Song of the Day: ‘Don’t Walk Away’ by Electric Light Orchestra

I write this knowing I may have my childhood Olivia Newton-John Fan Club membership retroactively revoked, but I just watched “Xanadu” in its entirety -- from start to finish -- for the first time over the weekend. Of course I had the soundtrack -- you may recall that Tammy Nicholas questioned why I “always sang the girl part” of “Suddenly” in the summer of 1980 -- and I even saw (and loved) the Broadway musical. But the film came and went at theaters -- and who had time for movies what with all of those babysitting gigs? Then the reviews were so negative that I never really bothered to buckle down and watch it on cable or video, despite it being readily available. Having finally finished watching it I must say I really enjoyed it. 

Olivia and the soundtrack are timeless and perfect -- the Tubes are used to great effect and ELO has never sounded more vibrant -- with the whole thing playing like an early music video. And what Michael Beck’s low-rent Andy Gibb shtick lacks is compensated by the joy of seeing Gene Kelly onscreen, especially in his dance scene with ONJ. Obviously not a brilliant film, but one definitely worthy if its cult classic status. 

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