POO: Andrew Lloyd-Webber

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It won't be easy, you'll think it strange...but one track composed by A L-W, with reasons, if you please...

Tom, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Aaarghh. Even his best melodies are ruined by florid singers and orchestrations, so how about "Music of the Night" as sung by me to the cocktail jazz arrangement currently in my head. But aaarghh.

B-Rad, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Heaven on Their Minds" from JCS is so wonderful that I can almost forget who wrote it. But it's got to be the original concept album version, where the la-la of the melody stands in stark contrast to the crypto-Christo-socialism of the lyrics, the ferociousness of Murray Head's vocal performance, and the gritty production.

Colin Meeder, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

The early recordings of Joesph are really rather good!

I'll get me coat...

Jez, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Tom should be banned from all future FAPs if this is the result ;-)

I do however have an answer: last track Side 1 of 'Variations'. Jazz- classical-rock, man. A woefully under-explored genre.

Jeff W, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

(apparently it's all Ptee's fault)

Jeff W, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

The psuedo-sophisticated 20s lounge jazz cool of Potiphar.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat is an absolutely amazing musical. I actually mean this whole-heartedly and without an ounce of irony, I really truly love it.

kate, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

was variations the theme to "The Booktower" (Tom Baker era)? i loved that tune as a kid whatver it was, but it was def Andrew Lloyd- Webber. Anyway POO is easy: "Take That Look off Your Face" as sung by Marti Webb. It was my first Karaoke song too!

Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't like this 'poo' heading - it's quite unnecessarily vulgar. So I'm not responding, though I like many of ALW's tunes a lot. Use other words please.

the pinefox, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's got to be a song from "Joseph". I lean towards "Potiphar" because that's who I was in our high school production.

Dan Perry, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

have you heard the axelrod / electric prunes stuff - jesus christ superstar seems to rip that off or is it the other way round dunno my chronology of webber's stuff (iis he does then boo - if he doesnt then hazzar)

born clippy, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm with Jez,the early 'Joseph' recordings by the groovy 'Joseph Consortium' are great.Also Linda Lewis''I'd be surprisingly good for you'& Ray Coniff's version of 'Superstar'.

Paul R, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dan, you were Potiphar? That ROCKS!!! I love Joseph because I was in it twice. Never played a name character, though, cause in our production, we had actors onstage just miming while me and a few dozen folks who could actually sing had to stand in front of the stage and do all the bits. Kinda sucked, but just as well, as the actors couldn't sing, and we couldn't act.

kate, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I actually pulled double-duty as Potiphar and Jacob. We did a really odd ultra-contemporary staging of it, complete with an aluminum set, hand-held microphones and obnoxious track-lighting. It was EXCELLENT and super-fun.

The big thing I miss about high school is doing shows. We also did "West Side Story" and "The Sound Of Music" (I boycotted "The Music Man"). But, since none of those are ALW, I'll shut up about them.

Moving to other ALW works, I must admit a very soft spot for "McCavity" from "Cats" and "Think Of Me" from "Phantom".

Dan Perry, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yay! school productions of "Joseph"! I believe I sang in the chorus in our brilliant middle school (that's up to 12 years of age) production. Nigel was 'Joseph' - he was Canadian and new to the school. At first Nigel was the Headmaster's pet until it turned out that he knew about sex! (This was a C of E school and the rest of us were totally naïve). Tyson was the Pharoah - he was a year younger than most of the cast, but did a mean Elvis impersonation. Jacooooob, Jacob and sonnnnnnns! dum dum dum dummm da da da da dummmm

zebedee, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

One of my best friends (a guy named Kyle) played The Pharoah in our production. There's nothing better than a Hispanic Elvis.

Dan Perry, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Heaven on Their Minds" from the movie though with the guitars cranked. If the movie version doesn't count I'll pick Magical Mystical Mestofales.
Something about Donny Osmond being in a professional run of Joseph soured it for me.

Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I boycotted "The Music Man"

Hey you punk, I played Mayor Shinn in my high school production of that. And it's on video too. ;-)

In the early eighties my parents saw Evita and got the recording of the NYC production with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, which I played to death (though at ten I admit I didn't quite get all the nuances to the story!). Know all of that by heart, to the point where I never bothered with the Madonna version because, well, I really didn't want the memories ruined! "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" for low key tenderness, "Rainbow Tour" for the arrangements, "High Flying Adored" for Patinkin's bravura lead, the slink of the one song (name escapes me) where Peron and Evita meet for the first time, "Good Night and Thank You" for the humorous bite, etc.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Everything's Alright" from Jesus Christ Superstar (the version with Yvonne Elliman, Murray Head & Ian Gillan). Just perfect.

Joe, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...
I am currently downloading my eleventh version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"

Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 00:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Joseph=peerless genius.

Didn't he write one for Boyzone a couple of years back? I seem to remember liking it, whatever it was called. I mean, it's no Westlife's "World Of Our Own", but still...

Charlie (Charlie), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 00:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Jesus Christ Superstar" as perf. by Johnny Keating on the "Space Experience" LP. Amazing squelchy synth playing - you know, because it's a "Space Experience".

Captain Sleep (Captain Sleep), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 01:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

two years pass...
Has anyone heard "Down Through Summer" on the 4th Dreambabes compilation? The tune was obviously recycled by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber a decade later.

tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 21 January 2005 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link

ugh, poo is right. get it away from me.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Friday, 21 January 2005 01:55 (nineteen years ago) link

"I Don't Know How To Love Him" has always been such a sad yet pretty little ditty, regardless of who penned it.

Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Friday, 21 January 2005 02:15 (nineteen years ago) link

"Gethsemane". It could almost fit on the first King Crimson album.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 21 January 2005 02:18 (nineteen years ago) link

+ Jesus as angst-ridden hippie = classic. Not that I know ALW's stuff in depth though.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 21 January 2005 02:25 (nineteen years ago) link

I really like the Julie Covington version of Evita.

tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 21 January 2005 02:48 (nineteen years ago) link

And I like the disco versions of 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Memory".

tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 21 January 2005 03:07 (nineteen years ago) link

[i]"I Don't Know How To Love Him" has always been such a sad yet pretty little ditty, regardless of who penned it.[/i]

Mendelssohn. ;)

Joe (Joe), Friday, 21 January 2005 03:19 (nineteen years ago) link

D'oh!

Joe (Joe), Friday, 21 January 2005 03:20 (nineteen years ago) link

There's some great stuff on Evita, mainly (it must be said) due to the lyrics. You can't not be moved by Don't Cry For Me Argentina; that section when it breaks down, and Julie Covington (of course) whispers, "Have I said too much? There's nothing more I can think of to say to you." (flute trills...) "But all you have to do (pause) is look at me to know that every...word...is...true..." And then everything comes storming back in. Just fantastic.

Another Suitcase In Another Hall is a great song too; it positively *defines* weary resignation:
Call in three months time, and I'll be fine I know
Well, maybe not that fine, but I'll survive anyhow
I won't recall the names and places of this sad occasion
But that's no consolation, here and now.

Oh yes. It's so conversational, so matter-of-fact that it could've been written by Joni Mitchell.

Thinks: do I need to own any Barbara Dickson records? She has a great voice on this one.

Most of JCS is good too, but a bit too rock for my tastes these days.

harveyw (harveyw), Friday, 21 January 2005 09:11 (nineteen years ago) link

four years pass...

So his career is dead, isn't it? Or is it?

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 9 July 2009 14:17 (fourteen years ago) link

WHAT'S THE BUZZ EFF TEE Doublemothafucking YOU!

staggerlee, Friday, 10 July 2009 03:25 (fourteen years ago) link

coincidentally learned today that he's working on a SEQUEL to phantom

da croupier, Friday, 10 July 2009 03:29 (fourteen years ago) link

my POO (for right now):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxxwNuTpdd8

all we hear is lady o'gaga (donna rouge), Friday, 10 July 2009 03:45 (fourteen years ago) link

his untimely demise

Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 10 July 2009 18:27 (fourteen years ago) link

two months pass...

coincidentally learned today that he's working on a SEQUEL to phantom

Indeed:

Today, Thursday 8 October, Andrew Lloyd Webber unveils his brand new production “LOVE NEVER DIES” at a global launch in London. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long awaited new show will have its World Premiere in London at the Adelphi Theatre on Tuesday 9 March 2010 followed by New York on Thursday 11 November and in Australia in 2011.

“LOVE NEVER DIES” continues the story of ‘The Phantom’, who has moved from his lair in the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of Coney Island, far across the Atlantic. Set 10 years after the mysterious disappearance of ‘The Phantom’ from Paris, this show is a rollercoaster ride of obsession and intrigue...in which music and memory can play cruel tricks...and ‘The Phantom’ sets out to prove that, indeed, “LOVE NEVER DIES”.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 October 2009 00:05 (fourteen years ago) link

I appreciate how if you go to this section you learn via the fake NYT backdrop about the 'MYSTERIOUS BUSINESSMAN BEHIND CONEY ISALND,' which shows they had copy editor problems even then.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 October 2009 00:08 (fourteen years ago) link

Haha please let this be true.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 October 2009 19:37 (fourteen years ago) link

The industrial band Holy Cow use to cover "39 Lashes". That was good for some goffic laffs.

Sepultura Baroness-Cohen (bendy), Friday, 9 October 2009 20:00 (fourteen years ago) link

five years pass...

starlight express kinda sucks. man, i only made it through one side.

scott seward, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 15:57 (eight years ago) link

This thread title is OTM if you don't read POO as an abbreviation.

Turrican, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link

https://img0.etsystatic.com/058/0/7559244/il_570xN.698322490_6q2s.jpg

xp was watching a docu about British musicals with our Han over the weekend and they basically admitted Starlight Express is nothing without the staging

bellendery hooks (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 15 September 2015 16:17 (eight years ago) link

it's a tough listen even by ALW standards.

scott seward, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link

I fuck with Evita, Jesus Christ and Phantom, "Tell Me on a Sunday" and "Memory", maybe a bit of Joseph, never found anything to love in his later stuff

bellendery hooks (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 15 September 2015 16:23 (eight years ago) link

i will always love jesus christ superstar forever and ever. the rock god version. with ian and yvonne and the gang. and i will always have a nostalgic love for evita because i saw it with my sister on broadway with patti and mandy. but that's about it. never heard joseph soundtrack i don't think. maybe i would like that. i actually think le miz is better than any mod ALW i have heard. music-wise. better than the phantom or cats.

scott seward, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 16:26 (eight years ago) link

starlight express is a richard stilgoe collab iirc

feargal czukay (NickB), Tuesday, 15 September 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link

nine months pass...

it's really not so good but i'm still fond of a few of the songs - "travel hopefully," "that was nearly us," "love's maze" - never seen a production of it until tnite tho

Mordy, Thursday, 7 July 2016 03:05 (seven years ago) link

three years pass...

Don't cry for me Andrew Lloyd...

Patti Lupone on Andrew Lloyd Webber: “He’s a jerk. He’s a sad sack. He is the definition of sad sack.” https://t.co/UT8DU4f1i5

— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) October 21, 2019

Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 October 2019 18:54 (four years ago) link


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