Olivia Newton-John. Yay or Nay?

I'm glad you posted these. Even if they "suck" and don't fit our ideal Olivia Newton-John song styling, it's part of her legacy. She has definitely been involved in some projects and recording that I personally don't care for, but it's Olivia!
I can't discount her for trying, even if it fails. Think about 1981 and Physical, and the success she had by taking a risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

Her vocals are great on both, although I'd prefer them on more traditional arrangements of both of those songs, especially the Meatloaf song.

In fact as an aside, I would have loved to have seen Jim Steinman write some material for or produce some stuff for Livvie back in the 80's. It would have been interesting for sure.

 

Yup. Vocals fine. It's the arrangements I don't like. "Suck" was a harsh word........

Jim Steinman and Olivia? It probably would have worked for a song, but everything Jim Steinman produces and writes is very distinct. Even though he worked with many artists including Streisand, Manilow, Air Supply, even Céline Dion. To me they sound too similar. Olivia deserves different. David Foster started harnessing some of that. Still can't beat the team that started it all, Farrar/Newton-John!

 

He knows you, Bobby!!

 

Speaking of the Few Best Men soundtrack and referencing Indigo: Any songs you wished Olivia did covered? Try to pick just one.

For me, it's the Beatles Blackbird. I just feel that song would have been a perfect fit for Olivia's dreamy vocal style.

 

I'd always liked to have heard her do Samantha Sang's Emotion or Mary McGregor's Torn Between Two Lovers..

Having said that, the originals are so close to her style anyway there's probably no point.

 

She's done a few Beatles cover songs, why not this one? Something I will have to think about.

 

I hope she stays far away from "Torn Between Two Lovers". After admitting I like Cliff´s dark years, I am hardly in a position to judge, but I don´t like that song at all. Too sweet, too corny. I read somewhere that even Mary McGregor can´t stand it.

 

Long as it's not "You Light Up my Life." lol
I couldn't bear to hear that. Some songs are better left nor remade. It made enough of an impact the first time!

 

"You Light Up My Life" was not a big hit in Norway. I´m not saying we have better taste - we were just lucky, I guess. I have heard the song once or twice in my life, and I can´t even remember the melody! (But, me being me, I do remember the B-side on one of the issues of that single was a song called "Hasta Manana"... What? I managed to slip in an ABBA song? Of course I did. )

 

That aforementioned song and Olivia's "Physical" are two the longest running #1 songs in the US. Go figure!

 

The British ones aren´t much better - Bryan Adams´ "Everything I Do(I Do It For You) and Wet Wet Wet´s "Love Is All Around". I don´t hate them, but they´re not on any of my playlists.

 

You Light Up My Life flopped here too. Must have been a US thing.

 

Olivia to me is in the same category as the Bee Gees and Abba.

At the peak of her success I took a ridiculous approach and derided her for not being a "proper" rock act. As the years pass I enjoy her music and appreciate her talent increasingly.

It is a pity that there were so many people with my attitude in England, the Americans better understood her ability and charm.

 

They did but in some ways it probably prevented her from being taken as seriously as her other talents deserved.

 

No there was a great taiwanese pop singer from the late 70's early 80's who had very similar vocal style and did tons of ONJ, Carpenters, ABBA etc covers on every album. Somebody posted her videos here a few months back but I can't find 'em. She did ONJ on every album, sometimes a few covers on each.

 

Touché Duggan!

 

Is it Akiki Kobayashi?

 

An off-the-cuff assessment suggests to me that Jim Steinman and Olivia Newton-John would have been an inoperable match. Steinman's two great female successes that I'm familiar with are Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion. One is a raspy-voiced power ballad singer and the other is a textbook example of raw 1990s vocal horsepower. Neither of those phrases can reasonably be applied to Olivia Newton-John.

To borrow from the recent Bond line of discussion, I can totally buy her performing "For Your Eyes Only", delivered in her precise and measured style. On the other hand, I can't imagine her delivering a song in the style of Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", much less Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" or Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". I agree that there is a distinct stylistic similarity to several of Steinman's hits, including his work with Meat Loaf.

It is my opinion that she's on uncertain ground when raw vocal horsepower is called for, and I think that's exactly what Steinman would have called for---more power, less ballad. That being said, I'd still be interested in what might have resulted from a collaboration.

I agree. You might say they were magic.

 

Olivia is not a belter vocally and a Steinman production was always dramatic. For Your Eyes Only? I was trying to hear Olivia sing this. I can't. Then she'd be a Bond girl, so-to-speak! lol

Olivia kept the ballad "Waiting For A Girl Like You" from hitting #1 with her hit "Physical." How about Olivia trying to cover that song, in her style, titled "Waiting For A Boy Like You," no less produced by Farrar.
Wouldn't that be ironic? P.S. IJK

 

That seems to be the case. It's interesting how many big US singers and hits are virtually unknown here, and vice versa. (I'm not saying that is the case for this particular song, as I have read about it many times. I have heard it a couple of times, but I can't seem to remember it. Nor do I remember feeling interested enough to find it on YouTube. If I remember my impression correctly, it was an utterly boring piece of balladry, to my ears, at least. I feel no need to re-acquaint myself with it.

But even that non-event is probably better than "Flying Machine"... He, he.

 

I agree with you that a cover of Foreigner would probably do Olivia no favours. (Cliff's record company wanted to put out a selection of love songs, but Cliff didn't like the idea. He only accepted the release if he were allowed to record five new songs - well, actually, covers - for the project. Commendable, to be sure, but noen of the covers were all that good. "Waiting for a Girl Like You" was an anodyne recording. His heart was in the right place, but there's no heart in the song.)

But Olivia doing "For Your Eyes Only"? Maybe. I do like Sheena Easton's version of it, and even though Olivia would probably have to sing it in a lower Pitch, but I think she could have made it work. Having said that - get some good new songs from John Farrar, Alan Tarney or Terry Britten. Then you're set.

I doubt that we'll get another pop album out of her, though, and that's O.K.

 

I agree. A new pop album would feel awkward for her at this point in her life. I would love for her to go back to her beginning days of doing folksy type stuff again. Sort of like the material on her If Not for You album. Bring it full circle in her solo albums. I feel that material and style would fit her even better today than back then. But it has to include a cover of the Beatles "Blackbird"!

 

That's what I'd like for her too. Material like she was recording between 1971-76.

 

Hopefully her voice could still suite the material. That would be a dream come true.