Olivia Newton-John. Yay or Nay?

MAGTB came at the height of my Olivia obsession. I’d loved Don’t Stop Believin’ and remember thinking it seemed to be taking ages for her to bring a new album out. In reality it was about 7 or 8 months. We were spoiled then.

MAGTB is one of the few 70s albums by Olivia that contains no hits. That said, it hangs together better than Clearly Love and isn’t as ‘heavy’ as Come On Over. Although the songs on the LP aren’t the strongest of her career, there’s a nice flow to MAGTB and her vocals and the production are sublime. I’d agree that side 2 is nigh on perfect.

It’s a style I wish she’d returned to later in her career. Getting a batch of outside songs together with strong production and her voice at the forefront. Olivia at some point became a ‘songwriter’ so we were denied this. I’m not saying that a return to the MAGTB style would have been more successful, but I’d have a few more Olivia albums on the shelf to enjoy playing.

 

I’ve seen Liv On in HMV. If they dropped the price a bit I might get it for completists sake. I’ve no real desire to play it though. It’s hard to find an ONJ album that’s less appealing, to be honest.. Although her intentions were good it’s hard to agree with her describing the album as ‘uplifting’ when it’s anything but.

 

I do think there will always be a market for some form of physical media. However, I think while some artists and bands will always have physical products. However with people like Olivia sadly all I think we'll get would be the occasional new comp in the future.

If she does another record, I would love to see her do something like this,at least for a portion of the album. Her voice is still fantastic and she still knows how to emotionally interpret lyrics well. She could easily do something like this. Get back together with Farrar or a Jeff Lynn or someone like that. Heck maybe even have Juliana Hattfield produce and write with. I'd wager it would do better than Liv On and perhaps even generate more funds for her Centre.

She's said in the past year that she's not completely retiring as she wants to continue to do things to benefit her centre. Recording new music that her fans would be enthusiastic about purchasing and rereleasing her back catalogue in some fashion would be great ways to do this without having to tour and promote etc.

 

I think you were right the first time... If she does record again it will personal and about what she’s gone through. Can’t blame her... I suppose singing love songs might seem a bit trite now!

Unfortunately, Olivia has rejected the process that made her famous in the 70s for years now. It’s her choice, of course, but she’s had enough hints over time to know what her fans would really like.

 

I don't begrudge her at all in doing what she wants when she wants and how she wants. She's earned that right. However things like the Hotel Sessions and glimmers of certain songs across her Portraits album Stronger than Before and the few non-healing albums she's done since the turn of the century shows that with the right material she could still be making good albums. I'm sorta hoping that if she's indeed quiting touring and performing that maybe she'll have a bit more time to record. With technology being what it is she doesn't have to book studio and leave home to record vocals. I'd love to see her do something like Hotel Sessions but a full length album.

Of course this all depends on Olivia's health. Aside recovering from her pelvic fracture she seems to be doing well and apparently is going to do some form of tour for her book in March. First and foremost I just want her to stay healthy as she can.

 

I will have no more slagging of "Come On Over"!!!!!! It always has a place in my top 3 Olivia albums. It's funny that you mentioned
"Clearly Love" in your post as I forgot that that album even existed!! I think that I find her strong albums (to me) so incredibly strong, that the ones that I didn't immediately connect with get tossed in the trash heap of my mind.

 

Come On Over is my least played 70s Olivia album. I can appreciate it’s beauty, the amazing production and her (possibly) career-best vocals, but when I think of the album the word ‘drag’ automatically springs to mind. It doesn’t help that the dreadful Pony Ride is front-loaded and kills the mood almost instantly. Pony Ride was one of those songs Olivia thought was ‘special’ and performed it for years. In my opinion she was wrong.

 

I'm with you on Come On Over. It's one of my very favorites, but it's so often overlooked. At least the Japanese appreciate it -- so much so that they issued the SACD version of!

 

And it sounds wonderful on SACD. One of my favorites. To each his own!

One thing I think we can all agree on - the covers for COO & MAGTB are the best. That smile on MAGTB just slays me every time.

As for new music...it's so hard for legacy artists who have such a recognizable period of popular songs - it's really challenging to do anything new. You get slammed for trying to recreate the past, or get crushed for trying something new. And us forever fans are always very judge-y (is that a word?).

At this point a wonderful box set with rarities, remasters, quality pressed colored vinyl, etc. and a great bio/photo book would be perfect for me.

 

"Come on over" is Olivia's "Horizon". Both her record and The Carpenter's record had impeccable production and both had career benchmark vocal performances from their respective singers , but an overall very mellow and "dragish" listening experience. The difference is "Horizon" is overall one of the Carpenters best. Come on Over is much like Clearly Love as being albums that got lost in the shuffle between more well known discs in Olivia's catalogue. In fact pre internet ( I didn't have reliable internet connection until 2001!) didn't know either record existed until I stumbled upon them at the used record store in the late 90s very early 2000's.

 

Yes, I’d agree with all that. Don’t Stop Believin’ was a far superior album, IMO.

 

I think the cover to MAGTB is probably my favorite of Olivia's 70s catalogue. Probably followed closely by Greatest Hits 1 and the aforementioned Come on Over. Really though, all of her 70s album covers and really even her 80s album covers were great because she was (and still is) incredibly beautiful and photogenic. The first blah cover was The Rumour. She was still gorgeous and there were other photos in that shoot that would have made a great cover but the photo chosen was poor

 

Best latter day cover? Indigo. I have the digipak version and I swear it looks better! I like the front cover picture. It’s an unusual shot of Olivia, I think.

Of course the UK version had a different cover that was nowhere near as effective.

I don’t think I’d pick fault with any of the 70s covers.. Mostly quite simple, but still great. I like the HYNBM front cover, but have always wondered why her eyes are that weird colour on it.

 

I thought the title track was a lovely statement of intent, as well as a throwback to the 'Back With A Heart' country sound, and it was nice to get a proper video clip again. Olivia looked completely comfortable in that video, and it shows off her and John's Californian ranch property too! 'Stone In My Pocket' was another one that felt quite instant to me, also in that late 90s country vein. It's a shame the album starts with the two midtempo songs because everything else is quite slow. As a listening experience I would have liked more light and shade on it, but it was clearly a labour of love and of healing for all involved so as ever it's hard to critique something done with such heart.

My other standout on the album was 'There's Still My Joy'. Olivia gives such a great vocal performance on that song, and to my ears it has the same sort of Christmas melancholy as Joni Mitchell's 'River'.




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Funny, I always wondered about the HYNBM cover...I always thought something was a little "off" about it, and couldn't figure out why...maybe it is the eyes!

Also high on my list for best cover picture (shameless reason to post another pic of lovely Livvy ) Just love the denim, simple, not glammed up look.

 

That's a favourite of mine too. I agree that all her 1970s (and 1980s, for that matter) album covers were excellent. 'If You Love Me, Let Me Know', 'Come On Over', 'Don't Stop Believin'', 'Making A Good Thing Better', 'Greatest Hits' and 'Physical' are at the top of the list for me.


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To my mind it looks like the original image was underexposed and they dodged the crap out of it to bring up the shadows. It was definitely cropped - I have seen the original - it may, may have been too revealing for the era. It appears to be from the same photo-shoot as the rear cover of "First Impressions".

have+you+shmcd.jpg (image)
Other issue - the hotspot on Olivia's forehead.
If I didn't know this was a professional photographer, I would say it was a poor amateur - almost as bad as the rear cover photo on "Long Live Love".

 

really olivia i dont have a wife two kids and two dogs really really i dont

 

Mmm, that could almost be Suzi Quatro after a daytime TV makeover...

 

It's always amazed me how much better the front cover picture on IYLMLMK looks than when it's featured on the back cover of Music Makes My Day/Let Me Be There!

 

This is a really touching video tribute that charts Olivia's career from the early days right through to today alongside the 'overture' Olivia used in her concerts, played here by the Sydney Symphony.




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That's a great tribute. I enjoyed seeing Olivia's peak beauty years, 1971-77.

 

I don't listen to it now but I stopped every time while it was a hit. Loved Have You Never Been Mellow etc. The only one I couldn't get into was physical. She's like Diana Ross she has a sound that is like pure sugar and pours it on with a skill or gift that many such singers can't pull off as well. Hope her current struggles are going well and that her future is blessed.

 

Just a heads up if any fans here are the ones that have bid this up to nearly $400 bucks - its definitely a bootleg despite what Discogs says. I have a few titles from this seller and most have cutting or speed errors in at least one spot and are sourced from the CD. Nice packaging but not worth $400.00.

 

I just saw that too. Wow. Thanks for the info and I'm glad I passed on this! Wonder what the final selling price will be...crazy. You wouldn't necessarily think there would be a big bootleg market for ONJ, but apparently there is.