Customer Reviews

Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

"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!

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.

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.

This collection is excellent for both the casual and hardcore fans for many reasons. This is by far the best single disc hits album, a lot better than her previous (1971-1992: the Essential Collection)! When I first bought that hits album, I was VERY disappointed. There were still TOO many "Essential" songs missing: "Let Me Be There", "Xanadu", "Make a Move On Me", and "Heart Attack", all top 10 pop hits. Thankfully, this collection includes these essential songs and even the very enjoyable "Grease Megamix"! The packaging is superb: colorful pictures and entertaining liner notes!

Maybe the next step would be a box set containing 5 or 6 CDs from day one ("If Not For You" from 1971, for starters)! She deserves box set treatment! I hope everyone agrees!

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

In 1992 Geffen Records put out "Back To Basics: The Essential Collection 1971-1992" which was a rather odd title for the collection as the earliest track on the album was from 1974!!! It did contain four new tracks, thus allowing the 1992 date to ring true. Much was omitted from that collection, therefore it wasn't all that essential. This has been rectified with "Magic The Very Best Of Olivia Newton-John" which kicks off with "Let Me Be There" from 1973 ("If Not For You" her #1 A/C hit from 1971 is not included the only gripe about the collection). From there you get all the hits you remember from Newton-John. You also get to witness the transformation she went thru that was perfectly depicted in "Grease" (as well as in the selections from that soundtrack) from innocent country/folk singer ("I Honestly Love You", "Have You Never Been Mellow") to the more seductive pop/rock artist ("A Little More Love", "Deeper Than The Night"). "Xanadu", "Suddenly", "Make A Move On Me" and "Heart Attack" are included (all of which were missing from the previous "essential" collection). Her megahit "Physical" is of course included (and my one of my least favorite songs by anyone!). Finally included as a bonus track is the "Grease Megamix" which recieved some airplay during the flims 20th anniversary in 1998. All in all a nice collection of Olivia's best work.

I am giving this CD 5 stars only because it does contain excellent music. However, as much as I do adore and love Olivia Newton-John, I have to agree with my fellow Fredericksburg reviewer. How many more times are record companies going to keep re-releasing and re-packaging all these old tunes from Olivia's hey-day? How many copies of Olivia's Greatest Hits collections does one person need? Apparently, however, there are still people out there who are willing to buy this stuff because record companies keep coming up with new "greatest hit" collections for ONJ. I have all these songs, already--several copies of them, in fact. But I have reached a point where "enough is enough".

It is time for ONJ to do something new and different. Her last country-pop album was brilliant--but unfortunately, she made the grave error of introducing the album with the remade "I Honestly Love You". Since the new version was so similar to the original, when most people heard it, they assumed it was just an oldie-but-goodie being played on the radio. It certainly did not make people run out to the CD store to pick up a copy of a song they had already heard constantly for the last 25 years. So, the other great songs on the CD never had a chance to get airplay. Basically, the CD went "down under" before it had a chance.

Olivia's voice is still in top form. Her live concert CD from 1999 is proof positive of this. It's just that she needs to do something new with it.

Both "Magic" and "Back to Basics" are greatest-hits compilations. I'll not add to the debate concerning the inclusion or exclusion of specific songs, as that is very much a matter of personal preference. I will, however, address the comparative sonics of the two CDs. I found Magic to be quite noticably superior sonically. On Back to Basics, ONJ sounds far back in the mix, as though you're hearing her sing at the far end of a large banquet hall. On Magic, she seems to be singing in the center of a moderate-size recording studio room. Additionally, the instrumental accompanyment on Magic is rendered more clearly - cymbals sound like cymbals, etc. On Back to Basics, the instruments are somewhat blurred, and cymbals sound like indistinct high-frequency noise. I can only infer that the original tapes were remastered with much more modern and higher resolution equipment for the production of Magic.

I've been reading a lot of the reviews of this album & I agree a lot of songs were omitted from this collection. The reason is from 1973-83 were considered her "Peak Years" from her first Top Ten hit "Let Me Be There" in 1973 to her last Top Ten hit "Twist Of Fate" in early 1984. Yes, a lot of you have all said that a lot of you wished more of her songs were on this collection like "Let It Shine", "I Can't Help It"(duet with the late Andy Gibb, "Tied Up", "Livin' In Desperate Times", "Soul Kiss", "The Rumor"; but, a lot of you all forgot "Take A Chance"(duet with John Travolta, "The Best Of Me"(duet with David Foster,the Emmy award-winning never-released single "Love Is A Gift", "Deeper Than The River" & "Not Gonna Be The One". Hopefully, those omitted songs will be included in her boxed set due out next year along with her album "Dance" her first album in 4yrs. Still, a good collection & I will end by saying I'm glad they included the nearly forgotten never played "Don't Stop Believin'" The liner notes are good too & for those you still have that CD, hold on to it TIGHT because the error in crediting Steve Kipner as a producer of "Twist Of Fate" instead of David Foster maybe a collector's item someday.