Olivia Newton-John - Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.86 You Save: $4.12 (29%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.77 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John
Free Music Review: very good album
Hit: 5 Stars
(4.5 stars)
Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John is a great single CD compilation of Olivia Newton-John's greatest hits. Sure, not everything is here; but this is a strong single CD retrospective anyway. Olivia Newton-John always made sure to sing her songs with passion and genuine feeling; you can tell it's true by listening to her sing. She gives these songs her all while you hear her sing! The quality of the sound is excellent and the artwork is very well done.
"Let Me Be There" starts the CD with a wonderful, positive tune that Olivia Newton-John sings with so much energy and enthusiasm. Olivia never sounded better; and the music that plays along with her vocals rounds out this number very nicely. "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" certainly got lots of airplay when it was originally released; this track features Olivia squarely in the spotlight although the backup vocals are good, too. Make no mistake about it, however: Olivia Newton-John didn't really need backup but it all sounds so good anyway. "I Honestly Love You" charms me with all of its natural beauty; Olivia delivers this with the grace of a swan and I doubt too many other songbirds could do a better job of this. Great! "Have You Never Been Mellow" is extremely easy on the ear; I always liked this tune and Olivia's voice is as clear as a bell, too. "Please Mr. Please" uses the keyboard wonderfully and this is one of my very favorite songs from the 1970s--Olivia Newton-John was truly all THAT good.
"Don't Stop Believin'" is very nicely done; Olivia opens her voice up somewhat and we can really hear her full vocal range. "Don't Stop Believin'" is another highlight of this album. "Sam" is also very pretty; and "You're The One That I Want" comes from Grease which Olivia Newton-John made with John Travolta. Olivia and John complement each other very well on this rather upbeat tune and that's grand.
"Hopelessly Devoted To You" stuns me with its beauty and there's a certain innocence to the lyrics that many people can identify with when they are young and in love; this too comes from Grease. Another number from Grease is the duet between Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta entitled "Summer Nights." This is a very lush and energetic ballad; the backup vocals are very well done and the music is excellent. I love it!
"Magic" was a huge hit for Olivia Newton-John; and just one listen will show you why. "Magic" uses both major and minor keys for a hauntingly beautiful effect; it's quite a strong number. "Xanadu" is equally strong and Olivia really shows a fine capacity to sing a different type of song than the first ones she recorded. "Physical" also got a lot of airplay when it was first released; this got people up and dancing on the dance floors in clubs all over! "Make A Move On Me" has a great beat for dancing, too; and there's yet another gem in the fast tempo "Heart Attack." "Twist Of Fate" is another very energetic number and the CD ends nicely with Olivia Newton-John performing "The Grease Megamix" with John Travolta and backup vocalists.
This is a strong collection of Olivia's best work; but I agree that they could have excluded "The Grease Megamix" and replaced it with another tune or two. Don't let that scare you away, however--this is good stuff! I recommend this for Olivia's fans; and people just discovering the fine artistry of Olivia Newton-John would do well to get this album.
Free Music Review: Definitive American 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 important USA hits. None of the lesser hits that have been omitted are essential from an American perspective. In 2004, a UK compilation (Definitive collection) was released containing fifteen of the twenty-one tracks that can be found here, the differences reflecting the different markets at which they are targeted. Brits (including expatriates) who remember Olivia's early hits, may prefer that collection, as I'll explain.
Olivia established her position in the UK pop charts a few years before breaking through in America. This compilation omits those early hits (If not for you, Banks of the Ohio, What is life. Take me home country roads, Long live love). None of the omitted songs charted high for Olivia in America and are therefore omitted here but they are all on the UK compilation.
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, most of which didn't chart in Britain (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), all of which are here but only two (I honestly love you, Sam) are on the UK compilation.
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 and is omitted, but it made the UK top ten and can be found on the UK compilation. Further hits include Make a move on me, Heart attack and Twist of fate. Finally (on this compilation) is Olivia's last major international hit, The Grease megamix.
This is the strongest collection of Olivia's American hits yet released. It would require a double CD to provide a truly definitive Olivia compilation with all her British and American hits. Until and unless such a compilation is released, we now have a choice. If you want all of Olivia's important American hits, buy this. If you want her British hits (and I know that there are plenty of expatriate Brits living in America who may wish to), buy Definitive collection.
Free Music Review: 5 # ONES; 15 TOP TENS
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a nice package of "most" of Olivia's hits. Quite an empressive list it is. She's had 5# one hits during her career; actually they all fell within a ten year period which this collection focuses on. Her 1st #1 was 1974's "I HONESTLY LOVE YOU"; then 1975's "HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW"; next 1978's "YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT" with John Travolta; 1980 brought "MAGIC" which spent 4 weeks at #1; & then the mega-hit "PHYSICAL" came in late 1981 powering it's way to the top & staying there well into early 1982,spending 10 weeks at #1 and not only becoming the biggest song of the year, but also the biggest hit of the decade of the 1980's. The top tens are too numerous to mention here. Still there are more top 40 hits not include here; "IF NOT FOR YOU","SOMETHING BETTER TO DO" #13 IN 1975 & "LET IT SHINE",1976 both from the "Clearly Love" album; "I CAN'T HELP IT" her duet with Andy Gibb in 1980 which has never been on any Olivia album as of yet(a beautiful song) and which made it to #12 on the charts; "TIED UP" & "LIVIN IN DESPERATE TIMES" are also missing."SOUL KISS" too,#20 in 85. Some of her best stuff was yet to come, but into the late 80's and 90's her work was overlooked inspite of it's excellence. Check out 1988's "THE RUMOUR" album(she co-wrote 4 songs); 1994's "GAIA"(she wrote all the songs & co-produced)an excellent album that was never released in the U.S.(oddly)but you can get as an import. One of the most beautiful songs she's ever recorded is from the 1977 album "MAKING A GOOD THING BETTER", the beautiful ballad "IF LOVE IS REAL"; I wish that she would re-record this song. Maybe her up-coming boxed-set will give us a really complete package of her overall career. The album cover is great here on this collection too, which is taken from the inside cover of her 1st "GREATEST HITS" in 1977; that cover too was a beautiful close-up of Olivia but is no longer in print. Actually, it has never been released on CD.Good liner notes too make this one a nice package.Free Music Review: BOX SET LONG OVERDUE!
Hit: 5 Stars
Olivia Newton John first hit the U.S.A. radio waves and charts in 1971 with her sweet and intriguing "IF NOT FOR YOU". She came back a at the end of 1973 with two award winning worldwide smash hit singles, "LET ME BE THERE" & "IF YOU LOVE ME, LET ME KNOW"(early 1974)which shook up the traditional Country & Western Music Establishment in Nashville and simultaneously scored major selling pop-rock singles. These recordings firmly established her as a phenomenal worldwide multimedia best selling artist who went on to sell zillions of records well into the mid-1980s with her multitude of mega-selling hit singles and string of multi-platinum albums. Let's not forget that she is also the "main event" in the biggest selling movie musical soundtrack in recording/film history, "GREASE", and its spawned half dozen radio/chart megahits! WOW! A box set in her honor has been over a decade long overdue! It would be quite nice to have a REMASTERED box set which includes such treasured Newton-John gems such as "MARY SKEFFINGTON"(authored by Gerry Rafferty); "RIVER'S TOO WIDE"; "FOLLOW ME"; "DANCIN' ROUND & ROUND"; "HOME AIN'T HOME ANYMORE"; "FREE THE PEOPLE"; "YOU AIN'T GOT THE RIGHT"; "GOD ONLY KNOWS"; her stellar self written "CHANGES"; "SOMETHING BETTER TO DO"; "LET IT SHINE"; "EVERY FACE TELLS A STORY"; "GIMME SOME LOVIN'"; & "I NEED LOVE" - to name a few of her charting hit singles and essential recordings from her various studio albums, long "out-of-print" in the United States. MCA Records should wake up(!) and honor her with either a "Box Set" or a remastering/reissue of her entire catalogue - after all, she did earn them a few zillion dollars during her reign and beyond!Free Music Review: The very best from the very best
Hit: 5 Stars
Ahhh...this takes me back. Back to junior high school when I had a "musical crush" on Olivia Newton-John...that sweet voice...that angelic face...and those gentle, achingly beautiful songs. And I'm comfortable enough in my masculinity to admit I even liked the songs from "Grease" (3 of which are included on this collection, plus a "megamix" I could have lived without but then I'm not much of a dancer and don't frequent the local skating rink). Now that I've matured (somewhat) I've even managed to forgive her "trampy" period and find myself tapping my foot to songs like "Physical."
But it's the seductive purity of songs like "Please Mr. Please" and "Have You Never Been Mellow," the unpretentious country beat of "Let Me Be There" and "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" and the remarkably well-crafted positive pop of nearly-forgotten gems "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Sam" that reminded me of why Olivia Newton-John had me under her spell from the beginning.
"Xanadu," her unlikely but musically successful collaboration with ELO for the film of the same name, is a reminder that the disco era had its redeeming moments, when the right people were involved. Also representing that period (though not the dance) are "Suddenly" and "Magic."
This was the perfect collection of Olivia Newton-John songs for me; as "devoted" a fan as I am (again), any more songs would have been too much, with a minor exception or two. This one has all the essentials for someone who wants to remember those favorite moments with an old flame. (Olivia...call me. It's not too late).