 Various Artists As much as it pains me to say this, this CD is one of the most unlistenable albums ever recorded. The CD attempts to answer the question "What would it sound like if the songs from Grease had actually been recorded in the 50s?" … ignoring the fact that this is not a question that would ever occur to most people. For me, the prospect of hearing Lou Christie turned loose on "You're the One that I Want," "Grease," "Sandy," and "Beauty School Dropout" was thrilling, but the promise was dashed within 25 seconds of putting this piece of shit on the CD player. Backed up by Rhino novelty act Big Daddy (the band that does rock of the 60s through the 90s in the style of various 50s bands), Lou is joined by Lesley Gore, Darlene Love, and Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon in recreating the Grease tunes like the songs of yesteryear. It's a marginally bad idea that turns Titanic as the disc goes on. Low points are "Grease" (done as an instrumental, with Lou's falsetto "Grease is the word" serving as the hook), Lesley Gore's awful "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" (Carol Channing would have been a better choice here), and probably the whole second half of the album, which I couldn't bear to listen to. I'm sorry, even in the name of journalistic integrity I couldn't face enduring any further denigration of some of my favorite singers. On the positive side, Lou's voice is as awesome as ever, and Darlene Love actually comes off as really great on her tracks. Someone needs to create a forum for these artists to show they still have it without having to humiliate themselves with endless nostalgia cheese-fests like this one. In an ideal world, Lou would get a VH-1 Storytellers show where he could do true classics like "Lighthouse" and "Paint America Love" alongside strong recent material (Pledging My Love, about 1,000,000,000,000,000 times better than this gob of crank). It puts fans in a difficult position when they want to love everything their idols do, but they do stuff like this. And while I risk alienating lots of Lou and Lesley fans, I have to be honest in calling Grease is the Word one horse's ass of a fuck of a bad record. Easily one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Please someone! The comfort of the oldies circuit is fine and dandy, but at some point it becomes purgatory! Paint America Lou, but not with this paint.
Review by Reggie Hardon |
