Customer Reviews

Come on Over

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's one of Olivia's best covers! But that of course is not the reason this album ranks as one of her best, and most under-rated. She does a wonderful cover of "Jolene," which is more exciting that Dolly's. "Pony Ride" is a beautiful and quite unusual ballad that works well with Olivia's classic breathy voice. Her inclusion of "Greensleeves" is bold, and she does a great job with it. "Don't Throw It All Away," later covered by Dave and Sugar, is a winner. My three favorites are: "Who Are You Now," "Smile for Me," and "Small Talk and Pride." Her cover of "The Long and Winding Road" is commendable, too. Olivia worked well with John Farrar and this shows in this wonderful collection. Definitely a must for Olivia fans and those who haven't discovered her yet!

From Have You Never Been Mellow to her Grease period ONJ produced 4 albums. None provided any top 10 hits. This album is the best of the lot in her transition stage.The title track works well. With so many other potential single releases one wonders why more were not. This along with Making A Good Thing Better remains her only other album to release only one single off of it. The title track reached #23 on pop and #1 on Adult Cont. so, with such potential singles like "It'll Be Me" and "Don't Throw it All Away" this album remains an enigma.Beautifully sung with a mix of Country and Adult Pop this album grows and grows on you.

This great 1976 release from ONJ was a #2 hit on the country album charts, and #13 on the all-genre pop charts. Too bad it only released one single, but what a fantastic one it was. "Come on Over" is one of Olivia's best and most moving performances, and one of my all time favorite songs. It was a #5 country hit and #23 pop hit, also topping the AC charts. There is more great music to be found here as well. I love her version of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," and her interpretation of "Jolene" is a good listen as well. It's more fast and upbeat than Dolly's, with a bit more urgency in the vocal I think (although Dolly's is excellent as well). "Pony Ride" is a nice, mellow ballad. "Don't Throw It all Away" and "Small Talk and Pride" would have made nice singles, especially on the country side.

The cover is beautiful, a cool effect and different from a lot of the covers of the time. (It's too bad MCA's stripped-down packaging for their "Compact Disc-Compact Price" series never has more artwork included than the front cover).

All in all, this is a very good album and worth owning.

Come on Over is my favorite album--and the first I heard at the age of seven (when I fell in love!). So much so, that I became a devoted fan. The harmonies in this album are unbelievable, with "Don't Throw it all Away" leading, and "Come on Over" a close second (as a child my favorite was "Greensleeves", but now I think that that song is a little boring). What I particularly liked in "Don't Throw it all Away" was how Olivia really expressed regret with her whispery vocals, and then strength at the same time, with perfect pitch. And "Come on Over"!!! Perhaps 'Come Hither' would be more apt! Great album--I'm glad that it's on CD (I am wearing out my third record!). In addition, I would like to add that this CD's quality is one of the best I've ever heard--24-bit digitally remastered and manufactured in Germany.

When I was a kid, I was kind of 'disapointed' when Olivia became such a commercial success and changed her sweet, 'girl-next-door' image after "Grease". Now, I also like "Totally Hot" (I liked the comments of a another reviewer of that album, who described it as 'virgin to vixen', or something along those lines)and slower songs from some of her other albums.

Have since purchased "Back with a Heart"--somewhat disappointed! It seemed to me that she was just trying too hard!! It must be difficult to try and reach those soaring melodies as in "Come On Over".

I have listened to this music since 1981 and want others to know this is Olivia at her finest.

When 'Come On Over' was released in the spring of 1976, Olivia Newton-John was struggling to keep up the momentum of earlier hits such as 'Have You Never Been Mellow' and 'I Honestly Love You'. Releasing 2 albums a year had meant quality control had suffered and perhaps Olivia was becoming over-familiar.

The title track was the lead single, in fact I believe it was the only UK and US release from this set. It's a cover of a Bee Gees track (from their 1975 album 'Main Course') and is one of the highlights of this album. However, as lovely as it is, it's not really strong enough to sell an album big time. It made #23 in the US charts which is OK, but it's not a song that is really remembered by Olivia.

This album, produced again by John Farrar, continues the theme of her previous long-players, a few covers mixed with a couple of originals by Farrar and other writers.

The opening track, 'Jolene' is excellent. Totally different to Dolly Parton's original, Olivia really lets fly with this and the song is possibly the high point of the whole album. Olivia's take on 'Greensleeves' is ill-advised as is her version of 'The Long And Winding Road' which is over 4 minutes of Olivia whinging and simpering, though, to her credit, she does manage not to nod off...

One of the main flaws, if that's the word, of this album is that it's very ballad heavy. I remember being quite disappointed with it when I first purchased it. Even I, as young as I was then, could see few hits on it.

Gary Benson's minor UK hit, 'Don't Throw It All Away' is another goodie and Farrar's 'Small Talk And Pride' stands out too. Olivia gets a little funky on 'It'll Be Me' though I've never been over fond of the song.

The good thing about 'Come On Over' is that 31 years later, I've really come to appreciate it. The production is beautiful and Olivia was rarely in better voice. Her next album, 'Don't Stop Believin' saw her record in Nashville for the first time and is a more varied collction than this but 'Come On Over' more than holds it's own as one of Olivia's better albums of the 70's.

This album brings back so many memories of better times. It means a lot to me. Many great songs are here but "Who are you now" is my all-time favorite. It's such a beautiful melody with a stunning orchestration. It gives me an immense pleasure when I listen to it. Thanks Olivia for the gift of this album.

I fell in love with Olivia Newton-John the first time I saw her...and 28 years later I still do. She and John Denver were performing a duet called "Fly Away", a 1976 hit she adds a backing vocal to. She sings the title phrase in response to him. This contribution helped "Fly Away" reach #1 AC,#12 Country and #13 on the Pop charts.
In January of 1976 "Fly Away" was knocked off the top of the AC chart by Olivia Newton-John's combination "Let It Shine" and "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother," and three months later she did it again, knocking out his "Looking for Space" with "Come On Over".
Olivia Newton-John told Billboard that her singing on "Come On Over" was a conscious effort to stretch beyond the breathy vocal style that characterized much of her earlier days. "I really love that song-and I'm getting confidence in doing songs like that. In each album I try to add something different. But I'd like to keep what I established myself with. Because I don't use all of my voice, people think that I have much less voice than I actually use. On the next album I show more voice than ever before."
The portrait of Olivia Newton-John found on the album cover is her most beautiful. The story goes that the photographic session to make the cover was not going well...then someone got the idea to just throw her into the swimming pool and photograph that. The result is the album cover.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" amd Olivia Newton-John's rendition of "Greensleeves" on this album is certainly illustrative of that. She reverts back to her native tongue and becomes an English Noble Woman."Greensleeves" is haunting, eerie,bone-chilling and charming simultaneously. I do not want to get on the wrong side of that woman.
The songs written for Olivia Newton-John by John Farrar are timeless classics. She worked well with him and the results are love songs that Olivia Newton-John does particularly well.

Another wonderful album by the lovely Olivia. Does this lady ever produce a bad album? My three favorite songs on tbe album are "Come On Over", "Small Talk And Pride" and "Don't Throw It All Away".
The album is great and any Olivia fan would be mad not to buy it.

Olivia tackles it all on this 1976 effort, everything from traditional country to folk to pop to disco. She seems a little bolder here with some of the material and her voice is breathier in some cases but stronger in others. Her cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" is terrific and has become a standard during her rare concert performances. There's also a beautiful rendition of "The Long and Winding Road." The weaks spots are a cover of Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and one or two other lesser songs. Some of the other ballads are stunning. They include "Who Are You Now?" "Smile For Me" and her country-tinged version of the Bee Gees' "Come On Over."