Olivia Newton-John Single by Single Thread

I wonder if this was the only time she performed it live?

 

She does sound like she's about to throw herself off a bridge.

 

My favourite songs are the title track and "Slow Dancing". "Slow Dancing" is one of my all time favourite Olivia songs. It does have the amazing Jeff Porcaro on drums!

 

I think @Bobby Morrow and I have similar feelings about this album. I got this album pretty close to the time of its release, and I loved it. Of course, I only had a couple of Olivia albums at that point -- I didn't have Clearly Love or Come on Over at this point in 1977 (I had started with Have You Never Been Mellow and not bought another Olivia album until Don't Stop Believin').

In hindsight, I think Olivia was suffering from an identity crisis in 1977. She wasn't scoring huge hits like she had from 1973-1975, and she had been drifting away from a real "country" sound for a while. "Making a Good Thing Better" was definitely a more "pop" song, but the flip side, along with several songs on the album, were quite "country." Throw in some ballads, a couple of up-tempo songs, and one giant showtune, and you've got an album that is a bit all over the place. I'm not sure if she and John Farrar were going for the shotgun effect -- try a bit of everything and see what hits the target -- or if Olivia was just trying to diversify her sound a little, but it didn't really work.

"Making a Good Thing Better" was perhaps not the best choice from the album as the lead single. I'm not really sure what would have made a better single, though. Not much on this albums screams "single" to me, especially for 1977. Thankfully, Grease would soon change Olivia's trajectory.

Despite the lack of success for this album (and single), I really love it. It's quite possible that a lack of overexposure helped there. I'm not sure I ever heard any of the songs from this album on the radio. She certainly doesn't include songs from this album in the majority of her live shows. This album also took a bit longer than her other MCA albums to arrive on CD, so I didn't play it to death throughout the '80s the way I did with most of her other albums. (In fact, by the end of the '80s, I was becoming concerned that we'd never get this album on CD.)

 

I remember buying the Festival remaster of her Greatest Hits Vol 2 CD in 1998. As you'll be aware, it's a totally different tracklist to the US album of (almost) the same name. I was genuinely pleased to hear MAGTB on it. At that point it was only the second time I'd owned the song on CD! Even today it escapes the majority of Olivia's comps, so it's always nice when it does turn up on something.

 

I was delighted when it finally became available on CD - ordered it from J&R. This was pre-internet.

I still have the longbox (and the CD and the Festival remaster of course). The artwork is an oddity - the front cover is cropped, the back cover is cropped and appears as a thumbnail next to the track listing.

 

I like Olivia's vocals on this one, as others have said, sometimes the background vocals are too prominent in the mix. It's not a bad song. Olivia could of used a hit, but nothing here supported that.

Overall this is the album that could put me to sleep literally. Olivia's voice sounds beautiful throughout, but needed some great Farrar songs to provide more interest.

 

I think "Sad Songs" would have made the best single.

I happen to love the MAGTB album. I think Side 2 is wonderful, and has a much better flow than Side 1.

I'd have ditched "Ring of Fire" and possibly "Argentina" though from the tracklist.

 

I think "Sad Songs" would of made a better single, but at that time would of suffered the same fate as "Making," sadly. Pun intended.

 

I can see why the cover art was used again on a later compilation. Probably not too many folks had this album originally. It's just too MOR even for Olivia at this point. But SHE sounds wonderful.

 

Side 2 does have a much better flow and feel than side one, now that you mention it. That might be another problem with this album.

 

The only time they got the artwork absolutely right was the Japanese 2010 MLPS SHM CD. Though it's the UK single sleeve they reproduce rather than the US gatefold. Nice edition and you get 2 bonus tracks too!

 

Of all the MCA material, I never thought this would make it to CD. I was happy too, although I don't ever seem to play it. Just think, this is still available on CD and a relative "classic" like the If You Love Me, Let Me Know is not, or has not been in print in years. Go figure!

 

Come On Over is another that's remained in print. I think IYLMLMK trumps that. Especially to the US fans!

 

I think "Sad Songs" was issued as a single in Japan. They often seem to know which songs would make good singles -- "Jolene" also saw single release in Japan. "Sad Songs" is probably the best up-tempo song on the album. It's certainly catchy.

I also really love side 2 of Making a Good Thing Better. "If Love Is Real" is one of my very favorite Olivia songs (I really love Randy Edelman, and his take on "If Love Is Real" is also very nice). "Don't Ask a Friend" is one of Olivia's better self-penned songs, too. Side 2 of the album has a terrific flow to it.

 

The live version of "Nevertheless/As Time Goes By" is a fantastic one to have on CD. It was one of the highlights of Love Performance, and I was very excited to get it on CD with the SHM release. But why couldn't they have included both Andy Gibb duets? Such a wasted opportunity...

 

To be honest, I don't know why they included either Andy Gibb duet. They weren't from that period at all.

 

And what a waste of a gatefold. I mean not a single shot of Olivia.

So a little story about MAGTB. I was always hunting down promotional posters for Miss Olivia. It wasn't easy but I did scarf a lot of them. So, I was in a car with someone and they drove past this building and in the window was this GIANT poster of the MAGTB cover. My eyes bugged out. It ended up this was the local office of MCA in our city. So I literally walk in off the street and ask for the promotion guy. He comes out and introduces himself as Steve Knill. I immediately recognize his name and I say, "I think I know you. Didn't you play on Eric Carmen's first solo album?" I was right and he's thrilled to be recognized and I was happy to meet someone who actually performed on a album. He tells me a couple of great stories and then asks me why I came in. I asked him if I could get a copy of the poster in the window. He smiled and said sure and got me one. That was a fun visit. I was sad the day MCA closed that office.

 

Great story. It pays to ask!

 

I actually remember this poster of the LP cover being displayed at a Peaches Records and Tapes music store, it was huge like the ones they use to display out side the record stores although this store had it displayed on the inside and when I say huge it was huge. I don't think I had ever seen one since 77' until I saw one on ebay for sale. The ebay dealer who was selling it happen to be a record dealer and just so happened to be in my hometown. I couldn't believe it so I had to buy it. It's in pretty decent shape considering it's age. I've only unrolled it a couple times since I bought it many years ago.

Here is a pic I took further back and then a close up shot many years ago with a poor camera. The first one is a bit blurry (not the best camera then) I really need to unroll this again and see how it's been doing stored away.

 

By the sounds of it, this was MCA's only bit of promotion for MAGTB.

 

Pretty much. It sunk the budget!
They went crazy with Totally Hot. Tons of paper products for that one!

 

And it has no mention of the album name - which makes it generic.

 

Right, but I guess by 77' anyone walking into a record store and seeing THAT face would now who she was and that she must have a new record out. Those were the days when you felt connected more to the artists, now it's all computer based and you lose the personal touch.

As I remember the dealer who sold this to me listed it as a pick up only, probably the reason why I saw it and was able to purchase, when I picked it up the dealer said he had no way of shipping something this big. He said he had several inquires wanting it. I was in the right place at the right time. I wonder what it would sell for now. Too bad Pizza has it or he "might" trade me his TH stand up for it, I know and then I woke up!!

 

I'm sure it was a costly poster and they tried to kill two birds with one stone. As Song4U pointed out, there's no mistaking that picture and the album cover it goes with. At the same time, it's a nice big poster and by leaving the album name off a store could keep the poster up longer. I think it was a smart move.