Grease (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)

iTunes Review

Talk about distilling the cultural zeitgeist: Allan Carr's 1978 production of the unlikely Broadway success Grease amplified the Me Decade's fascination with the '50s into full-blown obsession and jump-started the big screen careers of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, all to the effusive, decade-blurring beat of one of history's biggest-selling soundtracks. The score bubbles with a '70s-disco-pop-slickness, dumping some of the stage show's more precious numbers in favor of muscular, crowd-pleasing hits like "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "You're the One That I Want" and the signature, Barry Gibb-written/Frankie Valli-sung title track. But the core musical material still holds its charm thanks to performances like Stockard Channing's "Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee," Frankie Avalon's campy "Beauty School Dropout" and Sha-Na-Na's roaring oldies revue. Three decades later, Grease continues to inspire a thriving franchise with a peculiarly 21st century viewpoint: nostalgia for the once-nostalgic.