Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John [Original recording remastered]

Olivia Newton-John | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 11, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1973
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Utv Records
• ASIN: B00005NWMI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,598 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #86 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > General

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's hard to have a more milquetoast image than Olivia Newton-John. Even when she was decked out in stretch pants and stiletto heels at the end of Grease, you never mistook her for a wild girl. Proudly carrying the torch once held high by Karen Carpenter, Newton-John embodied the safer and, yes, blander side of the '70s and early '80s. But just like Carpenter went on to be rehabilitated as a pop singer, Newton-John's career deserves a second look--and this compilation is a good way to start. Even if the singer's precise touch was audible as early as 1973 (on the countryish "Let Me Be There"), she reached her peak five years later with Grease and the torchy "Hopelessly Devoted to You." "Physical" may be the best-known episode of the singer's leg-warmer years, but the one to cherish forever remains "Xanadu." On it, Newton-John basically fronted Electric Light Orchestra and the result is one of the most underrated songs of the past 25 years. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Another incomplete Olivia hits package September 14, 2001

By S. Paradoa

Format:Audio CD

It's hard to believe Universal delivers another incomplete domestic hits package after so many others have been released (both on vinyl and CD formats) in the past. This set includes 21 cuts from the 70s and 80s when Olivia was at her peak on the music charts. Missing is Olivia's first hit on the American pop charts (her version of Bob Dylan's "If Not For You") plus several other top 40 hits that were included in previous compilations like "Soul Kiss" and "Tied Up." The record company could have easily dropped the Grease Megamix and given us a more complete package, maybe even a two disc set. Olivia deserves better! If you already have "Back to Basics" and "Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" then don't waste your money.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Magic, With Some Key Omissions and a Lousy Release Date March 24, 2002

By Jose R. Perez

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Magic" stands as the best collection of ONJ's illustrous career yet released, and therefore warrants its 5 star rating. That said, a combination of omissions and bad timing fail to make this a truly definitive set. The timing problem is obvious - with a release date of September 11th - a Tuesday that will go down in history as possibly the worst release date possible - this set never got the chance to make an impact on the charts. Like Barry Manilow's recent chart topper - "Ultimate Manilow" - fans are starved for legendary singers from the best era of pop music that ONJ and Manilow both represent. However, perhaps another release of ONJ material will include a more comprehensive mix of tracks. This year, she celebrates 30 years of Pop stardom, so let's hope the next Best of includes her first US hit - "If not For You" and other key tracks that are missing here - like "Something Better to Do" and "Let it Shine."
ONJ fans are craving a boxed set to commemorate her long wonderful career, and new material that will show new legions of fans why this singer ranks among the best female vocalists of our generation. Forget Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera - Olivia is an artist that transcends generations! Still and all, for the best release to date of ONJ's chart hits, "Magic" is the collection worth owning!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Absolutely Magical August 4, 2002

By k. lane

Format:Audio CD

Olivia must be one of the most overlooked vocalists of modern pop music. Over a decade, she traversed the fields of country, easy listening, rock, and dance music, leaving her mark on all of them. Her voice is perfect, mellow and sweet, it covers the lyrics in longing, lust, love, and loneliness. All her most easily remembered classics are here - "I Honestly Love You", "Have You Never Been Mellow", "Hopelessly Devoted To You", "Magic", and "Physical". Even though these cuts are her most often remebered, she's had many other wonderful hits, including the ballads "Sam" and "Suddenly", the 'Grease' duets "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", the rockers "A Little More Love" and "Deeper Than The Night", and the dance tracks like "Xanadu" and "Make A Move On Me". My personal highlight of the collection is her last big smash hit, the electrifying pop number "Twist Of Fate". Truly a collection of her essential best, the only puzzler is the inclusion of the rather redundant "The Grease Megamix", which adds nothing to the already distinguished tracklisting. The Livvy collection to get.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic of Hits and Favorites June 3, 2008

By Roberta Hotard

Format:Audio CD

Getting my hands on this cd has been a long search that finally paid off. Olivia Newton John a actress, singer who I have always loved watching her in movies and loved hearing her music . This cd has 21 tracks Let Me Be There, I Honestly Love You, all the way to A Little More Love from Make A Move On Me to Twist Of Fate + a bonus track with John Travolta. If you have her greatest hits then you have most of the favorites but if you like to collect everything the artist puts out like me then this is something to own and to enjoy. So own the Magic of Olivia from a true fan.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Although Entertaining, Olivia Newton-John's Talents Under-Served In This Collection December 12, 2006

By Gary F. Taylor HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

In the 1970s critics accused her of being saccharine; in the 1980s they accused her of being sleazy. Neither criticism had any impact upon her appeal.

Born in England and raised in Australia, Olivia Newton-John was a blonde beauty whose breathy singing voice combined a girl-next-door sound with an oddly etherial quality. She first scored in the United States in the early 1970s on the country music charts and quickly crossed over to the pop charts. In 1978 she re-invented herself through the film GREASE, showing a previously unsuspected vocal power; in the early 1980s she reinvented herself yet again, riding the crest of the New Wave sound.

Her foray into New Wave proved the commercial height of her career, and rather than compete with new singers working in styles that did not suit her talents, Newton-John later elected to play to her strong fan base, performing in smaller venues and releasing only the occasional album. Consequently, the past decade has seen a host of "Best Of" releases. MAGIC had lots of press, but it also had the misfortune to be released on 9-11, and a public preoccupied with global terrorism paid little attention. This may actually have been a good thing for Newton-John; although MAGIC contains the obvious chart hits, these don't really show Newton-John at her most interesting, leaving out such popular recordings as "If Not For You" and the delicate ballads--"The Air That I Breathe" and "If You Could Read My Mind" cases in point--for which she demonstrates a truly unique flair.

What remains is a tour of the pop styles that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The arrangements, and in some instances the songs themselves, have not dated well.... Early recordings tend to be excessively sweet; later hits are beset by the 1980s fascination with excessive synthesizers. There is also the unfortunate "Grease Megamix" which takes up five minutes that would have been better used elsewhere.

Even so, MAGIC contains a handful of pop classics that make it worth the purchase. "I Honestly Love You" remains unexpectedly powerful; "Don't Stop Believing" and "Please Mister Please" are classics of their kind. "Hopelessly Devoted" offers Newton-John the chance to show what she can do with pure torch, and she carries it much, much better than most of her other hits would lead you to expect. "A Little More Love," with that razor-slash guitar hit, is a knock-out; "Make A Move On Me," in spite of its synthesizer preoccupations, is remarkably sultry; and then of course there is "Physical," which was considered so hot that many radio stations refused to play it. But perhaps the single finest of the radio hits included here is "Xanadu," which finds Newton-John unexpectedly backed by ELO; the result is nothing short of fascinating, with the ELO sound providing an unexpectedly effective setting for Newton-John's delicate vocal instrument.

It's fun to revisit these songs, but this really is an instance where fans should seek out the original releases, most of which are now available on CD; Olivia Newton-John was and is a much more interesting artist than a parade of her pop hits implies. Recommended, but mainly for those who have nothing at all by Newton-John in their collection and desire only the obvious hits.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer Read more ›