Cover Story

Angus & Julia Stone cover John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John

April 11, 2011 0 Comments

Sydney sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone began as separate solo acts, with each backing the other up for live appearances, before they finally joined forces.

Boasting platinum albums at home in Australia, the Stones also count Travis’ Fran Healy and Natalie Portman among their more famous fans, and have toured all over the world. Here in the U.S., their songs have been heard on several TV shows, with Grey’s Anatomy, 90210, and (the now-canceled) Life Unexpected returning to the source more than once.

While there’s much to recommend about their original music (in particular “Big Jet Plane”), Angus & Julia Stone released a cover of “You’re The One That I Want” from the 1978 film version of Grease. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John famously dueted on the tune, which has become a karaoke classic. The Stones’ cover appeared on last year’s concert-exclusive Big Jet Plane EP, which became available for digital download just last week.

With Angus & Julie Stone being brother and sister, and the song’s subject matter such as it is, “You’re The One That I Want” is a solo Julia show. Accompanied by acoustic guitar, with her voice sitting somewhere between Martha Wainwright and Jewel (or a younger Emmylou Harris), Julia makes slight changes to the melody here and there, inflections that reveal a vulnerability behind the demand that her man had “better shape up.”

Last November, Julia Stone released her debut solo album, The Memory Machine. But she hasn’t left her brother Angus behind. The two are headed to California to perform next Sunday for Coachella.

Purchase Angus & Julia Stone – “You’re The One That I Want” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John) via iTunes, Amazon MP3.