Xanadu - From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The year was 1980, and disco was dead, but there was Xanadu shambling around groaning and looking for brains. The good thing about Xanadu was it was the head shot needed to finally put things right with the universe.

The soundtrack was a big hit - and the movie, the swansong for the late Gene Kelly, was a hit spelled with an "S" at the front. I have a copy the movie and I'll likely watch it a month or two after digesting the soundtrack so I can try to emulate the experience of those that first found themselves exposed to the magic of Olivia Newton-John's latest movie.

"Why get this if you're just going to dump all over it?" I'll tell you why. Because when I was 13 the cover for her 1976 album Come on Over was enchanting, and the picture from her 1974 release If You Love Me, Let Me Know was enthralling. It's embarrassing to think about now, but at the time I would sing along to the radio belting out "I Honestly Love you" and would wonder what mellow meant, and if I saw a jukebox I wouldn't play B-17 ... of  course Grease didn't help especially when we (meaning me) got to see "bad" Sandy. In short I actually liked Olivia Newton-John, the same way I liked parts of ABBA, but if you asked me I'd deny it until the cock crowed three times, and then feel ashamed.

I'd honestly not thought of this album at all in decades ... then the other day I was listening to The Tubes and really enjoying myself and I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and found the song "Dancin'" that was a mashup of The Tubes and Olivia Newton-John and I was hooked. This was awesome and pure cheese but good cheese - like fondue. Then when I was out looking for records there it was all pretty and stuff at decent price, so why not? I'm buying this for one song I tell myself - but I know that's not true. But it's what I told myself, and the guy behind the counter who took my money.

I took a cheap shot earlier about this album being disco, you know and I know that this really wasn't disco - but it was the only way I could work in a zombie reference. Besides without disco, I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have come to pass, so I'm going with guilty by association. Besides, it is disco - the same way people think BTO is heavy metal.

The album is conveniently broken into two halves, side one with Olivia and side two with ELO. In a way it would have been better to have shuffled the two together for better consistency, but after over forty years I'm pretty sure this is the way it is. John Farrar Olivia's longtime producer, songwriter, and guitar player looked after the first half. The first song out "Magic" is a really solid pop song. It's followed by a duet with Cliff Richard (another of my guilty pleasures) on "Suddenly" and it's terrible. It's like the worst of the '70s wrapped up in four minutes of strings and syrup - think "Reunited" by Peaches and Herb, but even worse. 

Thankfully the next song up is the delightfully screwy "Dancin'" a song that truthfully I would have thought was shit back in 1980, but I can't say that unequivocally either as I bought an album by The Muppets just to hear Animal sing "A Foggy Day in London Town" so it's possible I'd have thought "Dancin' Was Cool" although listening to the next song "Suspended in Time" I'm wishing it would end (I know that was a run on sentence, but you weren't reading it out loud, so you didn't need to breathe). So far this has been hit and miss and missed again. 

The first side closes out with a duet with the legendary Gene Kelly and while not really a great song it's Gene Kelly and frankly it should have been paired with "Dancin'" as it would have been a nice combination. Still it's a fitting closer for the first side.

The Electric Light Orchestra were riding high after the success of their 1979 release Discovery, with their near ubiquitous hit "Don't Bring Me Down" and their blend of Beatlesque disco infused pop and side two opens with "I'm Alive" as if congratulating the listening audience for making it through the first half of the record. The song is pure ELO and includes all of their late '70s tropes including the flange drum breakdown in the middle.

"The Fall" is interesting and feels like a transitional song that gives a hint to the direction ELO would move to on their next album Time. Having said that, it didn't jump out of the grooves. Up next is the ballad "Don't Walk Away" this would have made a great high school slow dance song except it's not a great song - all the generic nonsense you'd expect and it's boring and forgettable.

Up next is "All over the World" which is a song I sort of remember, and frankly it's a lot of fun. I'm not sure it's the familiarity of the song, but it's the best song on this side so far and the album is essentially over. The album closes with the title track where Olivia Newton-John is backed by ELO and it's a really good song. If disco was dead, it was enjoying the afterlife - this song and "Magic" were both huge hits - but despite the success of the soundtrack, the movie wouldn't do very well - and from what I gather Xanadu's lasting contribution to cinema was being the inspiration behind The Golden Raspberry Awards (The Razzies). 

So now I have to watch it.