Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John tabs Olivia Newton-John discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Olivia Newton-John guitar tabs

CD reviews

The Rumour

Olivia Newton-John - The Rumour Audio CD

A fair review of the Olivia Newton-John "The Rumour" 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: The Rumour
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-10-12
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Rumor 2: Love and Let Live 3: Can't We Talk It Over in Bed 4: Let's Talk About Tomorrow 5: It's Not Heaven 6: It's Always Australia for Me 7: Get Out 8: Big and Strong 9: Car Games 10: Walk Through Fire 11: Tutta la Vita

Hits are a thing of the past.
After 'Physical' it all went wrong. Poor Olivia. Changing trends and radio indifference played a part but O herself has to shoulder some of the blame. 1985's 'Soul Kiss' album had started out OK, despite the dud lead single, but soon fell off the charts when a second hit single couldn't be secured. Increasingly long gaps were occurring between projects and a lot of her fans simply moved on. Plus, the continuing 'raunchy' image used on 'Soul Kiss' didn't work and even Olivia seemed uninterested in it.

1988 rolled around and O, on the verge of 40, had had a baby and was running her (at the time) successful Koala Blue clothing chain. It's a wonder she came back at all!

Warning bells rang with the promo interviews for the album. Olivia said she had 'grown up' and wanted to do stuff about 'issues' that affected us all. Just what everyone wanted! Davitt Sigerson had done a review in Rolling Stone for 'Soul Kiss'. He said (in a round about way) that although her material wasn't doing her justice, she was still a great pop singer. Quite true. Whether this review got him the producer gig for 'The Rumour' I don't know, but he did make a very different album to her previous one. Sadly, it still didn't have many good songs!

I have to say my heart sank when Olivia announced she was to co-write some of the songs. There's five in all (this Aussie issue features the oddly off-key 'It's Always Australia For Me') and they mostly feature Olivia's attempts at social commentary. So we get a woman with a child starting a relationship with another man, 'It's Not Heaven' ('I'm gonna do some shopping. I'll get you those stockings!'), the environment-is-doomed themed 'Let's Talk About Tomorrow', 'Get Out' is O as a wife being the breadwinner and complaining about her husband not doing his bit (possibly the only one from the heart!) and the frankly strange 'Car Games' which doesn't seem to be about anything much but is the best of the lot.

Elton John's title track was a minor hit and is the best song here. If 'Twist Of Fate' was her last great pop single, 'The Rumour' was her last half-decent one. 'Walk Through Fire' is a dramatic ballad that strives for greatness but falls a little short and 'Tutta La Vita' is plodding Euro Pop that ends the album on a bum note.

'Can't We Talk It Over In Bed' was a second single in some quarters. It's less interesting than it sounds and it's doubtful it would have been much of a hit even in O's hey day. The shouty 'Big And Strong' is another non-starter, though it had to be said she copes quite well with such a demanding song, it's still a bad choice for her voice.

Sigerson's production is rich and more complex than John Farrar's but he seem to think he's dealing with Aretha Franklin. Many of these songs are simply beyond Olivia forcing her to reprise the silly squeals and shrieks from 'Soul Kiss'.

The final nail in the coffin was 'Olivia Down Under', an horrendous TV special designed also to promote the album (like the'Physical'album and long-form video 7 years previously), where Olivia flew to Australia to celebrate it's 200th birthday and to patronise it's residents. Never had her act seemed more out of touch and her persona more false than here. Skipping round Aus in vile Koala Blue clothes giggling stupidly and asking everyone if they 'drank much', before performing unbecoming tracks from 'The Rumour'. This sort of nonsense might have been excused when she was 20 and on Cliff Richard's TV show, but at 40, she just looked like an fool who wouldn't know reality if it hit her over the head. No wonder it tanked. Add the rubbish 'who is it?' artwork and you've got the album that cost Olivia her MCA record deal.

Never mind, perhaps she'll get it right the next time.

Oh dear, the next time was 'Warm And Tender'. All is lost.

You Can't Fight The Livvie
Now I have finally bought the ones I want and was more than excited to get this 1988 album. I love my Livvie and since Australia also has a fondness for the girl, they remastered all of her albums in 1998 and I have been listening to the gems since then.

Known primarily for the title track co-written by Elton John, this was not a huge success for ONJ, but that is only in sales because this is probably her best album ever. Co-writing most of the album, Livvie tackles divorce in "It's Not Heaven", a sort of letter to her daughter, AIDS in "Love and Let Live", the rain forest and pollution in "Let's Talk About Tomorrow", sexual politics in "Get Out" and she ends it all with the terribly catchy "Tutta La Vita" - a little rhumba ish ditty about love and success where "It's not a mansion in Malibu/ or a face lift at forty/ you can't get there by a car/ not even your BMW". . . if you find a used copy of this sucker, you buy it - Livvie and I both would want it that way.

Excellent, as always. She's perfect
I hoped to get a glimpse and did much better. I'm 44 and met Liv when I flew in from grad school at the last Neiman's Fortnight (Dallas). This CD is one of her better CDs; you can't go wrong with any of her CDs--believe me.
Lawrence C. Barber, Ph. D. clinical psychologist.

A Strong Cd
The Rumour is a strong release from Olivia, the first single the catchy 'The Rumour' is a fun song written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin, this cd has great production and solid vocals from Olivia, if you're building a Olivia collection make sure this one is included.

Olivia is the bomb
Great melodies. The best grouping of new songs on one disc. Great vocals, and songs with meaning. Too bad it didn't sell well in the US. I spent years trying to find it and then. . . . . . . . . the internet. I never knew finding great old music could be so easy. Olivia is timeless and her music always sounds great and relavent.

You can see a complete list of all Olivia Newton-John discography, or go back to the Olivia Newton-John tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.