Customer Reviews

Magic: The Music Of Olivia Newton-John

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I must say that I was very excited when I heard this book was coming out. However, I was equally disappointed when I began to flip through the pages.

The only good comment I can give is the fact that the author touches upon nearly every moment in Olivia's recording career (which is essentially what the book is about) but the details are very thin. Clearly, Olivia was not interviewed for this book, but instead we get a feeling that the author relied on previously published articles to write his words. In fact, in some cases the only information printed were quoted album reviews (i.e. 'The Rumour' and 'If You Love, Me Let Me Know' LPs) and entries like "Back To Basics" and "Gaia" barely receive a mentionable line.

Sadly, the author includes more explicit details about torrid rumors in Olivia's personal life rather than the details of the songs themselves. I now know more about the accusation of Olivia's wedding being called "a contract" to hide hidden sexualities than I do about the choosing of the song "Physical" and why Olivia decided to record it. I know more about how Olivia pissed off her neighbors because of the renovations on her home than I do about the writings and recordings of "I Honestly Love You" or "Hopelessly Devoted To You". Those are just a few of the things I expected to read about in this book. I didn't get it here.

All of the information in the book is widely available (via internet, libraries, etc), and the pictures are all black and white and exceptionally poor quality. There are no rare photographs - all of them are either album or music sheet covers - and to add frustration over disappointment: the book is filled with grammatical errors. Apparently the editor was out to lunch or something. We got sentences with no periods, quotes with no quotation marks, the occasional but noticable misspellings, and sentences that would leave you scratching your head such as when he was mentioning the 'Have You Never Been Mellow' album and spoke of the song "Please Mr. Please": "Being that it was the last track on the album, it left listeners wanting to hear the last track all over again." I don't quite get that, despite he wrote it two separate times in the book.

So there it is. The book is probably good to keep around if you want a quick reference to Olivia's music but it certainly isn't essential to have unless you're a fan who has to have everything. If Olivia had been interviewed and her thoughts and memories had been included, then that would have added much needed weight to this shelf filler. Otherwise, I think my copy might be headed for ebay.

As a serious Olivia Newton-John fan and collector, I am very disappointed with the poor quality of photographs in the book. I was expecting high-quality color photographs to capture the elegance and beauty of Olivia. the layout of the book is choppy and there are numerous grammatical errors. The book contains a lot of information, but it is information that can be found online.

I absolutely love Olivia and had to have this for my collection, so I hate to say this, but this book has the look and feel of a totally amateur production. The first paragraph of the Introduction has no fewer than 5 grammatical or spelling mistakes (including the use of the word "seen" instead of "scene"). Clearly written by a non-writer and not professionally edited or composed. I will carefully bag it to keep it pristine and place it in my collection, but I can't bring myself to read further than the first page. Please, people, Olivia deserves better!

I wrote a manuscript based on ONJ's life and did extensive research on her early years as a child. Where there were gaps, I fudged and made things up. This book contains the things I made up, which included many of the quotes supposedly attributed to Olivia.

I was working on the manuscript with an Australian gentleman named Richard who ran (or still runs) the Only Olivia fan site. As I wrote it, I sent him emails that contained my latest work so that he could review it and send me feedback.

He said he had a friend in England who was interested in reading my manuscript. I was just about to start writing about Olivia's life in 1992 when Richard suddenly stopped contacting me.

Shortly after that, this book, in its earliest form, was published by Gregory Branson-Trent. Like I said, it contained nearly word-for-word transcriptions of my work, as well as stuff I made up as "filler" material.

I've known about the thievery since 1993 or so and I can't be bothered to sue the jerk for plagiarism. I still have all my manuscripts and the dates they were written to prove that Richard and this guy Gregory conspired to steal my work.

The photo quality in this is very poor, pictures copied from the internet and Olivia's fan club site. Biography of Olivia interesting in parts but all information available elswhere. Album pages accurate but badly laid out. No input from Olivia herself.

Poorly written and poorly edited, this just might be the most amateurish attempt at writing I've ever read. The author does not write anything remotely original or interesting, nor offer any meaningful insight about the amazing career of Olivia Newton-John. He merely lists all her albums and awards and published reviews. All this information is a "Google" away. I got better information on one of her fan club sites...for free!! The photos are terrible scans, grainy and blurry, and I've seen every one before. They are all black and white and are mainly photos of her albums.
I've been a fan since 1973 and was hoping to learn something new. Boy, was I wrong ! Olivia deserves better!!

The book has potential, but again is a missed opportunity for a comprehensive biography of Olivia Newton-John's body of work. Typographical errors throughout the book leaves one to wonder why/how this book made it to print. Note that this is a self-published book that is not printed until your order is received. The photos throughout the book are taken directly from various websites (translated to low quality images) and many images appear distorted/stretched. Had the book received professional layout, proofreading and photos, it could filled the void on bookshelves which remain empty for Olivia fans. If you are a die hard fan, it is worth getting. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. At least the author attempted to create a book on a person that deserves it!

I was really enthusiastic on reading this book, and it contains al lot of nice to know information. However it seems that the writer took a lot of time on the early days and rushed through the end, to get it finished. Nice photo's but all in black and white, bad quality, and due to the resizing of the images to fit the book Olivia looks from very thin to double her original weight. I'm also surprised to find so many typing errors and spelling mistakes in a book. It's a pity. It could have been so nice!

As a die-hard Olivia fan, I was most eager to get this book. I must say, that when it arrived, I was quite impressed with the size and volume of information in the book. Even though the pictures are all black and white, there were some great images that I had not seen before. The book offers a comprehensive journey of Olivia's career from the earliest days to the present. It focuses on every recording, movie, and TV special. The list of awards and the detailed discography are wonderful inclusions. It seems like the author has done his homework, drawing from previous interviews of Olivia, as well as world-wide record charts.
Some of Olivia's personal issues are mentioned in the book, but there is not much in that area that we have not read or heard from other sources. It really is an enjoyable book to peruse at one's leisure.
My only criticism is that it is poorly edited. There are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout, and some entire lines are erroneously repeated in paragraphs that follow. I can't tell you how many times the author spells the word "her" as "h-e-r-e." Other times, the paragraphs seem to end before the sentence is complete. The reader has to search for the rest of the paragraph. It's a small complaint, because the book really is quite nice.
I'd love to have this book edited for content and spelling errors, and then re-published. It's probably one of the best books written on Olivia's career, covering it all the way up to 2006's "Grace and Gratitude." Maybe in the next edit, Branson-Trent can include this year's beautiful CD, "Christmas Wish."

This book is great with tons of information and a complete albums and singles list. It is well worth the money. I would recommend it. Take a chance in this one, you won't be sorry.