Olivia Newton-John - Gold
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Free Music Notes for Gold
Free Music Review: I Can't Believe How Awesome This Is
Hit: 5 Stars
After several woefully inadequate Livvy comps comes this Grand Slam from our friends at Hip-O. It's got FORTY tracks, including bunches of songs I never dreamed they'd bother looking for. Finally you can follow ON-J's complete chart progression from sweet country-pop critics' target... to leather-clad (yeah baby) "Grease" and "Totally Hot" pop-rock lust goddess...through chart dominance and chronic headband-wearing with "Physical"...through declining chart fortunes for such goodies as "Soul Kiss" and the Elton John collaboration "The Rumour."
I feared "Gold" would still leave off a bunch of key hits like Donna Summer's entry in this series, but it doesn't. It even goes Beneath the Top Forty to bring us gems including these...
"Banks of the Ohio": Followup to "If Not For You" is not a sweet love song at all, which is probably why it stopped at #94. Listen to the lyrics. How could you, Livvy?
"Something Better To Do": This is an excellent broken-heart song with a great lyric and a typically subtle vocal. A #13 hit the "Magic" and "Back To Basics" sets should have included.
"Every Face Tells a Story": I got this single after seeing it in one of the Billboard books and wondering why it didn't chart higher (#55). Paul Grein's lovingly-penned liner notes opine that the world wasn't ready for a harder sound from our diva. It's not exactly Joan Jett, but it does have a little guitar bite to it. I'm so glad they included it.
"Sam" (#20 in 1977): Actually the other hits discs included this too. It's just really pretty and if you haven't paid it much attention you should.
"Landslide": Intense midchart (#51) followup to "Physical" and "Make a Move on Me" should have done better.
"Heart Attack" and "Tied Up": Thanks Hip-O for including both the "new" songs added to ON-J's Greatest Hits Volume 2.
"Livin' In Desperate Times": Hard-to-find #31 New-Waveish followup to "Twist of Fate" is even more manic than that Top 5 hit. Otherwise available only briefly on CD on the you'd-never-buy-it-anyway soundtrack to "Two of a Kind." Which I see is again out of print.
"The Best of Me": Wow. Never dreamed they'd include this minor (#80) hit duet from David Foster's 1986 solo album on Atlantic. Hip-O, I love you. Probably Foster's only lead vocal out of about a thousand hits he's produced, this love ballad was written by Richard Marx and is also popular among Barry Manilow fans (he does it in concert and put a version on his box set).
"The Rumour" (#62, 1988): I loved this song so much that when I saw it struggle for video and airplay against weaker efforts from ingenues like Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Kylie I realized how screwed up the charts and the music business could be. Limiting a song's exposure because of an artist's age is beyond wrong. And it's not like Olivia wasn't still a hottie (as she remains today)! Some of it is sexism as well since Elton John (cowriter/producer/keyboards/backing vocals) was still able to make the top reaches of the chart with the similar (and also great) "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That."
Olivia's only Top 40 entry not here is "I Can't Help It," a duet with Andy Gibb from 1980 that's available on Andy's hits discs. You need to get and/or keep 1992's "Back To Basics" CD for "I Need Love," a personal favorite that was ignored even more than "The Rumour" four years earlier. An AIDS-aware caution against casual sex, this was produced by Giorgio Moroder and is extraordinary. I still recall Olivia talking about it as a guest on Miami's Y-100, one of the few stations who played it.
I hope you found this helpful. As someone who is almost always disappointed at best-ofs that leave off important stuff, this one has me dancing, literally, figuratively, and 'round and 'round (#82 in 1979). The world is a better place because this CD has been made! Buy it at once!
Free Music Review: It's About Time! What A Find!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the definitive Olivia collection, every Olivia hit song you could think of and more. This 2 cd set has everything on it but the kitchen sink(I know bad anaology). I am so glad I found this CD. It of course has her big hits, like "Physical"(which this song is on every Olivia hits package, 10 weeks at #1, in 1981 remember that people), "A Little More Love", "You're The One That I Want", "Xanadu", "Magic"(another #1), "I Honestly Love You"(two versions on this set, the second version comes from her 1998, CD "Back With A Heart".) "Make A Move On Me", the ever excellent "Heart Attack", "Have You Never Been Mellow", and "Twist Of Fate"(Great, great, great classic). But then where other Olivia hits packages end, "Gold" keeps on going, with songs like "Deeper Than The Night", "Let Me Be There", "Suddenly", "If You Love Me" and "Tied Up". But this CD also goes one step further offering some unexpected songs here, like "Every Face Tells A Story", "The Rumour" and "Totally Hot", and then there is "Landslide' from the album "Physical" the 3rd song to be released, I never knew there was a third song released, and the very well sung and excellent "Soul Kiss" which came to be released after "Two Of A Kind", I didn't even know existed until last year, she hit number 20, with "Soul Kiss" in 1985. Also included are two songs one I forgot about and another I am glad to see finally on an Olivia album, the first is "Fool Country" which when I was reading the CD's liner notes, is the B-side, to "Magic", which I once owned on a .45 record, and the other is "Livin' In Desperate Times", a song that until last year has eluded me for 20 years, released from the "Two Of A Kind" soundtrack, I just fell in love with this song, and until now has never been on an Olivia album. It's also nice to see that the recordings from her Back To Basics album is represented by the song "Deeper Than A River" which was an adult contempoary hit, it would have been nice to include "I Need Love"(also from "Back To Basics", but it really doesn't affect this CD). Their are a total of 40 songs on here spanning over 30 years, from the 1970's, 80's and even the 1990's, where she saw limited airplay, but still released fresh and important material. I purchased her last hits album, "Magic-The Very Best Of", that had 22 songs on it and that CD was great, but Gold is the hits album that Olivia fans have waited so long for. She was my first love singer wise and there will always be an Olivia Newton-John, CD is my collection. Grade for GOLD: A+ to the 100th power, simply incredible from a wonderful and lovely woman, Keep on shining Olivia.
Other Olivia CD's I Own:
Back To Basics: which includes "Deeper Than A River" A-
Olivia's Greatest Hits 2: which includes "Heart Attack" A++++
Magic-The Very Best Of: which includes "Physical" and "Magic" A++++++
GOLD: which includes "Fool Country", "Livin' In Desperate Times", and "Deeper Than The Night"
Back With A Heart: which includes "I Honestly Love You" B+
Stronger Than Before: which includes "Phenomenal Woman"(not yet reviewed).
Once again Olivia what a gift to your fans.
Free Music Review: Olivia gets her proper due in this wonderful retrospective!
Hit: 5 Stars
Amid the 70s Disco craze were a coterie of artists that were bucking the trend and succeeding wildly.Among those and standing quite tall was an English born Aussie singer by the name of Olivia Newton John.
John was no stranger to the music business having been struggling since the early 60s.Her big break came in 1971 when she released her album"If not for You" and its' title track became an international hit.With her fresh face and high lilting vocals Olivia became an "instant" fave on the music scene.In the 70s she seemingly could do little wrong with such great songs as "Let me Be There","If you Love me Let me Know","Please Mr.Please" and so many more.Many of these early efforts were tinged with a country flavour and as a result won acclaim in that field as well as the pop field.In the late 70s the movie "Grease" blasted Olivia into the musical stratosphere and in the process changed her sweet image into something else.In the latter part of the movie she appeared dressed in a pair of leather pants that looked like she had been poured into.In the ensuing years she re-invented her image before our eyes and her songs took on a decided "edge" with songs like "Physical"(the video is a hoot),"Heart Attack" and "Totally Hot".She also appeared in the movie "Xanadu" and spun three subsequent hits out of that,the title,"Magic" and Suddenly" w/Cliff Richard.
The early 80s were unfortunately the end to Olivia's salad years as far as hits were concerned.Her late 80s efforts like "the Rumour" charted badly and "Can't we talk it over in Bed" didn't make a dent in the charts at all.In the the late 90s she charted one single and that was a remake of "I Honestly Love you" with Babyface,that did moderately well.
Of course this isn't a perfect release folks.In all such cases there seems to always be something that gets missed.Here I can see the absence of "Love is a Gift","Taking a Chance" w/John Travolta and" "I Can't Help It",w/Andy Gibb,just to mention three.Howevere this is the first time all of these songs have been included in the same package,and for that we must be grateful.The earlier tunes especially were the subject of a long and protracted battle over rights between Olivia,the publishers and MCA records.Thankfully it was finally resolved and the result is this release.
I found some wonderful gems I hadn't heard in years and had forgotten about like the whimsical "Something Better to Do",the plaintive "Come on Over" and the soulful string backed ballad "Sam",my personal favourite.There is something for every Olivia fan on these two discs,filled with multi million selling hits.And all have been transferred from their original sources wonderfully.You will also find a wonderful booklet filled with a nice overview of Olivia's career,precise release dates,sources for all the recordings and all rounded out with several pics from Olivia's various albums.
All in all this a fine and deserved release and tribute to one of the greatest vocalists of the latter 20th century and I invite you,if you haven't already,to get reacquainted with this pop superstar.
Free Music Review: A comprehensive USA hits collection
Hit: 5 Stars
Like most major artists, Olivia has had some truly international hits but has had other hits that have charted in just one or two countries. This American compilation contains all her USA hits, however minor, except for a duet with Andy Gibb (I can't help it) although you can find that track on an Andy Gibb compilation - maybe it couldn't be licensed for inclusion here. So this compilation should satisfy all of Olivia's American fans. Brits and expatriate Brits will notice the absence of three major UK hits (What is life, Take me home country roads, Long live love) and may prefer the 2004 UK compilation (Definitive collection) that contains seventeen of the tracks that can be found here together with those three major UK hits and a minor UK hit (I need love).
Olivia established her position in the UK pop charts a few years before breaking through in America. This compilation contains two of those early hits (If not for you, Banks of the Ohio), both of which charted high for Olivia in America although at a lower level than in the UK.
Following the failure of Long live love in the 1974 Eurovision song contest, Olivia switched her base to America and had a lot of American hits (Let me be there, If you love me let me know, I honestly love you, Have you never been mellow, Please Mr Please, Come on over, Don't stop believing, Sam), of which only two (I honestly love you, Sam) charted in the UK.
Olivia's most commercially successful period music began in 1978 with the release of Grease, featuring two major international hit duets with John Travolta (You're the one that I want, Summer nights) and a solo ballad, Hopelessly devoted to you, which was also a major international hit. The follow-up album yielded two further hits (A little more love, Deeper than the night).
Next came the outstanding ballad, Magic, which was one of her biggest American hits, followed by Xanadu, this time featuring Olivia in a temporary role as lead singer of ELO. Following Xanadu came Suddenly, a duet with Cliff Richard.
Then came Physical, a monster American hit that stayed at the very top of the charts for over two months. The follow-up, Landslide, was only a minor American hit but it made the UK top ten. Further hits include Make a move on me, Heart attack and Twist of fate. Olivia's last major international hit, The Grease megamix, provided a new generation of fans with a chance to get to hear her voice.
This is the most comprehensive collection of Olivia's American hits yet released. I hope that there will one day be a double-CD would encompass all of Olivia's major hits in both Britain and America as the equivalent Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck compilations in this series do. Such a compilation may appear one day but Hip-O clearly decided to give priority to Olivia's minor American hits. This compilation will clearly please Olivia's American fans, but if you want her British hits, buy Definitive collection instead.
Free Music Review: Finally a hits collection worthy of Olivia
Hit: 5 Stars
Although time has seemed to dismiss Olivia as a two-trick pony with Grease and Physical, do not buy that for one moment. She was one of the greatest and most memorable hitmakers of the 1970's and 1980's and continues to record lauded albums to this date.
After Back To Basics failed hard at being a hits package (waaaaaaaay too much missing) and Magic worked much better, but still missed a number of key hits, the third time is the charm for Olivia, as Gold finally brings forth a collection of ONJ that every fan will want to own.
Among the tracks that were missing from either Back To Basics or Magic but included here include: If Not For You (Olivia's first pop hit), Banks Of The Ohio, Something Better To Do (a top 20 pop hit and #1 AC hit), Let It Shine (top 30 hit), Every Face Tells A Story, Making A Good Thing Better (a disapointment but underrated recording), Totally Hot, Dancing Round And Round, Fool Country (a much sought-after gem from the movie Xanadu), Landslide, Tied Up (a top 40 hit from the now out of print Greatest Hits Vol. 2), Living In Desperate Times (top 40 hit from the hard to find Two Of A Kind soundtrack), Soul Kiss (top 20 hit, Olivia's last US smash), The Best Of Me (duet with David Foster which made the US charts but has become a rarity), The Rumour, Can't We Talk It Over In Bed, Reach Out For Me and I Honestly Love You '98.
The prior two Olivia collections dismissed her post-Twist Of Fate catalog because her star wasn't what it once was, but anybody who continued to follow Olivia after 1984 realizes the calibre of her work never declined.
Everything is remastered and has never sounded better. My only gripes with the set are with the last two tracks. We get the dreadful Grease Megamix, which would be fine if we didn't already have Olivia's three Grease hits, and I Honestly Love You '98, which is pointless since the original 1974 version is on here. Yes, IHLY'98 put Olivia back on the charts but there are recent songs that deserved here more than these two songs. Such as "I Need Love" (which was a dance hit, from the Back To Basics collection), "Precious Love" (moderate country hit from Back With A Heart) or "Pegasus" from the Gaia album, which is Olivia's most critically acclaimed work to date, despite not getting a US release until eight years after it's release.
This is the perfect Olivia hits collection, there is so much to offer on this package that I can't do anything besides recommending it. If you're not an Olivia fan before, you will be after listening to this.