19 November 2020 - Electric Light Orchestra - Xanadu

In 1980, Olivia Newton-John was the biggest star on the planet.  So they built a musical around her called Xanadu featuring a lot of roller-skating.  

The movie was awful.  The musical based on the movie is a bit better.  

The soundtrack, a collaboration between Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra and John Farrar, who did ONJ's songwriting, was a delight and spun up a couple of hits.  This one, which appears on side two (the ELO side - Olivia's songs were on side one) in its original version, was an ELO song that featured Olivia on lead vocals (and Jeff Lynne on backup).   

This is a rerecording of the song in 2000, featuring a Jeff Lynne lead vocal.  Different vocalist, different feel, self-cover.  And it isn't bad, to be honest.