Safe Return

Jane Olivor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 27, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: P.S. Classics
• ASIN: B0001IN0MG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,306 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars perhaps the seminal Olivor recording?......, April 29, 2004

By 

Greg (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safe Return (Audio CD)

Or at least the one to start with, if it's your first. Because, quite simply, everything you need to know is right here in this recording......

Fulfilling what was merely hinted at in her earlier 1982 IN CONCERT recording, Jane Olivor's concert recording SAFE RETURN is simply masterful, never less than wonderful and many times outright genius.

Olivor's emotive, heartfelt style on this special live night is never manufactured, but, gratefully, genuine throughout. There are so many highlights that it's hard to choose. But your heart will never remain unchanged after hearing this CD (buy the DVD too!) and, in particular, those tracks of absolute genius: a transcendent "Brooklyn Roads", an impassioned "Run For The Roses" (the earlier recording pales by comparison), a heavenly "Some Enchanted Evening", a heartrending "Pretty Girl", a kickass "One More Ride on the Merry Go Round", and, above all, the achingly gorgeous "Daydreams" by the incomparable Georges Delerue and Jason Darrow. And, by gum, that Eartha Kitt bite we heard from Olivor way back on FIRST NIGHT is back. If only someone would write a musical (about sisters, perhaps?) for Olivor and Betty Buckley to star in together, that would indeed be a sight and sound to behold.

Folks, here you have a real singer who doesn't need the punch-ins and the sweetening. In this current recording world of lousy songs, rampant multitracking, overdone melisma, bustier hype, and really bad makeup, Olivor's SAFE RETURN recording becomes even more special (like, if there was enough money to market this, it should win the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal). Kudos, though, to the classy PS Classics to release this companion CD to the concurrent DVD.

Someone should airlift and parachute thousands of this CD into the Pier 54 Dance this Gay Pride/June 2004 so that a new audience of under 40s finally will learn about Jane Olivor, who here takes her place forever in the pantheon of Piaf, Garland, and Midler, and yes, Streisand too.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION -- a must have.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical praise for "Safe Return", May 15, 2004

By 

J. Moore (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Safe Return (Audio CD)

I've rushed out and bought every Jane Olivor album since I was a disc jockey in the early 1980's...in fact, for seven years running, I ended my show with "Stay the Night." You can imagine how I eagerly awaited "Safe Return!"

Initially, I was disappointed. The pacing seemed rushed; the 'telescoping' effect evident on most live recordings is very noticable. Jane seemed to 'reach' several times early on, and I remember wondering during the opening track if she'd actually make a note or not!

But the album grows on you. Her voice is just as clear - perhaps moreso - than twenty years ago, and her rapport with the audience is evident even on the CD. She still has the same emotive style, filling each song with something of herself.

I think "Love Decides" and "Stay the Night" will remain my favorite Jane Olivor albums, but I'm glad to have "Safe Return." If you have yet to experience the magic that is this wonderful woman, "Safe Return" is a good place to start.

I remember the Billboard ad from the early 1980's which read, "Run, you sensualists...run and grab every Jane Olivor album you can find." Sage advice...even twenty-odd years later!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still incomparable, and better than ever..., April 28, 2004

By 

J. R. SOUTH (Albany, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Safe Return (Audio CD)

I remember listening to Jane's "First Night" album for the first time, years ago when I was a teenager. The New York Times had given it a SPECTACULAR review, and I rushed out to buy it. Out of my speakers came a glimmering, totally unique voice, issuing from a singer whose acting and interpretive talents were beyond comparison. Surely as great as Streisand, but really nothing like her, except for their exquisite attention to melody. Jane's song choices were often obscure, but arrestingly dramatic gems. Everyone who heard her playing in my house stopped dead in their tracks and asked "Who IS that???". I stimulated so many new fans to purchase her recordings, I could have been her press agent! Jane's 4 follow-up albums were all just as magnificent as "First Night" and all just as unique in their own right, and her music formed a backdrop for my life for many years.

Then, for anyone who's unfamiliar with the story, Jane suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. She says it was for ten years, but it sure seemed longer, more like a century! There were more bizarre rumors about the reasons for her sudden absence from the music scene than there were conspiricy theories about the death of JFK and Area 51! Not knowing what had really happened to her left a gigantic hole in my heart. Corny, but true. When a new CD, "Love Decides", suddenly appeared in 2000, I almost wept with relief, and from the flood of memories that her voice, still a treasure, released in me.

Whew! Now for "Safe Return" and the accompanying DVD of her live performance at Berklee College of Music. To tell the truth, I did not expect that she could be, after all these years, as good as she had been, and she isn't. She is better, light years better, and that is not an exaggeration. Most notably, Ms. Olivor seems to be totally at ease and full of joy in front of her audience (I remember shaking hands with Jane during a sweltering outdoor performance in July years ago when her hand was ICE-cold from nerves). A lot of her new material is quite playful, and her audience patter is charming and fascinating. Most importantly, although she humbly excuses the loss of a few high notes in the DVD interview, those notes are DEFINITELY still there, floating and gorgeous as ever. And it's a L-O-N-G set of songs that would exhaust anybody else, but Jane navigates through to the very last song as buoyantly as if it were the first. Remarkable.

As good as the CD is, the DVD IS better: amazing sound quality in 5.1 or dts options; a GREAT, funny interview; and she looks mah-velous. I will say that Jane appears to have a different nose than she did years ago, and I much prefer the regal, original one that God gave her. Whatever she may have had altered, I'd like to think was a physical neccessity as opposed to a vanity decision, but either way, it has not affected her vocal quality at all.

If you've never heard or heard of Jane Olivor before, and you're thinking of delving into an extraordinary new musical experience, you'll love "Safe Return" or any of Jane's other recordings. Guaranteed.

And Janie, if you're reading this, a million thank-you's for all the respect and utter pleasure you've given your fans over the years. You have been as loyal to us as we've been to you, and a million years would not be too long to wait to see and hear you again.