Customer Reviews

If Not for You

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The lilting beauty If Not For You with its shimmering chiming guitars was one of the most memorable hits of 1971, a really intelligent interpretation that is about as far away from Dylan's original as you can get. The other hit from later that same year, Banks Of The Ohio, a tale of passion and murder, is a more straightforward folk rendition. Then there's the classic songs that almost every artist from this era seemed to cover: Kristofferson's Me And Bobby McGee and Help Me Make It Through The Night, plus the Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot's If You Could Read My Mind. Olivia handles these covers very well, not straying too far from the original arrangements whilst still infusing them with enough of her own style. She also does a passable version of If, one of Bread's 1971 hits. This album displays a refreshing variety of styles and shows the emerging talent that would grow into a legend over the following 20 years. She's no Judy Collins, but this collection has aged gracefully and remains a pleasurable listening experience.

Olivia began her career as a folk-pop singer, as this album demonstrates. There are a couple of Kris Kristofferson standards - Me and Bobby McGee and Help me make it through the night - but artists in several genres of music recorded these songs.

This album yielded two major UK hits - If not for you (a Bob Dylan song) and Banks of the Ohio (a traditional folk song). To this day, these are among the best hits she ever had. The rest of this album contains other great covers, including If (Bread), If you could read my mind (Gordon Lightfoot) and No regrets (a song that eventually became a UK top ten hit for the Walker brothers).

All the tracks here can also be found on the British compilation, 48 original tracks, but this CD has been re-mastered, so you may want this for the improved sound quality.

This was Olivia Newton-John's first album, released by Festival Records in Australia (the same label that carried the early Bee Gees). It includes her international hit, "If Not For You" and is made up of cover songs, most notably, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Kris Kristofferson and Gordon Lightfoot.

It is a sparse production, leaving most of the work to competant, if unremarkable studio musicians. However, it is a fresh voice, still untarnished and unbroken. Olivia's vocals here are wonderful and it's easy to see how this debut propelled her so easily into international mainstream pop music.

This album is worth the price just to hear Olivia sing "Banks Of The Ohio." But the entire album is fantastic. Olivia got off to a great start.