Reviews of Just A Little Too Much Single - unknown

Reviews of Just A Little Too Much Single

1. Lively Olivia: Just A Little Too Much; Changes (Pye Int. 25588)

A Johnny Burnette song for Liv and it’s got a country-rock edge to it. She dresses up that voice with a determined drawl - all at a pretty lively tempo.

Melodically it isn’t in the top drawer…rather too fast for the sing-along fans and it features a neatly-contrived guitar figure mid-way. Good, stylish stuff from a vibrant chick. CHART CERT.

(from Record Mirror, 12 August 1972, UK)

2. Just A Little Too Much (Pye International 7N25588-stereo)

This is a Johnny Burnette song and I suppose the record will be a hit because Olivia Newton-John is one of that select band of performers who seem to be able to plug their latest single on TV whenever they want to. Of course that doesn’t mean that what they do is good but it does mean that they have access to our homes and can flog us a load of stuff in the absence of anything of worth.

The lady is pretty enough and sings with one of those clear, shallow, British voices that can enrage me quicker than anything other than a blatant foul on Kevin Keegan. A country nurtured on crisps, fish-fingers, “On the Buses,” tomato soup and watery beer is going to love, love, love an Olivia Newton-John. It’s all so goddam wholesome and polite and even when the lyrics demand that she sing “I’m Gonna Scream And Shout It” you know that she isn’t.

There’s a line in a Woody Guthrie song about soup so thin you can see the bottom of the bowl through it and we’ve got to where we like soup that thin. Ask anyone over 40 what was the best time of their lives and I’ll bet you you’ll find a lot who say “during the Blitz.” A nation that can get to like being bombed can get to like records like this if they’re never told there is anything stronger.

I know that’s a bit hard on what is a relatively inoffensive record - and I’m sure ‘Livvy’ (as we all know and love her) is a fine person-but sometimes despair edges a bit too close and you wonder whether we’re always going to eat crap because it’s deliciously cooked.