20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection [Original recording remastered]

Olivia Newton-John | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B00005Y1ZI
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,131 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The 20th Century Masters series is the best-selling single-artist line in music history and is being re-released by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in its ground-breaking, environmentally-friendly packaging format. A first for the music industry, the standard package (both sleeve and tray) will be completely paper-recyclable, continuing the company's long-standing commitment to being "green."

To further reduce the amount of paper in the Eco-Pack, the CD booklet will no longer be offered. Official liner notes are easily accessible on the Internet at http://www.ilovethatsong.com/green.

UMe is the first North American music company to replace the traditional jewel case with recycled paperboard sleeves and the plastic tray with trays made from PaperFoam®, a new packaging technology from Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, that is paper-recyclable and biodegradable. Shorewood Packaging is the first North American packaging supplier to produce disc trays from PaperFoam®. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars fine hits giving me chills--but there's just not enough of them here, March 13, 2008

By 

Matthew G. Sherwin (last seen screaming at Amazon customer service) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: 20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection gives us great artistry by Olivia Newton-John; but sadly it's still not substantial enough of an album to truly call this a "best of" compilation. However, what we do get here is absolutely wonderful; and the sound quality is very good as it usually is in this series. The artwork is about par for this series.

The track set starts of with Olivia performing "Let Me Be There;" this country/soft rock ballad really sounds great when Olivia sings it out and the musical arrangement works wonders for this ballad. Olivia's excellent diction makes her performance sound all the best and "Let Me Be There" is a great start for this CD "I Honestly Love You" is about as tender a love ballad as you're ever gonna hear; and Olivia sings this with such sensitivity that it stuns me with its beauty. There's also a fine recording of Olivia doing her best on "Have You Never Been Mellow." :Have You Never Been Mellow" brings back so many fond memories for me because I listened to this so many times on the radio back in the day. The music sounds great and it goes very well along with the lyrics to this song.

"Hopelessly Devoted To You" comes from the movie Grease, I believe; and Olivia delivers this like the pro she always was whenever she performed! The musical effects are wonderful and this makes "Hopelessly Devoted To You" a great pop/soft rock love tune.

"Magic" has a more modern, eclectic feel to it; and this works well when Olivia sings it passionately. The guitars on "Magic" help the songs along and the use of minor keys really makes this number glisten! In addition, Olivia does a duet with Cliff Richard on "Suddenly;" this tune from the `70s sounds good even today and I remember dancing to this at many a school dance when I was younger. Olivia and Cliff complement each other very well and that makes "Suddenly" sound really good.

"Heart Attack" sounds like the late `70s or maybe even early `80s if I remember correctly; the beat is much more aggressive than the beat on the previous tracks and Olivia changes keys very smoothly to make "Heart Attack" sound strong and yet very natural--all the more appealing to the listener.

"Twist Of Fate" ends the album with a distinctly late `70s/eaarly'80s feel to it; but still Olivia sings this strong and "Twist Of Fate" is a good ending for the album.

Sure, this is good stuff. But where are the other songs from Grease that she sang with John Travolta? Where's all her other tunes? What a disappointment--this is NOT a "best of" compilation--not by a long shot. Nevertheless, because what we do get is first class, I will compromise and give this album three stars. This is probably best suited for the casual fan who wants just a sampling of Olivia's greatest hits; the diehard fan will want to seek out box sets and other CDs by Olivia Newton-John that are much more substantial.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Please Hip-O Please...Gimme a Break!, February 5, 2002

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

Knock Knock!
(Who's There?)
Ivan
(Ivan who?)
Ivan to know vat you vere tinking ven you decided to buy dis CD, dummkopf!

Olivia Newton-John was the most commercially successful singer of the Seventies. With her goody-two-shoes image, perky personality and cute-as-a-button good looks, Newton-John by 1982 had scored 11 million-sellers and 14 Top 10 hits--five went all the way to No. 1. If you're content with a sampling of her biggest hits, this latest entry in the 20th Century Masters debacle will satisfy your needs. [Not only that, if you like a certain military style neatness to your collection, this will fit in nicely with all of the other titles in the series.] The biggest ommisions from this collection are her two duets with John Travolta from the musical Grease: "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights." And it wasn't a matter of negotiating with RSO for song rights because Hip-O has included "Hopelessly Devoted to You," which also came from the Grease soundtrack.

If you would prefer a more thorough collection of the artist's hits, UTV Records released Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John last year. It's a single-disc anthology which contains 21 tracks and nearly every Top 40 hit of her career. [Both collections omit her first chart single, "If Not For You."] Hip-O did a nice job with Newton-John's holiday album last year, but the consumer comes up on the short end of the stick with this skimpy hits collection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The bare essentials, October 12, 2002

By 

Chris "Glitterama" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

Yes, granted, there are better, more complete compilations out there. In fact, there's an absolute multitude, so you can pick and choose to your heart's content to find the Olivia "era" which suits you best. However for those of you who for some bizarre reason are lacking in the Olivia department, this new 20th Century Masters release "The Best Of Olivia Newton-John" should be considered your training ground.

Included on this nice little package are twelve of Olivia's biggest US Top Twenty hits. Of course the most obvious omissions are "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", the two uber-hits from the mega musical "Grease". However, all households should own a copy of the soundtrack already, so the loss is not a particularly significant one.

The disc starts with Olivia's twangy "breakthrough" hit "Let Me Be There" which still holds the same naive charms it did twenty years ago. The next three inclusions are gems culled from Olivia's mid-seventies country / AC output, most notable is the #1 hit "Have You Never Been Mellow" which remains as sublime and fresh as ever. No Olivia collection is complete without the "Grease" solo "Hopelessly Devoted To You", but the butter-wouldn't-melt image Ms Newton-John projects in these early MOR tunes are pushed aside for the latter half of the disc. 1978's "A Little More Love" is a rocking tune with an incessantly catchy hook, and "Deeper Than The Night" (from the same year) is about as R'n'B as Olivia has ever gone. The remaining songs include "Physical" (come on, #1 for ten weeks - legwarmers, exercise, fat men, you remember it), two inclusions from the "Xanadu" soundtrack (still a notable highlight in Olivia's musical career) and a couple of underrated masterpieces. The first is "Heart Attack", the track which effectively accompanied Olivia's 1982 / 1983 "Physical" tour. A harder, sassier, edgier Olivia is complimented by a bubbling synth which pushes her to the limit. And just when you thought the eighties couldn't get much better for our Liv, along comes "Twist Of Fate", a pulsating dance hit from the (failed) movie "Two Of A Kind". Both were modest hits for Olivia, reaching #3 and #5 on the US charts respectively.

For anyone who is familiar with the lovely Olivia Newton-John's catalogue, you'll know that the fun does not end here. There is a multitude of beautiful recordings from this underappreciated legend, ranging from folk to country, from pop to dance, from rock to orchestral renditions of much-loved standards. For those who are less knowledgable on the guilty pleasure that is Olivia, then this is the perfect place to start.