30 July 1980
When I was around 6 years old I saw the last few minutes of the musical movie Xanadu on television. In what’s probably the only positive review this movie has ever received, I thought Olivia Newton-John was lovely and the title song, reprised for the big finale, was good. Now, revisiting those youthful opinions, I stand over the former but I beg leave to revise the latter. (The merits of Xanadu the movie are, mercifully, out of scope for this post.)
Call this the heart overruling the head, but my problem with the song ‘Xanadu’ isn’t the lovely ONJ, whose clear, bright voice fits perfectly on a disco record named after a mythical paradise. No, it’s the party of the second part who let this enterprise down, because ELO just gotta be ELO-ing: layers of violin and cello stacked like cold pancakes; that weird snare sound as if it’s being hit through a plastic bag; Jeff Lynne. Extract that ELO DNA and you’d have a real little mirrorball of a record.
Then I remember that Xanadu isn’t about dancing; it’s about a roller disco, where everyone (even Gene Kelly) trundles around in ignominious circles. It’s ELO The Movie, amirite?
