Xanadu

Unavailable on CD in the U.S., this is CBS's 1989 reissue ofMCA's top five & double platinum 1980 soundtrack to directorRobert Greenwald's 1980 musical starring Olivia Newton-John at a high point in her career and Gene Kelly at the bottom of his. The album features 10 tracks, five each from E.L.O. & Olivia Newton-John, including the #1 smash 'Magic' by Newton-John, the top 10 title cut by both her & E.L.O. and the top 20 duet 'Suddenly' by Newton-John and Cliff Richard! Album Description

A Chart Monster

The movie was a clunker, but the soundtrack was a chart monster and one of the best examples of cross-promotion during this "Golden Age of Rock;" the music from top artists was built to stand alone as a means to sell the film to a huge audience in the highly-influential pop culture of the times.

Five of the 10 tracks popped into the Billboard Hot 100 and the album spent an amazing 36 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number four.

The album was split into a side each of five songs for Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra. The monster hit was Magic, the #1 single from Newton-John, who also scored with Suddenly - a duet with former British teen idol Cliff Richard, which reached #20. She also performed duets with The Tubes and Gene Kelly. ELO had amazing success on the important single's chart, as the title cut - with Newton-John on lead vocal - reaching #8, All Over The World #13 and I'm Alive #16.

The soundtrack was definitely a pot of gold at the end of a roller-skating rainbow. December 14, 2008

Love this music

Had this album on Vinyl LP for years till it broke. Was excited to find it on CD! This is a great album, and ELO is awesome! I Missed these songs! December 1, 2008

Very addictive sound track

I never even heard of Xanadu before my wife told me about it. She forced me to watch it and quite frankly it's a great movie. I ended up loving the sound track as well. I would recommend this if your a fan of the movie. November 9, 2008

4.5 Stars.... Guilty pleasure stands the test of time

Music: 5 stars; Album sequencing: 4 stars

This movie soundtrack was originally released in 1980, presenting the improbable mix of songs of Olivia Newton-John (penned by John Farrar) and Electric Light Orchestra (penned by Jeff Lynne) in a truly terrible movie, but the music was first rate, with both Olivia and ELO at their peak.

You have to imagine "Xanadu" (10 tracks; 42 min.) as the original vinyl album, with an A and a B side. On the A side are the John Ferrar-penned Olivia-sung tunes, with mega-hit "Magic" kicking things off. "Suddenly" is a fantastic ballad, featuring Olivia in a duet with then superstar Cliff Richard. "Dancing" is the only tune on here that doesn't captivate me (although it plays an important role in the movie). "Suddenly" is another beautiful ballad" and "Whenever You're Away From Me" is a great duet between Olivia and Gene Kelly (in his last movie role). Side B brings 5 outstanding ELO tunes, including "I'm Alive", "The Fall" (one of the better tunes from Jeff Lynne ever), the ballad "Don't Walk Away", the semi-hit "All Over the World", and the closer and title track (and mega-hit), with Olivia on vocals.

What always bothered me was that the songs on this soundtrack were completely out of sync, and didn't present the story line of the movie. Well, that has been corrected, now that "Xanadu", 27 years later, has been brought to Broadway, as improbable as it is. I saw the show in New York last month, and it is fabulous. Even better, the Broadway soundtrack presents the songs in their natural flow, mixing up the songs from the A and B side, as they should have all along. But despite this flaw on the original 1980 soundtrack, let there be no mistake, the music here is first rate. I've always thought of this soundtrack as a musical guilty pleasure, but when it stands the test of time, now 28 years later, is that really just a guilty pleasure? November 1, 2008

Before Harrison, Dylan and McCartney there was Newton-John

Let's just start by saying that I was buying the Idle Race 2-cd set and realized that I now had just about everything Jeff Lynne had ever recorded......EXCEPT FOR XANADU!

How could I resist?

Anyway, I am not going to waste too much space on a Xanadu review. A few of my (random) thoughts:

-> This CD confirms my theory that ELO was at least better than Olivia Newton-John (as for my assertion that ELO was better than Abba, we'll have to wait for another day). The ELO half of the CD is WAY BETTER! Actually, the only ONJ track I was able to get through was MAGIC, and I probably won't even listen to that one again for quite a while. Once every 25 years is often enough for me.
-> ALL OVER THE WORLD is quite possibly the best Motown rip-off ELO (or anyone else for that matter) ever pulled off. Couldn't they have just done a cover of HEATWAVE or DANCING IN THE STREETS instead?
-> I'M ALIVE is still annoying.
-> The two ELO non-singles (THE FALL and DON'T WALK AWAY) are actually really good, although the sequence of the two songs should be reversed, since the "It's a lie" chorus in THE FALL sounds a little bit too much like "I'm alive."
-> The title track is probably the best thing Olivia ever did. How does Jeff Lynne do it?

Finally, I think it is also pretty funny that, before working with his idols (Roy Orbison, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, etc.), Jeff Lynne had to do a duet with Olivia Newton-John. Talk about paying your dues.

I guess I did waste a fair amount of space there. Sorry about that.
August 21, 2008

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