Best Side of Goodbye

Jane Olivor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000025HW
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,470 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jane could give singing lessons to Celine & Barbra!, December 10, 1999

By 

Sinead NiC "American & Irish expat" (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Side of Goodbye (Audio CD)

I have been looking for this album for 20 years - I first heard it while living in Berlin in 1981, and have been hunting for it ever since. "Manchild Lullaby," with its sweet melody, is a real favorite. I have never understood why Jane never broke into the top 10; her voice is every bit as beautiful as Barbra Streisand's and Celine Dion's, without the overblown drama that these two other singers sometimes fall prey to. You'll find yourself singing these songs to yourself for years to come!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fully orchestrated and dynamic love songs, March 19, 2000

By 

dev1 (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Side of Goodbye (Audio CD)

Praised by the critics and shunned by the public, The Best Side of Goodbye is a jewel in the cutout bin. A description of Jane Olivor that I once read stated, "a voice that could peel the paint off the walls." For a popular music songtress, Jane has powerful voice with excellent range. She steps up and down octaves effortlessly (To Love Again). She also changes her pitch from line to line, and sometimes several times within the same line (Manchild Lullaby). Her voice sounds "trained" - perhaps a bit too close to operatic perfection for a popular singer. Recording quality: For an original analog master, the Best Side CD is above average quality. Jane is close-miked. You can distinguish every detail including the sound of her lips touching (Weeping Willows, Cattails).

The Best Side is a collection of fully orchestrated and dynamic love songs (Manchild Lullaby, A Long and Lasting Love, Don't Let Go Of Me, and The Best Side of Goodbye) as well as quieter material. The best side of The Best Side is the more sparse material (Golden Pony; Weeping Willows, Cattails; To Love Again). These underproduced compositions give Jane's splendid voice extra room to shine. My advice is to buy the paint before auditioning The Best Side of Goodbye.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Side of Jane Olivor, April 11, 2004

By 

Warren Mullin (Lenexa, Kansas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Side of Goodbye (Audio CD)

Although the solid fan base of Jane Olivor's voice and music were not as inticed by this release as her earlier gems, those who appreciate a more "mainstream" or "commercial" sound will probably find this album quite to their liking. The album was intentionally produced by various music industry standouts in that vein. Unfortunately, despite it having the highest Billboard chart position of any of her albums (#58), it was not what the bulk of her following expected of her. Randy Edelman's "Don't Let Go Of Me" is a perfect pop arrangement despite it's poor single performance (peaking at #108 on Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart), and Peter ["Do You Wanna Make Love - or do you just wanna fool around"] McCann's "Love This Time" is an absolute pop standout. Crystal Gayle later made "A Long And Lasting Love" a smash hit, but Jane's relatively unknown version outshines it. "The Greatest Love Of All" (first recorded by George Benson; both versions overshadowed by Whitney Houston's later smash) is a magnificent vehicle for Olivor's vocal interpretation. The title track is also one of Jane's standout cuts. The collection of material is well-rounded to fit it's purpose, and had it received the airplay attention it deserved, could easily have pushed Jane's career into a different direction - not that that would have been so necessarily desirable to her followers, but that it would have given Jane Olivor the platform and recognition she truly deserves. From the same time frame, the superb 1979 duet with Johnny Mathis "The Last Time I Felt Like This" (from the motion picture "Same Time Next Year") is unfortunately not present here - one has to look through the Mathis catalogue to obtain that one. But it is well worth it. Jane wraps around the melody line and lyric - as if her voice were a stringed instrument - like no other before or since.