Customer Reviews

Grease (Original 1978 Motion Picture Soundtrack)

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Given the national funk the USA was in, the songs in Grease was also a longing for a funner, simpler time, when rock wasn't so complicated. Stylishly, it's 50's music, some with 70's disco sensibilities, 70's non-disco pop, and songs whose sound harken back to the stage play, clearly meant to stay within the confines of the movie.

The order of songs on the soundtrack frontloads the theme song and singles in the first part before getting back in movie order for the rest. Now, in order of the movie...

After the brief "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing," comes the title song, the perfect marriage of the 50's, exemplified by singer, Frankie Avalon, and the catchy disco-like rhythms of the 70's, hardly surprising given that Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees penned this song.

"Summer Nights" the first duet between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, featuring members of the cast, harkens back to its stage origins, with the differing versions of what went on in Danny and Sandy's fateful summer marked by vocal tradeoffs between the two, highlighted by predominantly male voices in Travolta's segment, female ones in Newton-John's.

"Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee" too is a stagey song, sung by Stockard Channing when making fun of Sandy, with references to Elvis, Troy Donahue, and Doris Day making it a look back at the late 50's. The sugary pop ballad "Hopelessly Devoted To You" was tailor-made for Newton-John, a ballad alternately with steel guitars one moment, strings the next.

"Why this car is automatic, it's systematic, it's hydromatic. Why it's greased lightning!" For downright fun and energy, "Greased Lightning" bears the hallmark of Elvis and Eddie Cochrane-type rockers, an ideal song accompanying the spanking red hot rod fantasy sequence.

"It's Raining On Prom Night," sung by Cindy Bullens, is another vintage 50's-type slow ballad, and is the song that plays when Sandy goes to the jukebox, only to have Danny make fun of the jock she's hanging out with.

Frankie Avalon's slow-dance "Beauty School Dropout" is a nod back to the days when his "Venus" was a big hit, strings laden doo-wop style female accompaniment including Stockard Channing. This number was done in the guardian angel (Avalon) telling Frenchie to get her act together and go back to school.

"Rock And Roll Party Queen" can be briefly heard in the dance segment when the people start entering the decorated gym.

Another example of 50s/70s dynamic is Sha-Na-Na, who spearheaded a rock and roll revival movement. Their songs is one fun track after another, from Danny and the Juniors' "Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay," the slow dance of "Those Magic Changes," Little Anthony's "Tears On My Pillow," Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," the climactic and fun-brimmed "Born To Hand Jive," and then a cover of "Blue Moon."

Travolta's solo song "Sandy," done after Sandy storms out of his car after his manhandling her, is more a defense than an apology, as he says in the monologue that she hurt him. The monologue he has inbetween the singing segments is more a hallmark of girl group songs like "Leader Of The Pack." Solo, Travolta's actually not bad, replicating 50's-style falsetto at times.

Next, is another Stockard Channing solo, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" and a reprise of "Sandra Dee" by Olivia Newton-John, before the final blowout. In the interview segment of the video, Olivia Newton-John herself knew that with the bouncy bassline throughout the energetic "You're The One That I Want," the second Travolta duet, was going to be a hit, and it was. And in the movie, it's followed by the equally vivacious "We Go Together," which could've been a single.

Other notes: These were not included in the movie:"Alone At the Drive-In," "Freddy My Love," "Mooning," and "Rock N Roll Party Queen" were in the movie, because I don't remember them. Another exemplary soundtrack from the 70's and perhaps of all time.

Has it really been 20 years? I was just finishing high school when the movie GREASE opened and became the biggest hit movie (and soundtrack album) of the summer of 1978.

Now its back - and many of the movie's fans who sing along with the songs in the theatre were not even born when the movie first came out. Much as it reminds me of my advancing age, I am thrilled that a movie musical - and, lets face it a pretty silly one at that - can still inspire such passionate support.

GREASE was not exactly new to me that summer of 1978 - having already seen the Broadway show which had premiered 6 years earlier and would continue for another 3 years after the release of the film. But the stage show is really a different animal: the kids are tougher, and the score was orchestrated for a more authentic 50s feel.

GREASE, the film, smoothed out the rough edges and cleaned up some of the rougher language. It also fiddled with the song lineup cutting "Freddy My Love", "Mooning", "Alone at a Drive-in Movie" and "All Choked Up" and adding a handful of genuine 50s tunes as well as the songs "Sandy", "Hopelessly Devoted to You", "You're the One that I want" and the title song - all of which are vast improvements. In fact, it might be smart for a Broadway producer to find a way to include these songs in future stage revivals.

The soundtrack album has been a best-seller for years now, but the CD transfer makes the same mistake that marred the original 2 LP set: The songs are in the wrong order making it impossible to follow the story. The CD booklet is no help as it offers no synopsis or notes of any kind.

To correct this glaring error one must program the CD to play: #23, #24, #2, #7, #3, #8, #9, #6, #19, #12, #13, #16, #14, #15, #11, #5, #20, #21, #4, #22 & #1.

Note that #10, #17 & #18 are not used in the film.

I was only 9 years old when this movie came out, and I still remember my friends father taking us to the theater to see it - we were still singing the songs to eachother way past our bedtime, and loving every minute of it!

Then, when I was in my 20's, I remember being at various clubs & bars that would play the music from Grease, and every time the entire place would come alive with everyone singing along - its just that kind of music - your feet seem to start moving and your voice start singing before you even know whats happening...

The music from Grease in definately 1950's in style, and includes rock-n-roll, doo wop & ballads - there's quite a lot of variety when you think about it.

Overall, I would highly recommend this CD to anyone who enjoyed the movie/play &/or likes 50's-style music. You won't be disappointed!

Grease is the word! This soundtrack rules! The songs are fabulous and really get you pumped up. After listening to it, I wish I could go back to the 50's! If you're in doubt, just buy it! You'll be so glad you did.

Absolutely fantastic!!!!!!!!!

I love every single song on the CD and I've watched the film so many times I've lost track. Let's jus say enough times to know the words off by heart even when I'm only 17.

I recieved this album on cassette way back in 1979(after hearing the music on the radio and seeing the movie)....and I've listened to it every year since then. A perfect mix of oldies from the 50's and originals written for the film. John Travolta has never been more appealing on record(before or since) and Olivia showed us.....well, she just plain old showed us she can do anything she wants to musically. "Hopelessly Devoted To You" is beautifully sung by Newton-John and beautifully penned and produced by John Farrar.....I think of all the songs on this album THAT is the one I love the most......"You're The One that I Want" is still a lot of fun and unforgettable as well. The title track written by the Bee Gees and sung by Frankie Valli instantly takes me back to the good old days and makes me want to watch the movie for the zillionth time......this cd is like an old friend to me and it has never let me down!

I LOVE THE SONGS AND YOU SHOULD DEFINETLY CHECK OUT THE MOVIE AND CD!!!GREASE IS THE BEST AND MY CLASS AT SCHOOL IS DOING THE PLAY"GREASE"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT AND I MEMORIZED ALL THE SONGS AND THAT SHOULD GIVE YOU ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT I LISTEN TO THE SONGS ALOT.IT IS SO COOL!!!!!!!

-AAISHA

The musical Grease, like West Side Story, is based loosely on the theme of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, so we have the theme of opposing gangs, and the storyline of boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. The movie of the musical is a wonderful seventies take on a fifties theme and I would imagine that most people who enjoyed the movie-- and there must be millions of them-- would also enjoy this CD.

You have quite a variety of performers here. Olivia Newton John, with her crystal-pure voice sings the movie's greatest hit Hopelessly Devoted To You, and then you have her in duets with John Travolta, who also has some solo numbers nicely done with an adolescent break in his voice that belies his maturity at the time of the recording.

Also from the movie are a couple of songs by Stockard Channing, one of which, There Are Worse Things I Could Do (Than Have A Boy Or Two) is one of my great favorites, even though it is rather short.

Then you have a bunch of period fifties rock and doo-wop songs by top artists like Frankie Avalon and Sha Na Na. Almost all the songs are enjoyable and very well recorded. It really is one of the best, probably THE best, soundtrack albums you can get, better even than Dirty Dancing, which is also a favorite of mine.

Wonderful music for driving in the car, listening to while you do the housework, or just about anything else.

The soundtrack to Grease is actually one of the five albums that changed my life. When I was a tee weeny little boy, this soundtrack and the film were the first real adult type of fare that I came across which actually affected me in any way. T

he film was so exciting to me I made every relative I had take me to see it claiming I had never seen it before. My Aunt and I listened to it on my Grandma's big record player in the living room - one of those things that look like a cabinet but actually house a record player and in Grandma Ferlie's case an 8 track player. Then I made my mom buy me the 8-track for myself.

I sang every song as if it were my own and as if I knew what half the words meant. "Summer Nights", "You're The One That I Want", "Greased Lightning" - not to mention the 1,2 punch of sassy pants Rizzo with her teaser "Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee" and "There Are Worse Things I Could Do", plus the Sha Na Na whole middle of 50's dance music, and the Cindy Bullens sung "It's Raining On Prom Night", "Freddy My Love" and "Mooning" from the original play (which I didn't even know existed at the time). The soundtrack to Grease made me grow up and to this day I still get sucked in to both the flick and the soundtrack and it made me a life long Livvie fan.

Plus my very first ever time performing live was as a 6 year old kid getting up with a live band and singing the duet "You're The One That I Want" as a solo - yeah I was cool like Zuko.

If "Grease" was meant to be a movie based in the 50s, why are there very little traditional rock'n'roll style tracks on this album? Ah, who care ?!! This soundtrack is simply a joy to listen to. Take away the fact most of the songs are cheesey and corny, what you have is an album that makes you feel good.

Some tracks are more well-known than others, but is there anyone living in the Western world that doesn't know the words to these songs? And even if you don't, how many of you have added your own words and ju sung along to the tracks anyway?!

The highlights? Frankie Valli's "Grease" captures the 70s 'disco' sound perfectly, so it won't come as a surprise to discover this was written by one of the Bee-Gees. "Summer Nights, "You're The One That I Want", "Greased Lightning", "Hoplessly Devoted To You" and "Sandy" are all as popular today as they were 23 years ago.

But there are a few hidden gems to be found as album fillers, most noteably the contributions from the 'real' 1960s group 'Sha-Na-Na'. Tracks including: "Born To Hand Jive", "Tears On My Pillow", "Those Magic Changes" and "Blue Moon" prove it's unfair to associate the "Grease" soundtrack CD only with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Also, Stockard Channing's "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" also deserves a mention too.

Any naff songs? Yeah, but just a few. "Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee" reeks of 'naffness'(!), but on this soundtrack CD, the good outweigh the bad.

I first bought this soundtrack in the early 80s on vinyl (remember lp's?) and twice on audio cassette years later. Now I have two "Grease" CD's (inc. the 20th Anniversary Edition with CD-Rom). Now, if that isn't a recommendation you buy it, I don't know what is!

Just avoid anything associated with "Grease 2"!!!!

Jon:)