Editorial Reviews

Dude (The Highway Life) was the Broadway musical follow-up to Hair for composer Galt MacDermot, lyricist-librettist Jerome Ragni and director Tom O'Horgan. It began life as a studio cast album, Salome Bey Sings Songs from Dude, recorded in March 1972, and released on Kilmarnock Records. The show opened on October 9, 1972, and was as unexpected a failure as Hair had been a success, running only two weeks. Nevertheless, a cast album was recorded and also released on Kilmarnock. Twenty-two years later, Original Cast Records released this CD, which reissues the cast album plus ten tracks from the Salome Bey album (none of which replicate songs from the cast album). Musically more eclectic than Hair, Dude often has a laid-back country feel, but it lacks both its predecessor's tunefulness and cleverness. The standout performer is Nell Carter, who sings four songs, including the opening and closing title tunes. Bey, a throaty contralto, gives a soulful reading to her tracks, which are stylistically more consistent than the show numbers. But it is as hard to get a sense of the musical from this album as it seems to have been for the baffled critics who actually watched it during its brief run. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

• Listener Rating:
• Ratings: 1Reviews: 1