|
Xanadu (soundtrack)
''Xanadu'' is the soundtrack to the 1980 musical film of the same name, featuring the Australian singer Olivia Newton-John and the British group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in June 1980 on MCA Records in the United States and July 1980 by Jet Records in the United Kingdom. The original LP release featured on side one the songs of Newton-John, and on side two the songs of ELO. In 2008 the soundtrack album was digitally remastered as a bonus CD as part of the film's DVD release titled ''Xanadu: Magical Musical Edition''. Although the film was a critical and commercial disappointment, the soundtrack was a worldwide success and received positive reviews from music critics, earning double platinum certifications in the United States and Canada. The singles " Magic" and " Xanadu" reached number one in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. "Magic" became Olivia's ninth Number One single in The Netherlands, while "Xanadu" topped the chart in Italy. All ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olivia Newton-John
Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million records, best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all time. In 1978, Newton-John starred in the musical film ''Grease (film), Grease'', which was the highest-grossing musical film at the time and whose Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture, soundtrack remains one of the List of best-selling albums, world's best-selling albums. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want"—which is one of the List of best-selling singles#15 million physical copies or more, best-selling singles of all time—and "Summer Nights (Grease song), Summer Nights". Her signature solo recordings include the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'm Alive (Electric Light Orchestra Song)
"I'm Alive" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released as a single in May 1980. It is featured in a sequence near the beginning of the feature film '' Xanadu''. The song also appears on the soundtrack album '' Xanadu''. Background In the film the song is heard as the Muses emerge from a graffiti-like portrait; Olivia Newton-John, playing Kira (Terpsichore), emerges last. The film's version of the song contains a fairly lengthy instrumental introduction, a small segment of which is used for the album version. The single's B-side, "Drum Dreams", is also featured in the film at the beginning of the Xanadu nightclub grand opening scene and segues into the movie title song. "Drum Dreams" was also used as the B-side of the "All Over the World" single. Reception ''Cash Box'' said that it has "adept movement from electronically treated vocals to Lynne's lead". ''Record World'' said that "keyboard magic abounds with a Beatlesque melody line & heavenly falsetto choruses". P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessible to the general public, which he called "dance for the common man". He starred in, choreographed, and, with Stanley Donen, co-directed some of the most well-regarded musical films of the 1940s and 1950s. Kelly is known for his performances in ''An American in Paris (film), An American in Paris'' (1951), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), which he and Donen directed and choreographed, and other musical films of that era such as ''Cover Girl (film), Cover Girl'' (1944) and ''Anchors Aweigh (film), Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. ''On the Town (film), On the Town'' (1949), which he co-directed with Donen, was his directorial debut. Later in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their self-titled 1975 debut album included the single " White Punks on Dope", while their 1983 single " She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early days of MTV. The band also performed in the 1980 film '' Xanadu'', singing the rock portion of the cross-genre song "Dancin'" opposite a big band. History The Tubes formed on March 22, 1972, in San Francisco featuring members from two Phoenix bands who had moved to San Francisco in 1969. One, The Beans (alternately billing themselves as the Radar Men from Uranus), included Bill Spooner, Rick Anderson, Vince Welnick, and Bob McIntosh. The other, the Red White and Blues Band, featured Prairie Prince, Roger Steen, and David Killingsworth. After performing at Expo '70 in Japan, Killingsworth left the Red, White and Blues Band, leaving Steen and Prince to audition new bass players, albeit unsuccessfully. Before moving to San Francisco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Richard was originally marketed as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Presley and Little Richard. With his backing group, the Shadows, he dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s to early 1960s. His 1958 hit single "Move It" is often described as Britain's first authentic rock and roll song. In the early 1960s, he had a successful screen career with films including ''The Young Ones (1961 film), The Young Ones'', ''Summer Holiday (1963 film), Summer Holiday'' and ''Wonderful Life (1964 film), Wonderful Life'' and his own television show at the BBC. Increased focus on his Christian faith and subsequent softening of his music led to a more M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xanadu (film)
''Xanadu'' is a 1980 American musical fantasy film written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The film stars Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly in his final film role. It features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and the Tubes. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty in China. The city appears in ''Kubla Khan'' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an 1816 poem quoted in the film. Released in the United States on August 8, 1980, by Universal Pictures, the film was a box-office disappointment, was panned by critics, and was an inspiration (along with '' Can't Stop the Music'') for the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards to recognize the worst films of the year. Despite the film's lackluster performance, the soundtrack album became commercially successful worldwide and was certified double platinum i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers". The musical film was a natural development of the musical theater, stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if a live audience were watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegesis, diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. With the Sound film, advent of sound in the late 1920s, musicals gained popularity with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smash Hits
''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand for a spin-off digital television channel, which was later renamed Box Hits, and website. A digital radio station was also available but closed on 5 August 2013. Overview ''Smash Hits'' featured the lyrics of latest hits and interviews with big names in music. It was initially published monthly, then went fortnightly. The style of the magazine was initially serious, but from the mid-1980s became increasingly irreverent. Its interviewing technique was novel at the time and, rather than looking up to the big names, it often made fun of them, asking strange questions rather than talking about their music. Created by journalist Nick Logan, the title was launched in 1978 and appeared monthly for its first few issues. He based the idea on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MusicHound
MusicHound (often stylized as musicHound) was a compiler of genre-specific music guides published in the United States by Visible Ink Press between 1996 and 2002. After publishing eleven album guides, the MusicHound series was sold to London-based Music Sales Group, whose company Omnibus Press had originally distributed the books outside America. The series' founding editor was Gary Graff, formerly a music critic with the ''Detroit Free Press''. Subtitled "''The Essential Album Guide''", each publication typically contained entries providing an overview of an artist's career and dividing their work into categories such as "what to buy", "what's next", "what to avoid" and "worth searching for". Among the MusicHound album guides were titles dedicated to rock, blues, classical, jazz, world music, swing, and soundtrack recordings. Further to the canine analogy in the series title, albums were graded according to a "bone" rating system: five bones constituting the highest score, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encyclopedia Of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Knowledge'', Christmas edition, 22 December 2007 – 4 January 2008. It is published by the Oxford University Press and was described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". History of the encyclopedia Larkin believed that rock music and popular music were at least as significant historically as classical music, and as such, should be given definitive treatment and properly documented. ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is the result. In 1989, Larkin sold his half of the publishing company Scorpion Books to finance his ambition to publish an encyclopedia of popular music. Aided by a team of initially 70 contributors, he set about compiling the data in a pre-internet age, "relying instead on information ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Musical ensemble, bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All-Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar, and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as compact discs (CDs) replaced LP record, LPs and cassette (format), cassettes as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it, he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't Walk Away (Electric Light Orchestra Song)
"Don't Walk Away" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was used in the 1980 feature film '' Xanadu'' in an animated sequence by Don Bluth and appears on the '' Xanadu'' soundtrack album. It was the last single released from the album. The song was also used in the 2007 Broadway musical '' Xanadu''. The song is written in a standard key signature of C Major and was a number 21 hit in the UK. B side Across the Border "Across the Border" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra. It is track 4 on their highly successful 1977 album '' Out of the Blue''. In 1980, the track became the B-side to the hit single "Don't Walk Away". The song opens with a steam train and horn sound effect, then switching into a small bridge with the violin and the moog, then switching to an upbeat rock song, with the opening verse being reminiscent of The Beach Boys track "Heroes and Villains". Mik Kaminski plays violin and the song also has a Latin maria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
