Olivia Newton-John: Essential Stuff

Any ONJ studio albums worth owning? If not, any recommendations for a strong compilation? My favorite single is "Magic", to give you an idea of where my tastes lean.

 

I'm sure you'll get lots of input from resident Olivia experts, but it sounds like you want Greatest Hits Volume 2. Gold is a great collection but induces migraines from the sheer-your-head-off mastering.

 

I'm a big fan of a lot of her work, mostly her early work though. My favorite albums of hers include If Not For You, Have You Never Been Mellow, If You Love Me Let Me Know, and lots more. I agree with @Alan1074 that Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is a fantastic collection for the "later" years - it's my go-to for anything in that era. Also, if you like ELO, the Xanadu soundtrack is strong on both sides: highly recommended.

I'm sure @Bobby Morrow has an opinion about this too!

 

Hello!

I always consider Olivia had two halves to her 'popular' career. Between 1971-77, it was mostly ballads, country, folk and light pop. After her success in Grease, her music got rockier. Not Pat Benatar rocky, but a lot more upbeat than before. This era is from 1978-88. Even then, Olivia always had ballads on her albums.

I generally find most people have a preference out of the two eras. Some people are put off by the sugary ballads of her early career while others don't like the synthy rockers she attempted later.

Depending on how old you are, you may be familiar with both. I'd go along with @Alan1074 in saying that Gold is her best compilation, but you don't want to be turning it up loud. If you're a vinyl man, I'd imagine most of her LPs are easy to find and shouldn't be too expensive. Even if you don't like the music, the sleeves are great so you'll get something out of it. Perhaps it's best to check out her work on Spotify before spending too much money, though.

IMO the best studio albums are:

1971-77

If Not For You
Have You Never Been Mellow
Don't Stop Believin'

1978-88

Totally Hot
Xanadu Soundtrack
Physical
Soul Kiss (but only if you like the first three)

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

 

I love her sensual and romantic songs of the 70s. I have a compilation called "I Honestly Love You: Her Greatest Hits". It covers the period with 18 songs. Also, I have "Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" to get "Xanadu".

 

The 1978-1985 work Bobby Morrow listed is some of the best pop music ever released by anyone.

If you want a fantastic sounding comp I would recommend "Greatest Hits Vol. 2". 14 tracks. It has "Magic" on it too.

 

These are great suggestions! I think Gold may be the place to start, as to get exposed to both eras.

 

None of Olivia's studio albums are considered "essential"-but I would recommend the 21-track compilation
Magic-The Very Best. This disc contains every hit from her prime 1973-1983 hit making years & the mastering is excellent.The only "essential" Olivia disc you really need.

Back To Basics-The Essential Collection is a good set,also. Not as definitive as Magic-The Very Best,but it does include four good 1992 studio tracks exclusive to this collection.

 

I picked up the first US MCA CD of Soul Kiss a few weeks ago. Sounds great, though it's a shame it doesn't have Electric...

 

Yes. Electric is such a good song! But I say that about every track on Soul Kiss . I've said it before, but this is the CD Itreasure!

 

Soul Kiss is essential IMO. Try getting the West German Atomic since it has Electric. The SHM also has Electric, but it's a little hard to find to find affordable copies these days.

 

All those SHM CDs are going for big bucks now. Especially the first run that were in MLPS. The later ones in jewel cases are less valuable.

What's the West German Atomic? I do have a WG but that's a Mercury disc.

 

Do you have the If You Love Me, Let Me Know CD? That's a hard one to get hold of if you have...

 

Nah, just the vinyl unfortunately. I've never seen a pre-The Rumour era ONJ CD in the wild actually!

 

Well, the MCA Rumour is a great sounding CD.

I was lucky enough to get the MCA discs when they'd not long been out. If you see any cheap, and occasionally there are some, I'd highly recommend you pick them up. Those and the early Japanese CDs are the best ONJ discs around.

 

I'll be looking for 'em!

 

There was a guy selling some on eBay last year. He was in the US and was only charging a few dollars for the MCA CDs of Have You Never Been Mellow, Don't Stop Believin', MAGTB and Physical. He even had Clearly Love, which is so rare even I didn't manage to get it in the 80s! Luckily I snapped it up this time.

 

The Atomic CD is the regular one on Mercury. This is what they usually look like:

 

Yes, mine's like that. With the lyric book and extra pictures? Really nice edition. Never heard them called Atomic before.

If only CD's sounded like this now!

 

If you spin vinyl, get a copy of Totally Hot off of eBay from Mobile Fidelity. In my opinion it is her best album, no filler, and it is an audiophile recording made even better by MFSL. A Little More Love sounds spectacular. And they are not real expensive. Her producer, John Farrar, was in top form for that album, though her Physical album has some very strong tracks as well. Side one of Soul Kiss is also a great listen. I think for anything prior to Totally Hot, a compilation is all you need, though as Bobby mentioned Have You Never Been Mellow is a good album from her early years. Her albums imo were very spotty until Totally Hot.

By the way, Bobby has a very long and excellent thread which will tell you everything you may or may not want to know about ONJ!

 

Yes, Gold is an excellent starting point. With Olivia, if you like a particular song, you will probably like most of the songs from the album it came from. If you like "Have You Never Been Mellow," you'll probably like most of the songs on that album. If you like "Physical," you'll probably like most of the songs on that album. And so on. Hearing music from all different parts of her career on Gold will help you decide if there are any particular studio albums you want to track down.

 

If you are getting started I guess "Gold" is a good representation of Olivia's music. The video collection also called "Gold" is great too!

I think Olivia Newton-John "48 Original tracks 1971-1975" is an very comprehensive collection of her early days.
Olivia: "The Singles-Australian Tour Souvenir" is a good overall collection also. It covers from 1971 to 1988, her biggest hit years and features four new recordings from 1992.

 

In my humble opinion you need to own everything up to 1988, the 4 new tracks from "Back to Basics" (1992) then choose selectively after that. It gets interesting, and frustrating at times later on.

 

And still we get no love for "Come On Over"! I listen to this more than any of the others. I'm with John Adam-about all of them being great except I think "Making A Good Thing Better" is garbage and "Soul Kiss" is even worse-though it does have its defenders. Anything after "Physical" (except for the tracks from "Two of A Kind") is really at your own risk although I do love a lot of "Gaia".

 

Gold is a great collection covering a lot of ground , it's one i keep in the car often , it will certainly give you an idea what eras you like ..

My favorite Olivia Album is Totally Hot