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Soul Kiss

Olivia Newton-John - Soul Kiss Audio CD

A fair review of the Olivia Newton-John "Soul Kiss" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Olivia Newton-John reviews here, or go back to the Olivia Newton-John tabs.

Band: Olivia Newton-John
Title: Soul Kiss
Rating:

Release Date: 2001-04-17
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Toughen Up 2: Soul Kiss 3: Queen of the Publication 4: Emotional Tangle 5: Culture Shock 6: Moth to a Flame 7: Overnight Observation 8: You Were Great, How Was I? - Olivia Newton-John, Carl Wilson 9: Driving Music 10: Right Moment

Olivia, you are the best!
Soul Kiss, Toughen Up, Culture Shock, are one of the best songs on the CD. This CD did not do well as I recall but this CD is one of my favorites. I remember reading this article about this record when it first came out as Olivia tried to changed her status to a bad girl singer like Madonna or Britnery Spears for today. Soul Kiss has been banned from some radio stations back in the day but could be played in any radio station in regards to today's standards of crap music played today like the offensive rap songs. Hardly an offensive CD to today's standards.

Olivia is great is this record, there is one song I particularly do not care for but listen to it anyway because it is. . come on. . it's OLIVIA and that is Night Music where the song starts off with a radio channel being changed and Olivia comes on. . .

Would I recommend this record, absolutely! This record only proves that Olivia has a range to be any type of singer, Country, Gospel, Rock, or Spiritual, whatever suits her.

Olivia has been successful in her country records, Christmas records, rock records, and now her Spiritual records. . . . .
I recommend this purchase to everyone and I guarantee after listening to the songs the first time, you will be playing it back and singing along in the chorus including Night Music!!!.

Dirty girl!
Insanely released when dear O was 6 months pregnant and unable to promote it, the album swiftly fell from the charts after a promising debut. Olivia Newton-John's follow up to her classic 'Physical' album came 4 years after in 1985.

22 years on, it's not hard to see why. Although it seemed fresh and perky at the time, repeated listening exposed the nasty, brittle production and a distinct lack of decent songs. That the dull, plodding title track was the biggest hit (#20) shows how desperate things were and even the (possibly) controversial lyric didn't incite much interest.

At least, though, the 'Soul Kiss' single had a different sound that suggested Olivia was moving in a new (though maybe not great) direction. The rest of the material, mainly written by off-form long-term ONJ songsmiths John Farrar and Stevie Kipner, is largely shrill, unpleasant 'rockers' that force Olivia's thin vocals into a place that no-one should have to go to. She sounds plain ridiculous on the likes of 'Queen Of The Publication' and 'Moth To A Flame' when lacking the vocal power to belt out these songs she she has to substitute a series of alarming shrieks and silly noises. Someone really should have told her. . .

The tiresome sexual theme is another drawback. Yes, Olivia, 'Physical' was a huge hit but no-one wants to hear about you getting 'friendly' with 2 guys ('Culture Shock') or having to slap down a pervy doctor who wants to examine you a little too thoroughly ('Overnight Observation') Even the moderately pleasant ballads 'Emotional Tangle' and 'The Right Moment' are crippled by the horrible synthy production.

The cover artwork is vile with hopelessly unsexy photos of O that were taken by Helmut Newton of all people. Olivia looks woefully uncomfortable in all three shots.

That said, 'Soul Kiss' was ONJ's last top 40 album so someone must like it. This Japanese edition of the CD has been remastered beautifully. You can hear the shrieks and synths clearer that ever now!
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NICE ALBUM
I can't say the lyrics are the best I mean some of the subject matter here is a little weird but overall the album is very well produced and olivias voice sounds excellent especially in the haunting "The right moment". A very fun album from olivia. a great way to close this album. Other standouts are "Moth to a flame" "Culture shock" I love the music on this one and "Emotional Tangle" let's loose the tenderness of livvys vocals. I think it is a great album to lay back relax and forget about the worlds problems. I reccomend you buy the import version which includes " Electric"its a nice track. I look foward to buying more from her so if you like good old pop music from the 80s buy it!!!.

One of her worst.. or is it?
Soul Kiss would have done well maybe if it had been released directly following her hit album "Physical" in 1981. Okay, so yes, when this album was released in '85 people thought Olivia was out of her mind, with album like this. . however twenty plus years later this album deserves a second look. Yes, it may have a few tracks that are extremely dated, due to the overuse of the synth and drum machine, but the title track and a handful of other tracks receive top marks. A rare track "Electric" was released only on the Japan release, which is a real treat. Soul Kiss is definitely an album that has been neglected by scores of ONJ fans, but really taking a second or third look at this album, it is really enjoyable. It might have been released a little too late, but it still 21 years later is a nice album to listen to. "Soul Kiss" has also been remixed and dubbed quite a few times, and the song lends itself quite well to DJ's and diehard music fans.

Worth a second look! .

Well produced album, one of her better works
Like several other people, this was a disappointment when I first heard it. . on record some 21 years ago. However, like other reviewers said, I just could not avoid playing it again and again.

I listen to this album when I test audio equipment, speaker systems, etc. Unlike most of the junk produced today, this album has stereo bass down to 20 Hz, which I always use to explain to the younger generation "why you need two speakers for bass, not one". Queen of the Publication is great for hearing-out the sound of digital to analog convertors, as well as checking for distortion.

I transfered my record onto CD, but would like to hear the digitally remastered copy - the 1985 release sounds like it was made on the old PCM 1600 era convertors, and has the familiar inductive loss.

This is an album I can crank up and listen to without getting sick of it - something very hard to find in the modern world of pop music. You have to hear it more than once to like it! Don't fry your speakers!

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