Who reading this has never seen the film Grease? Not many I bet. It is a film which crosses countless generations, and adopts new generations of fans all of the time, even my three year old has seen Grease, and enjoyed it I might add. What has made the film so popular? Well the story is good, but it is the music for me that makes Grease the greast film that it is.
Everyone knows at least one of the songs from the Grease soundtrack, and how many times have we danced around drunkenly (or more worringly stone cold sober) to one of the classic tunes? The cover of the 24 track CD has a picture of a young looking John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.
Opener, title track and the song which kicks the film into action is 'Grease' by Frankie Valli. It is an up tempo, instantly recognisable track, which has made many a man feel like he has the rhythmn to strut across the dancefloor, when all he looks like is a paralysed duck. The song was written by Barry Gibb, and it is a perfect representation of the film, and the mood it created when it was released in 1978, and even though the film should look dated, and so should the music, to me it still sounds fresh.
The real classic, karaoke regular and downright party track is the Travolta/Newton John duet, 'Summer Nights', which featured the boys and girls in the film singing their own sections of the song, whilst Danny (Travolta) and Sandy (Newton John) told conflicting stories of their time together in the summer vacation. Danny sings about the more risque things they did (he wishes!), whilst Sandy is all dewy eyed singing about the wholesome boy who respected her wishes. They thought they would never see each other again, until Sandy becomes a new pupil at Danny's school.The lyrics are light
hearted and humourous, and the song skips along at an enjoyable pace, and I defy you not to join in!!
The love song 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' sees Sandy taking centre stage when she realises that Danny may not be what she thought, but she cannot help how she feels. It is a nice song, which builds up to a catchy chorus. I actually think here, Olivia shows what a nice voice she had, and just when you might be mellowing out too much, the pace picks up with the brilliant 'You're The One That I Want', which features as the second last song in the film, when Sandy decides to change her image to finally make Danny realise that she is the one for him. It is a lively song, which I have to admit I have sung along to loudly on more than one occasion, and once whilst sat at some traffic lights with a van full of builders wetting themselves laughing at my facial expressions as I tend to get carried away when I sing in the car.
Next up, Travolta gets his chance to sing his ode to his high school love with the track 'Sandy'. He sings this after Sandy walks out on him after he tried to get a little bit too fresh!! It is nice enough, but not a patch on the solo that Olivia Newton John sang. 'Beauty School Drop Out' is a song sung by Frankie Avalon to one of Sandy's friends Frenchie who dreams of going to beauty school, and is frequently seen in school with different coloured hair as she experiments with the latest styles. This is a nice enough song in the context of the film, but as a standalone song, it is a bit bland for me.
Stockard Channing starred in the film, as the rebel of the girls group Rizzo. She is free and a little to too easy for Sandy. Rizzo likes to mock Sandy for her prim and proper ways, and one night whilst the girls are having a sleepover, Rizzo sings 'Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee', which is abruptly brought to an end when Sandy walks into the room. It is a fun song which some fun lyrics, which because of the famous people in them are a bit dated now, but this does not detract from the enjoyment of this song.
'Greased Lightning' is another disco favourite, and I bet that many of you (like me) know the actions to the chorus of the song. This song is sung by Travolta, and it is my favourite track on the CD. The music builds and builds into a frenzied middle section where he is accompanied by the rest of his gang, The T-Birds. On close inspection, the lyrics are not as clean as they first seem, but they are fun, they are fast, and will get even the most sedate wallflower at least tapping their foot in time.
Unknown (to me at least) Cindy Bullens sings my least favourite track 'It's Raining On Prom Night'. It is not even a good enough song to conjure up images of the film as all of the other tracks do. Not for me sorry, and to add to the weakness of the middle section of the CD, the next track is an instrumental. 'Alone At The Drive In Movie' is a nice piece of music to watch the film whilst listening to, but on it's own it is frankly a bit annoying, and certainly one of the tracks that I skip straight past.
'Blue Moon' redeems the standard of the album. It is an old favourite, and it is a nice song just to have playing in the background, but the Sha-Na-Na's who sing this song really exel themselves with the upbeat jivey 'Rock 'n' Roll Is Here To Stay', and this is the second song in a five song run on the CD for the band. I can imagine that when there were still formal dances, that this would have been the one which would really get everyone up out of their seats, whilst 'Those Magic Changes' would be the one that was playing as people arrived at the dance. It is a more laidback arrangement, and in the film, Danny mimics the singer, and gets a playful slap for his troubles. The band make a good effort with the world famous 'Hound Dog', and the singer sings in his own style without trying to imitate Elvis, and that makes for a really enjoyable track, but the strongest track, and most uplifting on the CD is the tremendous 'Born To Hand Jive', which is featured in the big dance scene at the prom. It is upbeat, it is catchy, and it is truly memorable. It just stands out from the rest. The band end their run with the slower tempo 'Tears On My Pillow'. It is a ballad, but not in the standard format, there is a nice musical arrangement which makes it that bit different, and the vocals are truly enjoyable.
Cindy Bullens returns to murder another song, but this time she has a partner in crime by the name of Louis St.Louis (his real name? I hope not!). The track they perform (in the loosest of terms) is 'Mooning'. Now please do not be mistaken, and think this is all about young men whipping down their pants and flashing their backsides. This is a song about pining for someone (or mooning for someone). It is not nice, and at times the vocals are badly out of tune, and for the life of me I cannot remember this song being featured in the film, and as if she has not done enough damage, Cindy is back for another go with 'Freddy My Love', and all I can say is see my comments on her previous effort. Enough said I feel! Don't breath a sigh of relief just yet though, because you may have heard the last of Cindy, but Louis decides we need to hear about the 'Rock 'n' Roll Party Queen', who goes by the name of Mary Jane if you are interested.
Stockard Channing saves me from soundtrack hell with her rendition of 'There are Worse Things I Could Do'. I really like her voice on this track, and she sings it in the film when her character Rizzo has a pregnancy scare, and she realises that although people think she is trashy, she is not actually that bad, and as the song says there are worse things she could do, such as steal or lie, and it hurts her that people forget she has feelings, but that is probably because she tried to keep her feelings hidden, as the last line of the song shows..."but to cry in front of you...that would be the worst thing I could do"
Another version of 'Look At Me,I'm Sandra Dee', this time with Olivia Newton John on vocals. It is a less dramatic version of the song, and it comes at a point in the film when Sandy realises that if she wants Danny, she will have to say goodbye to prim and proper Sandy, and give Danny a more raunchy image, which she reveals at the end of year fair, where they sing 'You're The One That I want' to each other. The film then ends showing all the couples singing 'We Go Together', a really cheery catchy upbeat song, which ends the film on a really high note (literally). The CD does not end there though, in order to wind down, we are given an instrumental of 'Love Is A Many Splendored Thing', and then the reprise of the Frankie Valli title track.
All in all it is a nice CD, and a must for any parties you have!
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Radio WAXX Jingle Vince Fontaine Sandy Grease Summer Nights Those Magic Changes ... more
Freddy My Love Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee Greased Lightnin' Rydell Fight Song Mooning We Go Together Radio WAXX Jingle Vince Fontaine Shakin' At The High Schoo...
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Grease - Frankie Valli Summer Nights - Olivia Newton-John Hopelessly Devoted to You - ... more
Olivia Newton-John You're the One That I Want - Olivia Newton-John Sandy - John Travolta Beauty School Dropout - Frankie Avalon Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee - Stockard ...
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Advantages: High quality vocals from John Travolta, Olivia Newton- John and Frankie Valli. Disadvantages: Its a great album but you may have to hide it from your friends!!
Jun 5th, 2003
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
