Hair: The Original Broadway Cast Recording

Being a huge lover of music and an active member of my school's theater program, it's no surprise that I love musicals. My iPod is full of songs from both the stage and film adaptions of musicals I love and I am always looking for more. I was intrigued when I heard about the must-see musical of the sixties, Hair. The shows have themes related to sex, drugs, and the hippie movement in the 1960s. It is probably most well-known for a scene at the end of the first act where cast members emerge naked on the stage. The nudity was always optional and has been beefed up in some productions.

Having had the most luck with original Broadway casts in the past, it was the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hair that introduced me to the colorful extravaganza that is Hair.

The album starts off with the cast (or 'Tribe') celebrating The Age of Aquarius (a term sometimes given to the 60's and 70's when the hippie movement was popular) in an energetic way with beautiful music to match the casts voice (Aquarius). From Aquarius, to the last chant of The Sunshine In, the album is a colorful treat. The songs range from simple songs of light-hearted hippie enthusiasm and optimism (Good Morning Starshine) to calls for change in the world (3-5-0-0 and The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In). Some songs satirically discuss very real issues like racism, the world’s increasing dependence on electronics, pollution, and poverty (Colored Spade, Electric Blues, Air, Ain't Got No and its reprise). Some are simple knocks at American society at the time that could be considered relevant today (Initials, My Conviction, and Don't Put It Down are good examples of this). Some just embrace the life of hippies (Aquarius, Be-In, and Hair). All these songs are performed by a cast with extraordinary voices and backed by incredible music.

A concept I found interesting about the music that makes up the majority of Hair is that most songs don't have to be associated with the musical to be enjoyed simply as a blend of different classic rock and folk sound. Since Hair has little plot, the songs don't usually describe any huge plot point, and the ones that do don't really refer to any specific situation that triggered it. Where Do I Go, for example, has no reference to draft card burnings or war. Aquarius, Easy To Be Hard, Frank Mills, and Good Morning Starshine among others have been covered by other artists and have had success in their own right. I have talked to a woman who loved Good Morning Starshine but had never even heard of Hair. It is unique to find a musical where the songs are put in front of a clear plot and still has such a lasting effect, just by the songs themselves.

This recording of Hair appealed to me as both a fan of musicals and of classic rock. I would recommend it to anyone who likes one or the other as it can be enjoyed just as amazing music and not as a soundtrack to an incredible love-rock musical. I personally love it as both.