Olivia Newton John's early LPs

[Media Lover]

I've always loved Olivia Newton John's material.But there is something interesting I've noticed about her first couple of albums from the early to mid 1970s.There is something different about the sound and style of those albums,as opposed to her later work on the Grease soundtrack and onwards.The Grease soundtrack and her material that followed has a more modern rock sound.Her earlier seventies stuff,such as Have You Never Been Mellow?,Let Me Be There and Don't Stop Believing,have a more mellow sound.Somehow they're very different from her later music.Correct me if I'm wrong here,but I think I might know why.Her early seventies albums were made in England.Her later albums,including Grease of course,were American.

[jamesanthony]

She worked with a guy named John Farrar as her producer for most of the 70s and she was an easy listening music queen with like 10 singles topping the middle of the road charts during that period. Grease allowed her to undergo a makeover of sorts. I remember when Physical was a big hit; though it is a tame song by today's standards it was considered to be a racy tune in 1981-82 in comparison to her more demure image from before that. BTW she has a new album out, I saw it in the imports section at Virgin maegastore, so it must be a foreign release. She must be in her 50s by now but she still has that breathy little girl singing style.

[Dragonflies]

Yeah what jamesanthony said plus her early music was basically considered country music, and her later work was considered pop/adult contemporary :)

[musicradio77]

I like the song "Have You Ever Been Mellow" and "I Honestly Love You". Both are Olivia-Newton John's earlier hits. She first went country short-lived until she goes pop.

[jamesanthony]

Yeah what jamesanthony said plus her early music was basically considered country music, and her later work was considered pop/adult contemporary :)

One of her songs Let Me Be There won awards in the country category at the grammies and the country music awards (I forget if it was the country music academy or association). The country music association was so pissed off that an Australian won that a bunch of members withdrew and formed another association which rivals the other country music awards group to this day. Actually Let Me Be There is more country sounding than some other songs that have gotten a lot of play on country radio over the years.

[Dean Winchester]

I like a lot of Livvy's early music, but as an "album artist", she didn't really find her footing until the Totally Hot album from 1978. From Grease/Totally Hot through The Rumour in 1988, I don't think Olivia could do wrong.

She has a new album out overseas entitled Indigo for those interested.