These two CDs sit next to each other on the rack, due to the capricious nature of my filing system. But provide an interesting contrast.
I really don't have to provide any background to Grease, do I? Seminal film, one that I would pinpoint as marking my transition from child to adolescent. The years go by - twenty six years - but it still retains its charm. I have the CD, I have the video. Twenty six years ago I had the clothes.
The very first chord is spot on and it doesn't go wrong from there. Songs like: Summer Nights - who hasn't stood in a disco joining in the community sing-song to the ending of this; Hopelessly Devoted to You - quite possibly my favourite from the entire film; You're the One that I Want; Sandy; Look at Me I'm Sandra-Dee; Greased Lightning; and all those fillers - fillers of the calibre of Blue Moon, and Rock 'n' Roll Party Queen.
Playing this album evokes memories. Memories of Junior 4, of going to the cinema (The one and only time I went to the godawful fleapit in Altrincham). We got hold of the lyrics, and acted it out in the school playground, protecting our territory from the younger kids.
The disc itself is a bit boring, just standard silver-coloured with writing. The liner is an eight page booklet of stills from the film.
I really must watch the film again soon. Listening to the soundtrack album, it struck me that the 'real' star was Stockard Channing. Of course, she was only in a supporting role, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta got the glory, but the adult me says yeah - Stockard Channing 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do'.
And then, next to it on the shelf, is Hits 97. I was entering this into 'Music Collector' and thinking, why did I buy this - the first disc is almost totally dire. Even the best songs on it - Donna Lewis's I Love You Always Forever; Simply Red's Angel - are only, objectively, adequate, but they stand out as pearls among the swine of too-much cRap music.
It's so aggressive that cRap. And it's not music, really. Then there's piss-poor covers of great originals. Bad post-break-up songs from Gary Barlow and Mark Owen. From this general dis, I exempt Deep Blue Something's Breakfast at Tiffany�s, which was one of the reasons I bought this - a really good example of the sort of rock I enjoyed while listening to GLR (before it became crap) in the mid 90s. Intelligent rock for grown-ups - tune, lyrics.
Maybe it was tracks on Disc 2. But really, looking at that apart from some relatively weak offerings from the Manics and the Lightning Seeds, the only songs worthy of attention are Babybird's You're Gorgeous, Divine Comedy's The Frog Princess (Which I later got on a DC CD, anyway) and ETBTG's Driving.
So bit of a dismal compilation, then. Waste of money. Still, the discs are quite pretty, carrying reproduction of the logo from the front cover, one against blue and one against red.
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