Olivia Newton-John. Your favourite single Poll.

Now that you mention it, yes: it does sort of sound like he did. But I love "Livin' In Desperate Times"; never been a fan of the Bonnie Tyler song. But I do love dated 80s-sounding pop.

 

"Magic" is also just an incredible vocal performance. That massed wall of Olivia is just awe-inspiring. The title track from Xanadu is quite a bit cheesier - it is ELO after all - but she also delivers an over-the-top performance there, especially the conclusion which is almost unbelievable. I wish ELO had used her on more of their songs!

 

The LP mix of LIDT is wonderful. For some reason they remixed for the CD versions and spoiled it.

 

You could always listen to all those songs and then vote!?

At least God Only Knows wasn't included!

 

It's like she literally became Sandy. Pre-Grease: cute, demure "Hopelessly Devoted To You" Sandy. Post-Grease: leather-clad "You're The One That I Want" vixen Sandy.

 

Magic is the best she ever got really. The perfect mix of 'both' Olivias.

 

Do you know which mix the video clip uses? I just watched it on YouTube. Except for "Physical" (which is a bit dodgy) she had a few awesome videos in the 80s.

 

Magic for me too. Soul Kiss has 2 votes as I write. Someone loves it after all!

 

I voted already. It's the only song I'm familiar with. Take a lucky guess.

 

Without checking, I think the video uses the LP mix. The CD version has some clumsy edits.

 

Not a single, but Shakin' You has a beautiful video.

 

Yes, I really didn't know what I was doing with this poll. I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did, frankly!

 

Those are the two I was struggling with. I liked her more soulful side and those two songs are proof that she could go there. Neither is a anywhere near R&B, mind you, but her delivery has soul-isms in them. I went with "A Little More Love" because of the groove and the vocal arrangement.

Ed

P.S.: "Your favorite single" implied one so I went with only one.

 

It did make No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 4 in the UK. I'm not an expert on Olivia, but as her first project following Grease I'm sure it (and Totally Hot) must have had a lot of anticipation in 1978. Particularly as she looks so 'Sandy' on all the artwork.

 

well my favorite of hers by far is Have You Never Been Mellow. My new band even does our own version of that.

 

The Rumour and Landslide! Neither there so I went for my 3rd choice, Heart Attack.

 

I think the problem is the guy who designed the polling functionality in this software didn't know what he was doing (or didn't put much time or effort into it). I've wanted to setup a few polls myself, but after that first experience I decided it wasn't worth the hassle...

 

She just had too many singles to list! For the record, Landslide is my favourite song on Physical and has been since I bought the LP in October 1981.

 

My first poll. Sorry. I'll learn from my mistakes. Honest!

 

Voted for Xanadu, but could have gone for Physical.

 

Totally Hot was kind of rushed out at the end of 1978. Considering a lot of people were probably sick of her after all the Grease stuff, it did very well. A Little More Love was a big hit here, but the next 2 singles (Totally Hot and Deeper Than The Night) flopped.

 

Yeah, who gives a damn how the universe works, we've always got ONJ

 

That sort of surprises me a bit. I would have thought after Grease was such a smash people would have wanted more Olivia. Particularly as I would think a lot of Grease fans would have been more youthful than her existing pop/country fanbase? But then I looked at the dates, and Grease premiered in the (northern hemisphere) summer of 1978, and "A Little More Love" came out in December (barely 6 months later), so I suppose that was a bit too rushed. I'm sure the motivation was that MCA wanted fresh product for the Christmas holidays because Olivia was so (totally) hot, but perhaps it was just too much Olivia for a lot of people.

 

I forget about "Deeper Than The Night" - it was pretty big in the US.

Nothing really prepared people though for the massive string of hits that was to come - "Magic", "Xanadu" and "Physical" were all monsters, plus she charted with "Suddenly" as well, and followed "Physical" with a pair of Top 5 singles, "Make A Move On Me" and "Heart Attack". "Xanadu" didn't chart incredibly high in the US (in the UK it's ELO's only #1), but it was omnipresent on the radio - I actually recall hearing it a lot more than either "Make A Move On Me" or "Heart Attack".

 

Hopelessly Devoted To You.
What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic.

Also love Magic and Xanadu.