Collectibles #7: Grease OST 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

This is the 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the Grease OST, and it comes with a bonus CD containing some exclusive tracks such as the Grease Megamix, unreleased remixes and instrumental tracks to some of the songs. The CD booklet also contains the lyrics to all the songs in the album.

The added feaures on the bonus CD do not provide much incentive to buy the album, but you MUST still get this album anyway. It ranks among my top 5 favourite albums of all time, and I'll be hard pressed to find another album where I like EVERY track on the album.

Starting with the title track, the album sets off with a bang as Frankie Valli coolly nails the song to perfection, exuding both charm and class in the Barry Gibb-penned song. It is followed by Summer Nights, a duet between the two main characters in the show, Sandy and Danny (played by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta respectively). The bass riff is so distinct such that everyone can identify the song just by listening to the opening 3 bass notes straight away.

The other hits from the album are You're The One That I Want and We Go Together, the latter of which features some funny tongue-twisting rap at the end. You should try that out. It's great fun.

The two lead stars also take centrestage on solo tracks and I must say they did quite a good job, particularly Olivia Newton-John with Hopelessly Devoted To You. Cover band Sha Na Na also brings the album much fun with their very respectable covers of Elvis Presley's Hound Dog and Blue Moon.

And who can forget the one of the most famous scenes in the movie, the car repair scene, set to the song Greased Lightning? And also Born To Hand Jive, where the prom students do the crazy series of hand actions in time to the song.

There is also Those Magic Changes, my mum's favourite song. In fact, it is the first I ever sang with a band in front of an audience, and I dedicated that performance to her.

The movie and the OST is inseparable and what made Grease so successful was the strength of the musical numbers. It is one of the biggest-selling soundtracks ever, second only to perhaps Saturday Night Fever, which coincidentally or not, also starred John Travolta.

Grease is about pure old-school fun and it is one of the most well-loved musical movies of all time. I'll be catching the stage production of Grease next month when it rolls into Singapore, and I'm hoping to recapture the feeling live. In the meantime...Grease is still the word!