For those who have never heard the "Grease 2" soundtrack album before, BE WARNED: it's nothing like the Travolta/Newton-John original. In fact, apart from the photo on the CD cover, you'd be hard pushed to associate this album with a "Grease" movie at all.
Whereas the original "Grease" soundtrack was one of those ultimate 'feelgood' albums, I found the sequel to be rather boring in parts. Two of the main ballads ("Charades" and "Turn Back The Hands Of Time") seem quite 'dark', while the 'supposed' up-beat tracks ("Cool Rider", "Score Tonight", and "Prowlin'") just appear tedious.
Unfortunately, this CD is more of a 'miss' than a 'hit'. The quality of the tracks range from average to down-right abysmal. It may have been meant as a 'comedy' track, but I defy anyone not to cringe with embarrassment while listening to the god-awful "Reproduction". And "Do It For Our Country" isn't much better.
"Score Tonight" - another track laced with a plethora of sexual innuendos (as are most of the songs on this CD) - and "Rock-A-Hula-Luau" come close to matching the lesser known songs on the original soundtrack album, whereas "We'll Be Together" sounds remarkably like a mellow version of "We Go Together" from the first movie. Also, "Girl For All Seasons" is nothing more than a "Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise)" remake. Did the songwriters run out of ideas?
Personally, I thought Michelle Pfeiffer (circa 1982) was a TERRIBLE singer. Those who disagree should listen to "The Fabulous Baker Boys" soundtrack to hear what she sounded like later in her career. The songs she performs on this CD, "Cool Rider", "Turn Back The Hands Of Time" along with her contribution to "Who's That Guy?" were rather pitiful.
The other two main actors in the movie were given a track each to perform: Maxwell Caulfield does quite a good job on "Charades" vocally, but the actual song is rather depressing. And Adrian Zmed's vocals on "Prowlin'" are sooooo bad, it's gotta be heard to be believed!
What saves this CD soundtrack from being an absolute turkey is the terrific opening number. "Back To School Again" by the Four Tops is simply stunning. More 'rock' than 'pop', this track IMHO is the best from both "Grease" movies. It's just a shame the "Grease 2" movie and soundtrack goes downhill after that.
"Grease 2" was a monumental disaster for Paramount Pictures, and the main reason for this was the soundtrack. Listen to both CD's from movies 1&2 and discover for yourself. Let's just hope the proposed "Grease 3" will have learned from this mistake.
Jon.
