by: Galt MacDermot, James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Lillias White, Lea Delaria, Harvey Fierstein, Liz Callaway, Jai Rodriguez, Euan Morton, Ana Gasteyer, Shoshana Bean, Laura Benanti, Adam Pascal, Gavin Creel, Raul Esparza, Jennifer Hudson, John Tartaglia, Christopher Sieber, Annie Golden, Eden Espinosa, Sherie Rene Scott, Billy Porter, Darius de Haas, Norm Lewis
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Binding: Audio CD
Brand: Hair
EAN: 0791558196825
Format: Cast Recording
Item Dimensions: 2
Label: Ghostlight
Manufacturer: Ghostlight
MPN: 81968
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Ghostlight
Release Date: June 14, 2005
Studio: Ghostlight
Disc 1:- Aquarius - Lillias White
- Donna - Lea DeLaria
- Hashish - Paul Castree, Darius de Haas
- Sodomy - Chuck Cooper
- Colored Spade - Euan Morton
- Manchester, England - Ana Gasteyer
- Dead End - Shoshana Bean
- Sheila Franklin/I Believe in Love
- I'm Black/Ain't Got No
- Air - Harvey Fierstein
- Initials - Laura Benanti
- I Got Life - Adam Pascal
- Going Down - Gavin Creel
- Hair
- My Conviction - Charles Bush
- Easy to Be Hard - Jennifer Hudson
- Don't Put It Down! - Christopher Sieber, John Tartaglia
- Frank Mills - Annie Golden
- Be-In (Hare Krishna)
- Where Do I Go? - Julia K. Murney
- Hippie Life - Eden Espinosa
- Electric Blues - Toxic Audio
- Black Boys - Kathy Brier, Ann Harada, Orfeh
- White Boys - Ledisi, , Shayna Steele
- Walking in Space
- Yes I's Finished on Y'All's Farmlands
- Four Score/Abie, Baby - Billy Porter
- Good Morning Starshine - Liz Callaway
- Three-Five-Zero-Zero
- What a Piece of Work Is Man - Norm Lewis
- Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In) - Jai Rodriguez
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Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I love "Hair." I think the musical is absolutely brilliant in its use of the rock sound, its unbridled heart, and its deep-felt political convictions. None of that is on display here, lost instead in a (admittedly impressive) line-up of Broadway heavy hitters trying to prove who can sing the highest with the most riffs.
As other reviewers have pointed out, you are much more likely to enjoy this album if you consider it a "greatest hits" type event of songs from the show, rather than a cast recording. Each song is sung by a different soloist, with several of the songs being given to people of the opposite gender. And there is some truly impressive singing to be heard. However, more often than not, the need to pack as many vocal pyrotechnics into songs that rarely run longer than 3 minutes gets in the way of being able to hear the songs' message or even melody.
Some examples of the many missteps on this CD:
-Lillias White's "Aquarius." I *love* her, think she has a fantastic voice, and can riff up a storm, but she goes overboard here, distracting from what is truly a great opening number.
-Harvey Fierstein's "Air." The man's hysterical, and if ever there was a song fit for his distinct gravelly voice, one about pollution should be it. But by the end it's virtually unlistenable.
-Laura Benanti's "Initials." Turning a song that was never meant to be a solo into one is dubious enough, but what really kills this track for me is the misguided attempt at humor when she takes a "lozenge" and begins singing operatic ornamentations over the melody. I don't care how good she sounds doing it (and she does sound *very* good), it is just inappropriate for this song and this score.
-Jennifer Hudson's "Easy to Be Hard." Again, absolutely *love* her. She has proven time and again she is one of the best singers to ever come out of American Idol, and I would probably pay to hear her sing the phonebook. But like Liillias White, Hudson takes the riffing too far and loses the sense of musicality present in a fabulous melody.
-Julia Murney's "Where Do I Go?" Her belt is ridiculous and seemingly has no end, but this song really sounds better in a male vocal register. She would have been better utilized on a different song.
Now, the CD does do some things right. Raul Esperaza sounds fantastic singing the title tune, with a rock-influenced tenor that sounds tailor made for this type of score. Shoshona Bean milks her minute and twenty seconds of "I Believe in Love" for all it is worth. Gavin Creel's silky-smooth tenor is simply delectable on "Going Down." Although largely unintelligble when it comes to what they're actually saying, the "White Boys" trio sounds amazing belting out that particular song, modulating up until they're belting high As without any problem. And I'll be damned if Norm Lewis' vocal on "The Flesh Failures" isn't the best recorded rendition of that song available.
Overall, your enjoyment of this CD will depend on whether you are looking for vocal gymnastics {of which there are plenty, and most of them are solid), or musically intelligent and heartful renditions of the show's songs (this is where most of the tracks fail). Personally, I think the performers loose too much of the show's heart and soul to make this recording worth buying, even if they do belt their faces off.
Rating: -
While this recording has some wonderfully talented people included it's just a mess. I love Jennifer Hudson but her rendition of "Easy to Be Hard" is painful to listen to at points because she's over singing. Over singing seems to be a theme because several songs are just shrill and could have done with the singers toning it down a bit. Norm Lewis is great starting off "The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In" and the second guy is really strong but around the time the song breaks into the chorus of let the sun shine in things get lost and the ending is a total mess. The high point is probably Adam Pascal's performance on "I Got Life" with Raúl Esparza's "Hair" coming in a close second. I'd suggest saving some money and buying another recording and downloading a few individual songs from this album if you just want to hear them for fun.
Rating: -
If you are looking for a Hair cast abum...this is NOT it. If you want to hear the score performed by an amazing array of broadway and pop belters, this is the CD for you. From the great Lillias White's powerhouse of Aquarius, to the ultimate recording of Let the Sunshine In, every song is done powerfully and effectively. Jennifer Hudson gives a preview of what she would do in Dreamgirls with Easy To Be Hard. The score now seems dated and the shock value is totally gone, but still alot of fun. I'll bet the same version in concert the night before the recording was produced was a total blast!!
Rating: -
A disclaimer - you'll probably have more fun with this recording if you think of it as "Songs from Hair". This is NOT a recording of a traditional version of the show; it's more a cabaret, with each song being sung by a different artist. While this completely removes continuity and character development, it does free up the listener to appreciate Galt MacDermot's music, sung as it should be. Let's face it - the original RCA recording of the Broadway cast of 1964 is priceless as an artifact of its time, but it's not exactly a pleasant listen - the cast is of the "more enthusiasm than talent" school.
Here, though, there's no such problem.
There's a whole lotta belting goin' on in this album. Because each singer only has one song, and there's no need to conserve their voices for later in the show, everybody gives it their all - and in the case of such powerful singers as Gavin Creel, Lillias White, Shoshana Bean, Raul Esparza, Adam Pascal, Eden Espinosa, Orfeh, Jennifer Hudson, and Billy Porter? That's quite a lot. And the backup voices, if anything, are even more spectacular: listen to that anonymous chorus girl hit an air-raid-siren high note at the end of "Goin' Down".
Track-by-track:
1. "Aquarius" - The famous chorale opening, led by the inimitable Lillias White. The orchestrations and backup singing sends shivers down the spine, and White brings the gospel something fierce. 5/5
2. "Donna" - In the first of many gender-bendings on the album, "Donna" is here sung by Lea DeLaria, who does a passable job, if she tends to overemote. 3/5
3. "Hashish" - All-chorus listing of various hallucinogens and illegal mind enhancers. Fun as always, but a trifle. 2/5
4. "Sodomy" - That timeless ode to deviant sexual practice, here sung in a pure, innocent choir-boy tenor by Jai Rodriguez of Zanna, Don't! and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame. 5/5
5. "Colored Spade" - For everyone who's ever wanted to hear Tony-winning bass-baritone Chuck Cooper declare himself "President of the United States of Love". 4/5
6. "Manchester, England" - A four-decade-old antecedent of Britpop, charmingly given life by Euan Morton. 4/5
7. "Dead End" - The first really high-energy number since "Aquarius" kicks things back into high gear. Ana Gasteyer shows off the pipes that would later land her the role of Elphaba on Broadway in "Wicked". There's a big black woman hiding inside that white comedienne! 4/5
8. "Sheila Franklin/I Believe in Love" - Shoshana Bean, if you've ever heard her, is infamous for singing every song as one giant melisma. She does it here too, of course, but particularly impressively. She rockets through all of her 72 octaves in the course of a minute and nineteen seconds. 5/5
9. "I'm Black/Ain't Got No" - A kind of pointless song, the whole chorus yelling about what they lack in life. Fun ending, though. 2/5
Ahh, now we're getting into the really good stuff. The meat of the disc is from the middle to the end, and it's a three-course meal from here on out.
10. "Air" - Harvey Fierstein, he of the goose-strangled-with-barbed-wire voice, rasps out this little ditty in an inspired bit of gimmick casting, and manages to not cough up any internal organs, despite the ungodly noises toward the end of the track. 5/5
11. "Initials" - What was originally a choral number is now handed primarily to the divine Laura Benanti. And what do you know, she's funny! Topping the whole thing off with an operatic high C doesn't hurt matters, either. 5/5
12. "I Got Life" - Broadway's resident rock star, Adam Pascal, shows off the voice that he should have blown out looong ago in a rollicking, fast-paced number. Great fun, but I wouldn't recommend trying to emulate it. 5/5
13. "Goin' Down" - Gavin Creel has a voice of honey and silk that can rise into an impressively soulful belt when he feels like it. And here, he feels like it. Another energetic roof-raiser. 5/5
14. "Hair" - These three songs, these three singers, one right after the other? It's bliss. Raul Esparza snarls out the first verse, then roars full-throttle into a higher octave for the last few stanzas. A fitting title song. 5/5
15. "My Conviction" - Another fun trifle, amusingly given voice by a veddy proper Charles Busch. 3/5
16. "Easy To Be Hard" - Jennifer Hudson, post-American Idol and pre-Dreamgirls, is revelatory here. She tears the lid off this already-impassioned number and absolutely rips it to shreds. Just the right amount of emoting, just the right amount of full-throated vocalizing. The definitive rendition of this song, EVER. (I was unconvinced she was right for Effie, until I heard this. It gave me chills like I hadn't felt since Jennifer Holliday's performance in... well, you know.) 6/5
17. "Don't Put it Down!" ... Read More
Rating:  -
A fabulous cast including the incredible talents of Lillias White, Jennifer Hudson, Ana Gasteyer, Soshana Bean and Eden Espinosa! The journey this CD takes you on is truly a treat! The new songs on the disc are FANTASTIC! (Eden and Ana) The men in the cast are just as wonderful as the ladies...a VERY diverse cast with a FANTASTIC sound!
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