Supergroup Musicals?

January 28, 2010 7:17 PM

Supergroup musicals?

So, I recently found out about Forgive Durden's Razia's Shadow and I've known about Ayreon for a while now, so I've been wondering: Are there any other albums that are musicals/operas in the sense that it tells a story that also have contributing vocalists for each character?

posted by fizzzzzzzzzzzy to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

Maybe not what you're going for because it wasn't conceived for the supergroup, but The Who's Tommy, particularly the movie had a non-Who famous singers like Elton John in it. They also had live shows with Phil Collins, Patti LaBelle, and Billy Idol.
posted by knile at 7:29 PM on January 28, 2010

Stuart Murdoch (of Belle and Sebastian) has been working on a project entitled God Help the Girl - officially, it's a musical film, but the film is not yet finished. The album, however, tells the story presumably depicted in the film and features a cast of characters each portrayed by a different vocalist. (This may not fit your criteria, though, as most of the singers involved were not previously famous.)
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 7:35 PM on January 28, 2010

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
posted by davebush at 7:39 PM on January 28, 2010

Well, The Knife is about to release an opera about Darwin. You can listen to it here. It's really weird and kind of scary.

The Decemberists have put out a couple of rock operas, too: The Tain and The Hazards of Love.
posted by oinopaponton at 8:26 PM on January 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

(after listening to "Tomorrow, in a Year" a bit more, let me amend that: weird and kind of scary and pretty damn awesome)
posted by oinopaponton at 8:44 PM on January 28, 2010

Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth has several different vocalists, at least on the tracks that have vocals, and it definitely tells a story.
posted by CMcKinnon at 8:47 PM on January 28, 2010

Quadrophenia (by The Who) was eventually released in that form. (It was released as a 3-DVD set in 2005.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:13 PM on January 28, 2010

Re "Return to the Centre of the Earth", most of the vocalists are really good. But at one point Wakeman himself sang one phrase. You'll know it when you reach it because Wakeman cannot sing. (Man, that was painful to listen to.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:18 PM on January 28, 2010

Beethoven's Last Night by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tells the story of Beethoven, about to die, being tempted by Mephistopheles to give up his musical legacy in exchange for his soul.
posted by heyforfour at 5:26 AM on January 29, 2010

The Decemberists have put out a couple of rock operas, too: The Tain

*jaw drops*

SOMEBODY MADE A MUSICAL ADAPTATION OF THE TAIN BO CULLAIGNE? Why didn't anyone TELL me?

(runs off to buy it)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:00 AM on January 29, 2010

other than the lack of contributing vocalists, I've always liked Rush's 2112 for telling a cool story. But then, I am very old and have low standards
posted by Redhush at 7:34 AM on January 29, 2010

In theory Styx's Mr. Roboto had a storyline. But from what I've heard, Dennis DeYoung was the only one who was down with the concept and eveyrone else in the band thought the whole thing was just incredibly lame, but went along with it anyway to shut him up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:41 AM on January 29, 2010

The Decemberists have put out a couple of rock operas, too: The Tain and The Hazards of Love

Both of these albums are rock opera-esque, but neither has singers for each character.

Anyhow, not sure if this is too obvious, but Jesus Christ Superstar.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:44 AM on January 29, 2010

Here's a long-form music video for The Tain.
posted by oinopaponton at 7:44 AM on January 29, 2010

With album titles like "The Metal Opera" and "The Metal Opera Part II", how did you all miss Avantasia?
posted by gueneverey at 9:50 AM on January 30, 2010