Audio CD review:
Olivia Newton-John - 20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection

Olivia Newton-John - 20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection

Band: Olivia Newton-John Title: 20th Century Masters - The Best of Olivia Newton-John: The Millennium Collection Rating: Release Date: 05 February, 2002 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Let Me Be There 2: I Honestly Love You 3: Have You Never Been Mellow 4: Please Mr. Please 5: Hopelessly Devoted To You 6: A Little More Love 7: Magic 8: Suddenly (with Cliff Richard) 9: Deeper Than The Night 10: Physical 11: Heart Attack 12: Twist Of Fate

Customer Reviews MCA makes another major mistake with her catalog If I could base this review solely on the music, it'd be 5 stars, but to evaluate the package (and the damage inflicted on her catalog), 3 stars is a generous offering. I like Olivia Newton-John's music; I've been listening to her records for a long time, and have developed an appreciation for her catalog-something lost in the corporate headquarters of MCA. In Australia, Olivia Newton-John's greatest hits is a three disc series: FIRST IMPRESSIONS (1971-1974) (most of those songs aren't even released in the United States), GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 (1975-1977) (a rare hits package that makes the music from the era even more impressive), and GREATEST HITS VOL. 3 (1978-1982) (four songs added to the classic US ten song version). I'd be satisfied though if MCA would have left GREATEST HITS and GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 (US releases) in print. I've long cherished my copy of GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 (with "Heart Attack," "Magic," "Make A Move On Me," "A Little More Love," "Tied Up," . . . ) which suddenly disappeared from the shelves, and I've tried to find GREATEST HITS on eBay, but I'm always outbid (hint, hint MCA - there's demand for a CD of this album). Of course most Olivia Newton-John fans would love to see her original albums, including LET ME BE THERE (US - not the one available as an Import) and IF YOU LOVE ME (LET ME KNOW) and TOTALLY HOT finally back in print (though TOTALLY HOT is available as an import. With so much work to be done in her catalog - why do we need yet another compilation??? All of these songs, and many more, are available on MAGIC. Its true that MAGIC is more expensive, but its also much more complete. Olivia Newton-John certainly deserves a space in the 20TH CENTURY MASTERS lexion, but this compilation misses the mark. Complaining about missing songs like "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)," "Make A Move On Me," and on usually doesn't count with much merit, a brief compilation is a brief compilation, some songs have to be omitted, though there are two major issues I have with the compilers' selections. The first is BIG. The GREASE tracks might be ever present, but they're definitely important. Where is "You're The One That I Want" - a platinum single (which required more copies sold to certify than a platinum album, and quite a rariety in the 1970s)(a chart book from 1979 shows only 4 since certification started, this was one of them), the Cliff Richard duet from XANADU, "Suddenly" is here, but one of her most popular songs with all types of fans is missing. That ommission alone takes away from the usefulness of this type of compilation. While "Deeper Than The Night" and "Suddenly" are both great songs and were Top Twenty hits, Olivia Newton-John had bigger hits that are ignored here. I usually don't get into chart success, as artistry is more important to me, but 1)These compilations aren't meant to showcase much art - as a rule they're singles oriented, and 2)MCA has no respect for Olivia Newton-John's artistry (look at the state of her catalog). Hit status again isn't particularly important to me, and I like all these songs, but MCA is wasting space on collections like these, when they don't respect her catalog in the first place. MAGIC was a near-perfect hits collection for all types of Olivia Newton-John fans, and it covered everything you see here. GREATEST HITS and GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 neatly summerize her peak years, and if they miss "Deeper Than The Night" or "Twist of Fate" (this song came a year after VOL. 2's release) they make up for it with material no longer available in the US: "Tied Up," "If Not For You," "Let It Shine. " The Import collections are also a good way to go, because they focus on early recordings many fans have never heard. If you're interested in Olivia Newton-John, move away from this collection, there's so much better out there. Longtime fans, get on MCA about releasing and respecting the catalog of one of pop music's essential artists. Essentially Olivia Other than that, this timeless compilation doesn't dissapoint. If there's any track I wish they would've added to this compilation it's "Xanadu", the title track from her 1980 movie. It's a brief but beatiful sumarry of this sensational Aussie diva and her ten or some years in the spotlight. It starts out with "Let me be there" and concludes properly with "Twist of Fate". You won't skip a track!. The bare essentials In fact, there's an absolute multitude, so you can pick and choose to your heart's content to find the Olivia "era" which suits you best. Yes, granted, there are better, more complete compilations out there. However for those of you who for some bizarre reason are lacking in the Olivia department, this new 20th Century Masters release "The Best Of Olivia Newton-John" should be considered your training ground. Included on this nice little package are twelve of Olivia's biggest US Top Twenty hits. Of course the most obvious omissions are "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", the two uber-hits from the mega musical "Grease". However, all households should own a copy of the soundtrack already, so the loss is not a particularly significant one. The disc starts with Olivia's twangy "breakthrough" hit "Let Me Be There" which still holds the same naive charms it did twenty years ago. The next three inclusions are gems culled from Olivia's mid-seventies country / AC output, most notable is the #1 hit "Have You Never Been Mellow" which remains as sublime and fresh as ever. No Olivia collection is complete without the "Grease" solo "Hopelessly Devoted To You", but the butter-wouldn't-melt image Ms Newton-John projects in these early MOR tunes are pushed aside for the latter half of the disc. 1978's "A Little More Love" is a rocking tune with an incessantly catchy hook, and "Deeper Than The Night" (from the same year) is about as R'n'B as Olivia has ever gone. The remaining songs include "Physical" (come on, #1 for ten weeks - legwarmers, exercise, fat men, you remember it), two inclusions from the "Xanadu" soundtrack (still a notable highlight in Olivia's musical career) and a couple of underrated masterpieces. The first is "Heart Attack", the track which effectively accompanied Olivia's 1982 / 1983 "Physical" tour. A harder, sassier, edgier Olivia is complimented by a bubbling synth which pushes her to the limit. And just when you thought the eighties couldn't get much better for our Liv, along comes "Twist Of Fate", a pulsating dance hit from the (failed) movie "Two Of A Kind". Both were modest hits for Olivia, reaching #3 and #5 on the US charts respectively. For anyone who is familiar with the lovely Olivia Newton-John's catalogue, you'll know that the fun does not end here. There is a multitude of beautiful recordings from this underappreciated legend, ranging from folk to country, from pop to dance, from rock to orchestral renditions of much-loved standards. For those who are less knowledgable on the guilty pleasure that is Olivia, then this is the perfect place to start. . You can see a complete list of all Olivia Newton-John discography, or go back to the Olivia Newton-John tabs