ME TOO!!!! Since Richard Marx was involved, and confirmed it's existence, I would hope he would be willing to help get it out there as he was such a fan (and professed his love to her once, LOL)
72?! I didn’t think she’d done that many. This is turning into the most anticipated ‘new’ ONJ release in years!
From the names teased, it sounds like the Dolly Parton duet could be one of the major tracks. At this point, I don’t believe it’s been said if the recording was a recent collaboration or something from the past.
There will definitely be some surprises on there. Olivia has so many ‘orphaned’ duets that never saw a release on one of her albums (even just since 2017, we have recordings with Cliff, Delta and Barry) so with these in the mix too it could end up feeling quite ‘new’. I imagine ‘Window In The Wall’ with Chloe, ‘Put Your Head On My Shoulder’ with Paul Anka and the ‘Valentine’ remix with Jim Brickman will all make the cut. While he is here, @xanadude is due a massive thank you from us all for gifting the 4 acetate recordings to the ‘If Not For You’ deluxe! They have made the release a proper treasure trove. Thanks for your generosity! x
JALTM has never really done it for me (though i'll still give it the occasional listen)... But i kinda dig what 'DayBeat' did to it in 2020... gives it a funky vibe... Here's a link:
100% agree thank you so much xanadude for gifting those songs for the fans. Round and Round has become my new favorite from this set and because it’s a John Farrar song makes it even more special for me. I love her light and airy vocals remind me so much of Richard’s Window which is another one of my favorites. Do you know why the CD booklet doesn’t have the lyrics to Round and Round and Game of Love. The lyrics seems to jump from Would You Follow Me to the German song...just curious. Thank you so much for providing these acetates and a big shout out to DjPaulT for restoring these 50 yr old acetates, great job!!
Olivia was really huge in the US...I can remember each of her debut songs on the radio...I was a fan... still am.
Here are the ones I could think of that have never appeared on an Olivia or Olivia adjacent album, or that only appeared on a singular regional release. I may have missed a couple! If I Was Close To You (with Cliff Richard) (1972) Walk On By/The Look Of Love (with Cliff Richard and Pat Carroll) (live) (1972) Just Us Two (with Rona Hall) (1975) Fly Away (with John Denver) (1975) Rest Your Love On Me (with Andy Gibb) (live) 1979 I Can't Help It (with Andy Gibb) (1980) Rest Your Love On Me (with Andy Gibb) (1980) What About Me? (with Kenny Rogers and James Ingram) (1984) The Best Of Me (with David Foster) (1986) Falling (with Raybon Bros) (1997) Dare To Dream (with John Farnham) (2000) Flying Dreams (with Kenny Loggins) (2000) Valentine (with Jim Brickman) (live) (2000) Change Of Heart (with Jim Brickman) (live) (2000) True To Yourself (with Vanessa Amorosi) (2002) Let It Be Me (with Cliff Richard) (2004) This Can't Be Real (with Barry Manilow) (2004) Wishin' and Hopin' (with Dionne Warwick) (2006) Cotton Jenny (with Anne Murray) (2007) A Mother's Christmas Wish (with Amy Sky) (2008) Everytime It Snows (with Mark Masri) (2008) O Come All Ye Faithful (with Elvis Presley) (2008) Amoureuse (with Elaine Paige) (2010) Canadian Summer Dream (with Liona Boyd) (2013) Never, Never, Never (with Engelbert Humperdinck) (2014) Fulfilled (with Steve Real) (2016) Getting Better All The Time (with Marie Osmond) (2016) How Can You Mend A Broken Heart (with Kelly Lang) (2016) You Have To Believe (with Chloe Lattanzi) (2016) Everybody's Someone (with Cliff Richard) (2017) Let Me Be There (with Delta Goodrem) (2018) Love Is A Gift (with Delta Goodrem) (2018) Merry Christmas To You (with Delta Goodrem) (2020) Do I Love You (with Paul Anka) (2020) Put Your Head On My Shoulder (with Paul Anka) (2021) Rest Your Love On Me (with Barry Gibb) (2021) Window In The Wall (with Chloe Lattanzi) (2021) Lots of pre-records and a couple of studio ones with Pat Carroll from the 60s too! I'd love some of them to make the duets album, such a significant part of her performing history that isn't represented in her discography yet. x
I actually really like what they've done with the dynamics here. The contrast between the verses and the thundering choruses towards the end used to feel really big and to my ears the verses always seemed notably softer than the rest of the 'Have You Never Been Mellow'. This smoothes it out in a way that I enjoy. (I'm with @Bobby Morrow though on the wave sounds at the start of the deluxe remastered version of 'The Promise' - they sound too loud now!) This incarnation of 'Greatest Hits' was such a significant album for me growing up. Compared to the US and UK tracklistings, I loved having extra cuts on the Aussie version like this one and 'Love Song', 'Jolene', 'Every Face Tells A Story' and 'Making A Good Thing Better'. I'm glad the deluxe version is combining both regions into one as it makes for a great overview of her folk/country/easy listening period. (If I'm being super picky it would have been nice to add 'What Is Life' seeing as this was on the UK release of the '82 hits compilation, and the Amazon listing would suggest 'Every Face Tells A Story' is the only song out of place chronologically... but they're minor quibbles). x
Weren’t some of the INFY Deluxe tracks listed as 1971 releases too, which pushed that release way down Olivia’s Spotify list?
It has crossed my mind - given that it looked as though the promo push was beginning - that she may already have recorded some audio visual promo material for it. That would be bittersweet, if so.
That actually works quite well, doesn’t it? And even without the remix, that video is a joy! This makes me wonder: will Primary Wave ever commission an album of official ONJ remixes? She re-recorded her vocals for at least two of her major hits (Magic and Physical) around 2009 and they turned into remix releases (Tracy Young remixed both, Peachy & Murphy remixed Magic, Glee of course redid Physical). I wonder if she re-recorded any more songs? Here’s her re-recorded vocal for Magic, which came in handy for lip-synching purposes at a VERY breezy outdoor event!
I’d have liked What If Life too. If only because it very rarely turns up on comps. Then again, it didn’t appear on the U.K. LP of GH, so I suppose there’s no reason they’d include it on the new one.
Same here! If the ey find that, and put it 34 times on a 2CD set, I’d be happy! (Well, sort of.) I posted this earlier, but since we’re on the topic, I also hope they found Olivia’s duet with Steve Lukather on this 1984 track. It’s from Naoko Kawai’s album 9 1/2, which had significant involvement from David Foster. I’ve only heard a snippet of it, played in the background of a radio interview with Kawai, but as far as I can make out, Olivia laid down a ‘guide vocal’ for the Japanese singer - possibly when she was in the studi during the early Soul Kiss sessions. As you might expect, it sounded lovely - and it gives a tantalising glimpse of what a Foster-helmed 1984 ONJ album might have sounded like. I’ll try to dig out the clip.
I really hope Falling is on the new comp. I’ve always loved that song. Vinny did say ages ago that the duets with Paul Anka and Chloe (WITW) were definitely on the duets album. I’d imagine the Barry Gibb one might be too.
It’s really great that we have all these reissues to look forward to. It’s almost like reliving her career again.
I may have emitted a little squeak of delight when she dropped this into her set list on the 2013 U.K. tour…
I love how she made an effort to incorporate her early UK hits into those shows. I’m guessing this is the first time she’d sung What Is Life since the early 70s.
I was always so impressed when she did that on her international tours. She took the time to sing songs that were hits in that market. I remember her Japan shows including “Come On Over” and “Country Roads,” and her debuting “Soul Kiss” in Chile, where it had been one of her bigger hits.
I do hope they did shoot some video with Olivia talking about the album and that does see the light of day. The last few years Olivia seemed to do "batches" of videos/interviews/video messages/shout outs periodically that would be put out at appropriate times . She even did it for the PHYSICAL release last year. If the Duets project was indeed that close to being released then its logical to assume she shot something for it, perhaps around the time of her promotion of Window in The Wall with Chloe.
