Xanadu

The first time I saw Xanadu I was 6 years old watching it as a double feature (remember those?) with Grease. Of course everyone loved Grease and hated Xanadu.

Xanadu of course had a legend like Gene Kelly as one of it's stars. I have read that Gene Kelly took the role mainly because the filming location was close to where he lived. It would also be Gene's last movie and it was unfortunately a turkey.

Apparently the movie was in trouble during the entire filming process including regular rewrites to the script.

With all of this I guess you are wondering why I am bothering to mention Xanadu at all. Well it has a fab soundtrack. The film may have been a flop but the soundtrack did amazingly well with top 5 status in both the U.S and U.K.

Side 2 of the Xanadu soundtrack was written by Jeff Lynne and performed by ELO.

The track list is:

Side 1
Olivia Newton-John
1. "Magic"
2. "Suddenly"
3. "Dancin'"
4. "Suspended in Time"
5. "Whenever You're Away From Me"
Side 2
Electric Light Orchestra
1. "I'm Alive"
2. "The Fall"
3. "Don't Walk Away"
4. "All Over the World"
5. "Xanadu" (sung by Olivia Newton-John)

Most people who know me also know that i have a very soft spot for Xanadu even with the poor acting, plot and script.

The softest spot I have is for the Gene Kelly/Olivia Newtown John duet "Whenever you're away from me".

The lead singer of Korn Jonathan Davis listens to this song before he goes on stage. You don't believe me? Read about it here
To remind you of how wonderful this track is take a look at it