered by Jesus, certainly said to be his last on the Earth, commending his soul into the hands of his father.

The coda to it all is a beautiful little two-minute instrumental retracing of the slower section from “Gethsemane”, which has been titled “John 19:41”, referencing the line in John's Gospel which reads ”Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. “ This piece still gets me, and even as I type I'm wiping away tears.

As usual, the Catholic Church got it wrong. Far from pushing people away from Christianity, or making a mockery of it, or not treating it with the proper respect, I believe “Jesus Christ Superstar”, in all its forms, opened up the story of Jesus to a new audience, possibly in much the same way as Mel Gibson's movie “The passion of the Christ” did, though much less violently. Surely, you would have to think, anything that told the story of Christ's mission on Earth and gave people understanding of his love for all men would be a good thing? As I said, I'm no believer but I thoroughly enjoy this album, and this film, every time I decide to see or listen to it, and it's forever up there with my all-time favourite movie soundtracks, films and rock operas.

TRACKLISTING

1. Overture
2. Heaven on their minds
3. What's the buzz/Strange thing mystifying
4. Then we are decided
5. Everything's alright
6. This Jesus must die
7. Hosanna
8. Simon Zealotes
9. Poor Jerusalem
10. Pilate's dream
11. Temple
12. Everything's alright (reprise)/ I don't know how to love him
13. Damned for all time/ Blood money
14. The Last Supper
15. Gethsemane (I only want to say)
16. Arrest
17. Peter's denial
18. Christ and Pilate/ Hosanna (reprise)
19. King Herod's song
20. Could we start again please?
21. Judas's death
22. Trial before Pilate (including the 39 lashes)
23. Superstar
24. The Crucifixion
25. John 19:41

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