Frankie Valli... Is the Word

Frankie Valli was chosen to sing the newly written theme song for the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. The single went to number one and was certified platinum. This album was released as a follow-up of the success of this song, its title echoing the chorus of the hit, "Grease is the word". The "Grease" theme, which had been on the Grease soundtrack, was also included as the lead-off track on this album.[1]

In a retrospective review, William Ruhlmann of Allmusic recalled that the album's release "served to demonstrate that 'Grease' was more of a phenomenon related to the movie and the Bee Gees than to Valli himself."[1] In his November 1978 review for Stereo Review magazine, Peter Reilly remarked that:

Even though he's beginning to look a lot like the late Katina Paxinou (a shade less rugged, perhaps), the current Frankie Valli still sounds deadeningly like the early Frankie Valli. The film Grease breathed some new life into his career, but his latest album demonstrates that Frankie firmly intends to prolong his adolescence, Fifties style, into recording eternity. No matter what he sings here [...] he still comes on like that same old grossly unrequited teenage lover nervously baying outside the corner candy store. I'm sure that there are middle-aged matrons around who still get the hiccups when Frankie starts up, just as I'm sure also that he'll still be the rage among certain citizens of Sun Cities in the 1990s. But by that time I hope to be quite deaf.[2]

1. "Grease" (Barry Gibb) – 3:27
2. "Needing You" (Frankie Valli, Kevin Tighe, Lee Shapiro) – 3:24
3. "Sometimes Love Songs Make Me Cry" (Bill LaBounty, Jay Senter, Milo Adamo) – 4:26
4. "Without Your Love" (Kevin Tighe, Lenny Lee Goldsmith) – 4:10
5. "Over Me" (Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker) – 3:32
6. "Save Me, Save Me" (Albhy Galuten, Barry Gibb) – 3:26
7. "You Can Do It" (Ben Weisman, Evie Sands, Richard Germinaro) – 3:27
8. "A Tear Can Tell" (Bill LaBounty) – 3:55
9. "You Better Go" (Fred Webb, Lenny Lee Goldsmith) – 3:42
10. "No Love at All" (Frankie Valli, Kevin Tighe, Lee Shapiro) – 3:18