Godspell — a musical based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Bell (Polygram)

With the current craze on Jesus reaching hysterical proportions, it is only to be expected that the fad would encroach on pop-music, a domain which, since the demise of Pat Boone, has been something of a haven for atheists. No longer it seems. Godspell is the third of four pop—musicals with biblical stories and as such it invited comparison with its predecessors and in particular with Superstar. However it is difficult to find any similarities between the two beyond the obvious fact that they are both religious. The differences are obvious.

For one thing, Superstar is an opera whereas Godspell is a musical, which is to say that Godspell comprises spoken dialogue interspersed with songs rather than having the entire dialogue set to music as in Superstar. Further Superstar sets out to reinterpret the orthodox interpretation of the Bible and accordingly concentrates its attention on Jesus and Judas whilst Godspell appears to relate the popularly accepted ideas of the gospel through the eyes of the man of the street in Jerusalem at that time.

However where the two differ most is in their mood and tone. Where Superstar, drawing much of its musical inspiration from the James Brown school of soul, is dramatic, sensuous, hedonistic and ultramodern, Godspell seems to be an attempt at something reverent, devout and hence more in accordance with the approach of the established clergy. This is no doubt why the archbishop of somewhere was shocked by Superstar yet impressed by Godspell. However this attempt at piousness is largely a failure. Here, as in Superstar, there is a vaudeville inspired song, but, in contrast to Superstar's Herod's Song All For the Best in Godspell is hopelessly out of context.

To throw a vaudeville banio solo haphazardly into the midst of a sequence of songs of praise strikes me as being in gross bad taste, and it really lets the album down. And in his haste to keep Godspell 'musically simple—Stephen Schwartz, who composed the set, allows the mood to slip, into innocuousness in places. In fairness, it ought to be pointed out that there are a few places where he manages to sustain piety and real musical power in this context of simplicity, but on the whole the set consists of pretty melodies, not bad in their own right, but lacking in any significant impact. Of course to attempt to assess the music outside of its musical context is at best a little dubious, but this cannot deny that Godspell is a somewhat indifferent album.

—Roger Smyth