Video: Jacob and Sons (1980)

The Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat video is in better condition picture-wise than Dracula, but there is one small problem.  It has NO audio.  At the start you can hear Neil Aubrey flicking about two dozen bars of chords, really quietly and with a bit of a buzz over the top, but no picture underneath.  There's then a flicker, the picture pops up, and the audio drops out, and is gone completely for the rest of the show!

There is, however, a cassette tape of the soundtrack for the final night, which will contain the entire show apart from probably 20-30 seconds when the 45-minute side ran out, and it had to be flipped over and the recording re-started.

It is possible to re-join the soundtrack with the pictures.  The problem is the cassette and video don't play at precisely the same speed, so a song on video might be 3:00, and the song on tape might be 3:02.  This pushes the lip-synch out by an annoying amount; however most of the pictures are from way back in the hall and you can't see the lips too well as it is.  I can also make slight adjustments with the software I've got.  I will have to cut the video up into small segments (eg a song) and add audio under each one, and I can tell you it IS tedious and very time-consuming.

However, the result isn't too bad, and here is the first song Jacob and Sons which sounds bloody fantastic.  With Neil on accoustic guitar and Kay Bridge (nee Doessel) and her beautiful almost pitch-perfect voice, this comes over as a pleasure to listen to.  Here's the song.  Just a reminder, the pictures don't start until just over a minute into the show (where the audio disappeared).

Remember: the videos probably look better in full-screen mode, click the [ ]-looking icon in the bottom right corner

Way way back many centuries ago,
Not long after the Bible began
Jacob lived in the land of Canaan,
A fine example of a family man.

Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Depended on farming to earn their keep.
Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Spent all of his days in the fields with sheep.

Jacob was the founder of a whole new nation
Thanks to the number of children he had
He was also known as Israel, but most of the time
His sons and his wives used to call him Dad.

Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Men of the soil, of the sheaf and crook
Jacob, Jacob and sons,
A remarkable family in anyone's book.

Reuben was the eldest of the children of Israel
With Simeon and Levi the next in line
Naphtali and Isaachar with Asher and Dan
Zebulun and Gad took the total to nine

Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Benjamin and Judah, which leaves only one
Jacob, Jacob and sons,
Joseph - Jacob's favourite son

Jacob, Jacob and sons
Jacob, Jacob and sons
Jacob, Jacob and sons
Jacob Jacob Jacob
Jacob and Sons ...